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As you may or may not know, January is National Tea Month; could there be a better time to learn the history and secrets of tea?
Many people associate tea with England or have a mental image of the Queen drinking tea all day. However, Americans and the English actually began drinking tea at around the same time, in the mid-seventeenth century. Additionally, the inventor of the tea bag was an American named John Sullivan, a tea importer who had the idea around 1904.
Today, however, we are being outdone by the Irish, who consume the most tea per capita in the world. Tea is only the sixth most popular beverage in the U.S. today, trumped by the likes of soda, coffee and beer. January is the perfect opportunity to fire up the kettle and reignite your love for tea.
First, some history. According to legend, tea originated in 2737 B.C., when the Chinese emperor Shen Nug had some leaves fall into his hot water. China, along with Japan, Taiwan, India and Sri Lanka, remains one of the world’s few tea producers. Tea comes from the plant Camelia Senensis, which grows best in these countries.
What many people aren’t aware of is that many varieties of “tea” are technically tisanes. Herbal teas like mint, chamomile and lemongrass do not derive from Camelia Senensis. The only four types of tea are black, white, green and oolong.
Though tisanes also have health benefits, such as relaxation or aiding with digestion, the benefits of tea are much more extensive and concrete.
Tea contains flavonoids, which reduce oxidative damage in the body and help maintain healthy cells and tissues. In fact, according to recent study, heavy smokers who drank four servings of green tea a day saw a 31 percent decrease in oxidative damage to DNA, which contributes to cancer.
This simple beverage has also been proven to help prevent colon cancer and skin cancer and promote the health of the heart and bones.
A study conducted in May 2003 showed that black tea improves the body’s defenses and quickens its response to bacteria and viruses; indeed, those who drank 20 ounces of black tea per day produced five times more the amount of germ-fighting immune cells than in participants who drank the same amount of coffee instead.
Additionally, in a study published in the Journal of Nutrition in October 2003, participants drank four cups of tea daily, resulting in a 44 percent decrease in their probability of having a heart attack.
Now that you’re aware of the health benefits of tea, chances are that you want to make some. Here is the proper way to brew tea, according to the English:
Make sure your cup or tea pot is hot before you brew the tea in it. This can be accomplished by rinsing the cup or pot out with hot water beforehand.
Add hot water to the tea bag and not the other way around. Always use freshly boiled water, and keep in mind that it’s best to boil cold water.
For a pot, use one bag per person and another “for the pot.” If you are not using bags, use about half a teaspoon of leaves per 8 oz. of water.
There are many different ways to brew tea, from loose leaves to tea socks. The most commonly used are tea strainers, which allow the leaves to expand more so than in a teabag.
Allow tea to brew for 3-5 minutes, depending on your desired strength.
If you like, add milk, sugar, honey or lemon; just remember not to add both milk and lemon, and that milk should be room temperature and at least 1 percent.
When brewing green tea, use almost-boiling water and steep only for 2-3 minutes.
Enjoy National Tea Month.
