The joy of tea

I love caffeine. When one gets up at 4 am (!) to work out, one needs something more than just a will to get moving. I am getting more and more serious about healthy eating too, but even when I did the Ultimate Yogi 108 Day Challenge, I couldn’t give up caffeine. Come to think of it, I have a hard time giving up sugar too, but that’s a topic for another day.

I used to limit myself to one mug of coffee at 4 am, but with some recent stomach troubles, I have had to give that up. Enter the world of tea. Green tea is supposed to be very good for you. It helps prevent everything from cancer, heart attack, stroke, diabetes, dementia, and high cholesterol. And my favorite reason for drinking green tea is that is supposed to help burn fat. I’ll admit it, I don’t really like the taste of green tea. I thought I could ‘disguise’ the flavor by adding milk or sugar or something, but then I read that adding these things lessens the benefits of the tea. Oh drat.

I also enjoy Bigelow Green Tea with Wild Blueberry and Acai. Wild blueberries have the highest amount of antioxidants of all the fruits. Acai is another nutritional powerhouse. It’s s exciting to have all these items in one place.

White tea is even better for you. The leaves have been even less processed than green tea leaves, so there are even more antioxidents, polyphenols and catechins in it. I have no idea what polyphenols and catechins are, but they are supposed to do great things for your body.

I was very excited to find White Tea with Pomegranate at Trader Joe’s, one of my favorite stores. The tart pomegranate gives this tea a nice flavor and it’s much more palatabale to me.

Green and white teas have some caffeine, so I get a little lift.

In the afternoon, I love relaxing with a nice cup of chamomile tea. I’ll be honest, chamomile teas tastes like dishwater, so I have to put lots of coconut milk in it. But, it helps me get a good night’s sleep. And I need that sleep!

It is especially relaxing to have my tea in a nice, fancy tea cup. The picture above reminds me of the tea cups that my dear grandmother gave me. I would get one for every birthday.

What about you? Do you drink tea or coffee?

Pretty tea cup photo is from The Glass Menagerie.com .