premium tea
One of my favorite soothing rituals is my daily tea.
Wrapping my fingers around the warm cup, breathing into the cup and
feeling the warmth spread over my face. The scent of the leaves, whether
a spicy chai or a traditional black
tea or a chamomile, it is comforting and warm and I love it.
Now
I have not been a tea drinker for long, I am jumping on the bandwagon
along with everyone else as tea becomes more and more popular. My
girlfriend taught me to love tea, and I admit I did not think it was
very masculine at first-- (and who would have thought i'd be cooing
about the soothing ritual!). But the health benefits of green tea are
what first piqued my interest. The antioxidants in tea help balance your
body, help prevent cancer. Green
Tea and its close relative, White
Tea, can both promote weight loss, as well as control
cholesterol.
I am currently working on weening myself off of sodas
completely, and it is really as hard as one would think. I brew a
pitcher of green tea and keep it in my fridge, so I can have it iced as
well. I prefer to drink it sweetened, and the natural sweetener Stevia
blends quite nicely with tea. Honey in my warm tea is nice too.
I
never put milk in my tea until I was in London last summer. Sounded
disgusting to me, but when in Rome.... and I actually enjoyed it. This
was a strong English tea,
flavorful, and I could see it replacing a morning cup of coffee.
The
thing about tea (and coffee. and wine. and chocolate) is that there is
a big difference in storebought Lipton
and a true premium
tea. My girlfriend orders her tea online, and now I see why.
Or rather I taste why. It just matters, it is nearly like a different
beverage when you have quality fresh tea leaves. I have tried buying in
bulk and using a tea ball instead of bags, but I am still a spoiled
American and like the convenience of bags. The organic
tea she paid a little more for was nice, but flavor-wise not
all that different. No pesticides is nice though.
Sometimes a
trend is worth following, and I expect the "tea trend" is just hitting.