This post begins a new segment- “The Tea SpotLight” where we put one of our premium loose leaf teas front and center for the month. We tell you why we love this tea, what it can do for you, along with the ideal way(s) to prepare and enjoy it. After years of waitressing at various restaurants, I appreciate the value in asking your server what their favorite dishes on the menu are. Servers know their menu inside and out, and because they usually eat the restaurants food during every shift, they know what’s really good. This is precisely our inspiration behind The Tea SpotLight segment of our blog… we’ll tell you what teas we love, and more importantly, why we love them. Perhaps this will inspire you to try something new, or make a current favorite that much better!

As The Tea Spots Customer Service Rep, I’m often asked what my favorite tea is. (As a side note: it is impossible to answer that question with just one tea. It’s like asking me to pick just one favorite flavor of ice cream, or one favorite pair of shoes. The joy is in the variety!) But, I do have flavored and unflavored favorites in each tea category, and am always more than happy to ‘break it down’ for anyone interested.

To start things off I’m going to delve right into my personal favorite flavored herbal tea: our Blood Orange Smoothie.

In my house, it has been affectionately dubbed “The Boss”, quite simply, because we think it’s the best. Blood Orange Smoothie is a caffeine-free red rooibos based tea from South Africa. We’ve loaded it up with all the goods- orange peel, apples, hibiscus, rosehips, safflowers, rose petals, and vanilla and citrus flavors. These ingredients combine to make a naturally sweet, refreshing cuppa that reminds many happy sippers of an orange creamsicle. “The Boss” is delicious hot, and is also incredibly refreshing when served over ice.

To make Blood Orange Smoothie, add 1 teaspoon of tea per 8 ounces of water, and steep for at least six minutes with boiling water. You cannot over-steep this delicious tea, the more steep time the better!

The health benefits associated with red Rooibos tea are numerous. Rooibos contains copper, iron, potassium, calcium, fluoride, zinc, manganese, alpha-hydroxy (for healthy skin) and magnesium (for the nervous system). It is naturally caffeine free, and as such, is perfect before bed and is a very popular choice among kids. According to studies conducted in South Africa and Japan, Rooibos has been shown to aid in health problems such as insomnia, irritability, headaches, nervous tension, and hypertension. In South Africa, Rooibos has been used to treat allergies such as hay fever, asthma and eczema very effectively. Rooibos contains antioxidants which can help slow the aging process and boost the immune system.*

I hope you’re ready to try Blood Orange Smoothie now! You can find it on our site here, in a sample size, ¼ pound, and 1 pound bags. Now if you’ll excuse me, all this talk about “The Boss” has made me thirsty…

Cheers!

*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food & Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

We are all familiar at this point with the slew of health benefits associated with drinking green tea with its antibiotic, anti-cancer, and anti-depressant properties… to name just a few. Now, a new study indicates a correlation between green tea consumption and a reduced risk of functional disability later in life.

This study conducted by researchers at the Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine took into account 14,000 individuals age 65 or more, for three years. In total, people who drank five cups of green tea per day were about 33% less likely to develop disabilities than people who drank very little green tea, while daily consumption of three to four cups per day resulted in a 25% decreased risk, on average.

The short of it? Those who drank the most green tea each day were least likely to develop disabilities. While there is certainly always more research to be done in this realm, we find this news positively inspiring. When there are so many delicious options are available to us, why not join in on the fun?

We recommend a nice full cuppa Boulder Blues (with Strawberry and Rhubarb), and our two newest additions to The Tea Spot Team: organic Clouds and Mist and Sencha.

Cheers!

To see a full report on this study please follow this link: http://www.healthcare-today.co.uk/news/green-tea-promotes-healthy-ageing/20998/ from Healthcare Today.

With January being national Hot Tea Month, loose leaf tea is getting a lot of attention. For those of you who have some questions as to where to start and which tea might be right for you, this post is for you :)

Many people are surprised to learn that all teas, white, green, oolong and black, are made from the leaves of the same plant: Camellia sinensis.
While weather conditions and soil contribute to the final taste of the tea, the significant differences of tea type develop in the oxidation process of the leaves. Oxidation begins a process of drying and withering. A black tea is fully oxidized, causing it to turn black, while a white tea is barely oxidized at all, thus retaining its soft, silvery down.

