03/13/10: Tea is my new best friend!

So I discovered long ago the wonderful effects of coffee.  If I don't want to eat lunch until 2, because doing so will tide me over for dinner better, I can drink coffee and stave off hunger rumblings.

Yeah.  Coffee is not such a great idea at 8 o'clock at night.

A few days ago, rumbling through my cabinets for something "high protein, low carb, healthy, lite and not meat, cheese, or any dairy at all" I came across some loose leaf tea I've had for awhile.  I have some pretty cute tea pots and a pretty interesting selection of teas...but I never think to get the already 100 degree water out of the water "cooler" to steep that tea in. 

Do you hear me?  I don't even have to boil the water to get my danged tea.  I just have to hold the button in!

So, in discovering the loose leaf tea, I thought, hey, drink some tea.  So I did.  And I was instantly "stuffed".

Tonight...wanted something.  Not food.  Not anything other than something to make my stomach "ease" and something to change the taste on my palette.  Yep.  Tea.

The other night it was a ginger lemongrass tea.

Tonight it was white tea.  Do you know how expensive loose leaf white tea is?  In the bulk aisle of one of my closest grocery stores they sell this loose leaf tea that you can get according to your desired amounts.  So this tea is $82 a pound.  Yeah, who wants a whole pound of loose leaf tea.  That's the saving grace.  I bought myself a small little bag of the tea.  It amounted to 0.05 lbs.  Crazy but this is enough tea for probably about 10 cups of tea.  That 0.05 lbs was $4.  The white tea I opted for is a silver leaf white tea and according to some checking I'm doing right now, that's the "creme de la creme of white teas".

It's worth it to spend the money on this tea, I think.  It tastes good and the health benefits are crazy high.  We all know tea is good for you but white tea is the best for you.  To help with the expense of the tea, you will actually find you can re-steap these tea leaves 2 or 3 times.  At my local Teavana they actually tell me that with all the teas I've bought from them but I have never been a consistent tea drinker and therefore have not left the tea leaves sitting so that they can be re-steaped.  I think I am finally getting my evening ritual going, though so this may start happening with me.

I will interrupt this program to say my mom, apparently, knew this about tea.  She had at least two cups of tea every evening.  I wish to all &^%( that I could go back and ask her: "Hey, did you drink tea because you knew it gave you that final satiety that most of us crave and end up turning to food for?"  I know she knew of the health benefits.  But I think she knew of the satiety factor, too.  And I've said this before - weight was never a problem with my mom.  Not like me, anyway.  She always wanted to lose a pound or two - but at her heaviest she was still a size 8.  Of course, my mom was petite and I must have gotten my build from my father's side because there is nothing petite about me!

Back to the tea.

Why white tea and not green tea?

White tea has even more anti-oxidants.  In the hierarchy of teas, black tea is the most processed and therefore has the most benefits removed.  Still, black tea is good for you.  Green tea is less processed than black but it still has some processing involved.  White tea is less processed than green - but again, still some processing involved.  But the first differences are involved in the picking.  Black and green teas (as well as oolong teas) are picked at the same time and the processing is what changes them.  Black teas are fermented and that processing is what loses the benefits of the tea.  Again, not all benefits are lost - but most are minimalized compared to what the tea leaves start with.  So, then, in green teas, the tea leaves are steamed, just like with white tea.  Oolong teas are a mixture of steaming and fermentation.  In white tea, however, there are two days just before or at the beginning of spring when the budding flowers can have their leaves picked.  That's part of why it's so expensive.  These tea leaves are not picked every day like green, black and oolong teas are.  And once those buds are picked, they are steamed in a process like the green teas undergo.  White teas have more anti-oxidants and polyphenols than any other type of tea because of the process and the young age of the buds.

Anti-oxidants are good good things.  They help to reduce the effects of aging.  They help lower the risk of heart disease and high cholesterol.  They fight and kill cancer-causing cells.  They improve your immune system and help to fight off viruses and infection causing bacteria.  White tea also contains fluorides which helps your teeth avoid building plaque.  (Did you know that your teeth health can be directly related to your heart health?)

White tea also has the lowest amount of caffeine in it in comparison to any other tea besides herbal teas.  Herbal teas naturally do not have caffeine.  So...

After drinking about two and a half cups of my white tea tonight, I'm satisfied.  I was well satisfied after my dinner...but my palette and my tummy wanted something more.  Palette wanted a change and tummy wanted to be settled, if you will.  Not a queasy sort of unsettling...but there was this kind of gnawing desire for something just a little more.  And the teas have satisfied all each time.

I think I'm finally starting my evening ritual!