By Kylie Munoz, Account Executive
To put it simply—I love tea.
Maybe it’s my grandmother. Since I was a little girl, she has always loved to serve me green tea when I’m not feeling well in one of her 40-year-old white china cups. Maybe that’s what has made me love tea so much.
Or maybe it’s just because tea tastes delicious.
From the traditional black and green teas, to oolong and herbal teas, I’ve tried and loved them all. The acai pom sparkling iced tea from Tea Bar & Fusion Café in Chico is a frequent visitor in my tumbler and a guilty pleasure of mine.
According to Teavana.com, a specialized store selling a wide range of tea products, there are seven different varieties of tea: white, green, oolong, black, herbal, rooibos and mate.
The differences among these teas are:
- White tea is the purest, least processed of all teas and has very little caffeine.
- Green tea is sometimes scented with flowers or mixed with fruits to create flavored teas and only has about five to 10 percent of the caffeine found in a cup of coffee.
- Oolong tea is full of fragrance and is semi-fermented and has about 15 percent the caffeine in one cup of coffee.
- Black tea is fully fermented and has about 20 percent the caffeine in a cup of coffee.
- Herbal teas are typically caffeine free and can be put into three categories: rooibos, mate, and herbal fusions.
Not only is tea delicious, but there are also many health benefits that tea can give to its consumers.
Healthcastle.com says studies suggest drinking tea may reduce the risk of gastric, esophageal, skin, and ovarian cancer. It can also prevent blood clotting and lower cholesterol levels.
Even with the many health benefits, I know there are still those that are loyal to the coffee bean. And if caffeine is your reasoning, then I suppose I see your point. Tea doesn’t have the same amount of caffeine as coffee.
However, tea comes in many varieties, may help keep your body healthy, and doesn’t contain the amount of caffeine which causes one to fidget.
So, as my grandmother Rosemary would say in a toast, “Arriba, abajo, al centro y adentro,” to tea!
Love it, Kylie! I'm a tea lover as well and you taught me a few new things with this blog. You should definitely check out The Vital Tea Leaf in Chinatown, SF sometime. You can do free tea tasting and the people serving give you a whole shpeel about each one and better yet, it's free! Oh, and they let you buy by the price you want to pay.
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