What Kind of Tea for Me?
Thursday, November 12, 2009 at 4:25PM Most of my friends like to outwardly poke fun at me for being a tea enthusiast, but at the end of the day I find that they are a lot more curious about tea and tea culture than they initially let on. A lot of people have witnessed the surge in tea popularity over the past 4 or 5 years, and whether it be from seeing the tea section grow over time at their local Wal-Mart, or simply seeing all the bottles of Lipton Green Tea taking over the center aisle displays, they can't help but be curious. That's how it started with me after all… I just took it to more of an extreme than a lot of people do.
Most of us are looking to be healthier, and there can be no doubt that one of the first things people think when they think "tea" is "health." In fact, one of the first questions I get from folks who work up the nerve to ask me about tea -- after "what's with the tea?" -- is, do I feel better since I started drinking it. Of course the answer is yes. But I'm not prepared to go out on a limb and start pushing tea as the next big cure-all. For me, I think the biggest health benefit I have gotten from drinking tea is that it directly translates into me drinking fewer soft drinks. So is the tea actually helping me to feel healthier, or is it just because I'm ingesting ounces and ounces less of high fructose corn syrup?
Who knows? I'm no scientist, and to be honest, I really don't care. All I know is I feel better, I've lost weight, and that's all that matters to me.
But the second question I usually get (actually, the third if you count "what's with the tea?") is "what is the best kind of tea?" Obviously that's a loaded question. There's a lot of controversy out there on whether green tea is the best, or is white better than green, is black tea the least healthy, and so on and so on. And then there are those who would say there's really not a lot of difference in any of the styles. They all come from the same plant after all, and therefore have potentially the same health benefits.
In my opinion, the answer is quite a simple one: the best kind of tea is the kind that you like well enough to keep drinking. If you want to drink tea, find a tea that you like and stick with it. If it's green, great, or black or oolong or white or even yellow. It doesn't matter. Life is short people. There's no reason to force yourself to drink something you don't like. So if you don't like the grassy flavor of green tea, don't force yourself to drink it. If white tea is not flavorful enough for you, don't drink it. If black tea is too bitter, don't drink it.
Find a tea that you like and stick with it. After you drink it a while, and if you're curious enough, chances are you'll be like me and feel the need to try something new. And who knows? You might like it too. Before you know it, you might be the local tea enthusiast and people will be asking your advice.
Reader Comments (2)
I agree with you. The best tea is the tea that you enjoy the most. I know that there is a wide range of tea culture out there. Some tea drinkers would rather be shot at sunrise than drink tea made from teabags. However, my personal philosophy is, if it tastes good, drink it. So I drink loose tea, black, white, oolong, green. I drink teabag tea. I even enjoy a good herbal in the evenings when I don't want caffeine. I even dare to call it herbal tea instead of "tisane" because when you say tisane, almost no one knows what you mean.
I realize that attitude may not be respected in some tea circles. They're entitled to their opinion and their choice of tea, but so am I.
I have to have a glass everynite before bed and morning im not a coffee drinker i find tea more relaxing as well.