Black Tea This tea can be the boldest in flavor.  It can be sweet, spicy and very fragrant.  Black tea is best known for it’s digestive benefits.  Because of it’s high level of tannins, it can have an anti-diarrheal effect.  The theophylline in tea helps to lower cholesterol, expand the airways allowing us to breathe easier, and prevent tooth decay.  Some recent studies indicate that black tea may even kill certain viruses that live on our skin and in our mouth!

Green Tea Green tea is rapidly becoming popular due to it’s emerging known health benefits.  This tea has been known to prevent certain cancers (esophageal and skin) and like black tea, it can lower cholesterol, fight infection and tooth decay, and can boost the immune system.  Green tea contains EGCG which is a very powerful antioxidant also found in wine.  There is more EGCG in green tea than in black tea.

White Tea This tea is made from immature leaves that are picked before the buds are opened.  It’s pale in color and sweet in taste.  It is now believed that white tea is the healthiest tea of all because it contains more antioxidants than green tea.   It provides the same benefits as black and green tea but it is believed that it’s cancer fighting properties are greater.  This tea is usually also the most expensive to buy.

All three teas offer health benefits to anyone who chooses to drink them regularly.  Because tea contain less caffeine than coffee, they are able to increase blood flow to the brain without increasing the heart rate.  It is believed that this can enhance mental clarity.

Mankind has been drinking gourmet teas for thousands of years.  First discovered in China, tea is believed to benefit several areas of your health including your mental equilibrium, liver, and cardiovascular health.  Tea is the most popular beverage in the world after water and its benefits to health are far more than just wives’ tales.  Many scientists have discovered through research that much of the supposed health benefits of drinking gourmet teas are indeed a reality.

Why Tea?

Tea contains flavonoids, which are naturally-occurring compounds that have antioxidant properties.  Antioxidants are very beneficial to your health because they neutralize the damage caused by free radicals.  Free radicals damage genetic material and lipids and contribute to chronic illness.  Studies of the health benefits of tea have been done on animals and humans using green and black

, both of which come from the camellia sinensis plant.  Some findings from these studies include the fact that drinking tea is associated with bone and oral health, a boost of the immune system, a lowered risk of cardiovascular disease, and a lowered risk of certain cancers.

Drink Gourmet Teas for Cardiovascular Health

People who regularly consume three or more cups of black tea per day may reduce their risk of getting a heart attack or stroke.  This is because black tea consumption lowers cholesterol levels, improves blood vessel function, and reduces oxidative damage.

According to a study done in Holland, people who drink one to two cups of black tea per day have a 46 percent lower risk of severe aortic atherosclerosis, which is a strong indicator of cardiovascular disease.  In the same study, those who drank more than four cups of black tea per day had a 69 percent lower risk of developing cardiovascular disease.

In a Harvard study of 340 men and women who had suffered from heart attacks, those who drank a cup or more of black tea per day had a 44 percent reduction in the risk of heart attack.

Researchers at the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) found that five servings of black tea per day reduced LDL cholesterol levels by 11.1 percent compared to placebo beverages.

Drink Gourmet Teas to Prevent Cancer

Tea flavonoids reduce cancer risk because they combat free radical damage, inhibit cell proliferation, and promote programmed cell death.  More evidence regarding the effects of tea flavonoids is needed before definitive conclusions are made, but findings include the following:

-Smokers who drank four cups of decaf green tea per day demonstrated a 31% decrease in oxidative DNA damage in white blood cells compared to those who drank four cups of water.  Oxidative DNA damage is implicated in the development of a variety of different cancers.

-A study conducted by the University of North Carolina found that the consumption of 2.5 cups per day or more was associated with a 60% drop in rectal cancer in Russian women from Moscow.

-Researchers in Taiwan discovered a link between cancer reduction and EGCG (epigallocatechin gallate), which is a polyphenol found in green tea.  The researchers found that the EGCG induced cell death and blocked cell cycle progression and thus inhibited the proliferation of cancer cells.

-In studies comparing groups of mice treated with a carcinogen and receiving either water or water enriched with antioxidants found in tea, the tea-fed mice developed 24 percent fewer lung tumors.  Furthermore, the average size of the tumors that did develop was 38 percent smaller than the water-fed mice.

Drink Gourmet Teas for Oral Health

Drinking tea contributes to oral health because it is believed that tea flavonoids inhibit the formation of plaque.  The fluoride in tea may also support healthy tooth enamel.  In a study conducted at the New York University Dental Center, hamsters were fed water with black tea extract.  The hamsters that were fed the tea had 63.7 percent fewer cavities than the other hamsters.

Drink Gourmet Teas to Lose Weight

According to preliminary research, drinking tea may prevent fat accumulation, increase your metabolism rate, and help you lose weight.  Green tea extract significantly increases fat oxidation and energy expenditure in healthy adults according to some studies.  Green and black teas have also been found to increase insulin.  In a study that had moderately obese patients consume green tea on a regular basis for three months, body weight decreased by 4.6 percent and waist circumference decreased by 4.48 percent.

A Reduced Risk of Kidney Stones and Osteoporosis

For people who have had kidney stones, increased fluid intake is recommended to reduce the likelihood of recurrence.  The risk of developing kidney stones can also be lowered by consuming tea.  Beverage choice is thought to affect the development of kidney stones.

Drinking tea can also reduce the risk of osteoporosis as many studies point to the role that tea plays in bone health.  In the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, a study was published stating that older women who drank tea had higher bone mineral density (BMD) than those who didn’t.  The researchers of this study concluded that tea might influence bone mass.  Another study showed that adults who are habitual tea drinkers experience significant benefits to BMD measurements.

Chai is a tea based beverage that came about the turn of the century when drinking tea was considered an elite affair. It is a centuries-old beverage which has played an important role in many cultures. Finding the initial flavor strong, the beverage was experimented with by adding milk, spices, sugar etc… and thus Chai was born.

Chai from India is a spiced milk tea that has become increasingly popular throughout the world. Chai has no rules. You can make it the way you like. Drink it the way you like. Even drink it whenever you like. It’s got no stiff upper lip rituals and spares you the embarrassment of not knowing the difference between mocha and a macchiato.

Tea had been known for millennia in India as a medicinal plant, traded with the Chinese for spices, but was not drunk for pleasure until the British began to establish plantations in the 19th century.

In 1824 tea plants were discovered in the hills along the frontier between Burma and the Indian state of Assam. The British introduced tea culture into India in 1836. At first they used seeds from China, but later seeds from the Assam plant were used. Only black tea was produced until recent decades.

Many industry analysts are predicting that Chai will eventually become as popular and common as coffee lattes and cappuccinos. India was the top producer of tea for nearly a century, but was displaced by China as the top tea producer in the 21st century. While India is the largest consumer of tea worldwide, the per-capita consumption of tea in India remains a modest 750 grams per person every year.

In the past three years we’ve seen a phenomenal growth in the popularity and interest in Chai. Chai has become very common at over-the-counter specialty beverage shops and there is a growing line of prepackaged consumer products. There are a number of foreign brands such as those of Tetley and tycoon that along with Indian enterprises have created powerful position in the tea bazaar.

Chai is spreading across classes and has been constantly evolving. The flavor of Chai may change from one region to another, but the ease at which it brings people together never will. It is enjoyed by all classes alike. The warmth and casualness that is associated with this beverage is what makes it so exceptional.