Pu’erh teas are aged and fermented. 60–70 mg of caffeine per 8 oz cup.

Black teas are fully oxidized teas. 40 – 60 mg of caffeine per 8 oz cup.

Oolong teas are semi–oxidized, which places them mid–way between green and black teas. The caffeine content and antioxidant level is also mid–way between that of green and black teas, 25 – 35 mg caffeine/8 oz cup.

Green tea leaves are only very slightly oxidized. 20 – 30 mg caffeine/8 oz cup.

White teas are the least processed of all teas. They release the least amount of caffeine of all teas, 10-15 milligrams per 8 oz cup.

Sipping a cup of tea at every afternoon will begin to bring you some of the feelings of well-being from tea, but to reap the full protective rewards of loose leaf, you need to drink 32 to 64 oz a day. This level of tea consumption is not uncommon in many parts of the world, but for most Americans it probably represents a significant shift.

So in short, be it white, green, oolong or black – or from India, China, Japan or Sri Lanka – you can drink up and feel good about it!

Morning pu'erh tea steep in my kitchen

I say the following without intentionally sounding like an infomercial. I’ve tried all sorts of diets and weight loss tips, and nothing has been as easy as this: I’ve been drinking tea on the regular for about five weeks, and now, I weigh less. I have noticed a few things since drinking tea daily. Besides my desire to drink tea outside of the office and the late nights when I’m over caffeinated, that irritating little needle on the scale has been slightly lowering… consistently.

As a young woman of the 21^st century, I’ve grown up with society’s expectations and admirations of “skinny bitches.” To say the least, there have been many meals, snacks and drinks I regretted, for fear they would set me further away from what I “wanted” to be. However, once I leveled with myself and admitted that one indulgence of delicious food and beverages would not actually make me gain 10 pounds, life became less worrisome. It’s that whole moderation thing.

What I’ve noticed since beginning my practice of moderation, about six months and counting, is that up until this past month, I had only been maintaining weight. The one thing that has changed in the last month (no, not an increased activity level… I promise, December will be better!), is my consumption of tea.

In college when I was willing to do outrageous diets to lose before an event, I had come across a tea diet, but never tried it. Well, now I think I’m following it by accident. And by accident, I’ve lost 5 or 7 pounds. I don’t know exactly. I’m not obsessing.

My tea routine is ever-changing. I drink a cup of either Oolong or Black tea when I get to work. Then, I resteep those leaves and enjoy another cup of the same. Depending on my energy levels, I’ll have green tea or an herbal blend with lunch. I don’t usually have a fourth cup. — However, when I have an exceptional amount of work to do, I might drink 4 or 5 cups of Yerba Mate throughout the day to give me that buzz of concentration. You know what I mean, and if you don’t, try Yerba Mate and you’ll thank me.–

So, ironically, at the same time that I’ve escaped the constant need to fit any sort of mold (other than my own realistic, complimentary to what I’ve “got” mold), the less I care, the less I weigh.

I’ve made a short story long, but the point is that I have become a true believer of tea aiding in weight loss. This easy change in behavior has been enjoyable and mostly hydrating… just get the tea to water ratios correct and you’re golden.

Unintentionally matching my discovery, The Tea Spot created the tin set “Secret of the Skinny” and at a perfect time of year. Not only will it offer equally flavorful substitutions for some of the caloric winter beverages, but the tea will also increase metabolism and overall health.

Winter weather and celebrations need not be an excuse to add a layer of fat for warmth. (Those evolutionary tendencies became unnecessary when technology cut back on required physical labor.) Warm up with a cuppa tea and you won’t be making as many New Year’s Resolutions to lose.

Lose with loose leaf, it’s been working for me.

According to a study from the UCLA School of Medicine reported in this month’s Prevention Magazine, sipping tea may help protect you from a life-threatening stroke. Researchers collected data from 9 studies about 4,400 strokes amongst 195,000 people.  The encouraging trend that they pulled from this huge pool of data was that those people who drank at least 3 cups of tea a day had one-fifth the risk of stroke, compared with those who drank less than one cup of tea a day.  Tea type was not a variable in this study.  So drink up!

Photo: Andrea Doenges, our Regional Sales Manager, sipping her way to heart health at her desk :)