Rooibos of South Africa
Rooibos, also known as the African red bush, is a plant that grows in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It’s a member of the legume family with broom-like growth. The leaves are shaped something like pine needles or those of the rosemary bush. The leaves are harvested, dried, and oxidized much in the same way that black tea is processed. They are then steeped in hot water to create an herbal tea called South African red tea.
The liquid produced by steeping the rooibos is reddish brown, hence the nickname of red tea. It’s naturally sweet without sugar and many people drink it with milk for a warm drink. South Africans, however, drink it without milk, often adding sweetener and lemon. In South Africa you can even get “red espresso” highly concentrated rooibos served espresso style. This trend has moved to the US and you can now buy red espresso based drinks such as red lattes and red cappuccinos.
Continue reading Comments (0) brewed on Feb 7th, 2010
Drinking Green Tea May Prevent Lung Cancer Even in Smokers
Over the past few months, we’ve read a lot about studies involving green tea and cancer. Most of these studies seemed to involve using green tea extract to slow or even reverse the progress of certain cancers. Now comes news from a study in Taiwan that indicates that drinking green tea might prevent lung cancer even in people who smoke.
A student at the Graduate School of Public Hygiene at Chung Shan Medical University, Lin Yi-hsin, performed the study. Her research concerned the effectiveness of tea on the prevention of lung cancer in people who smoke. To that end, she involved in her study 500 people, 170 of whom had lung cancer. Her findings are both surprising and hopeful when it comes to battling lung cancer.
Continue reading Comments (0) brewed on Feb 5th, 2010
Men who Drink Tea May Have Less Belly Fat
Medical science has told us for decades now that being overweight is unhealthy. In recent years, they have told us that fat concentrated around the abdomen is the worst. Having excessive belly fat puts a person at higher risk for ailments such as diabetes and heart disease. Even if they aren’t severely overweight elsewhere in their bodies, the excessive belly fat puts them in danger.
A number of studies have been conducted regarding how drinking tea and coffee affects obesity. It’s an important factor in our diets because 60% of adults drink coffee or tea, usually with something like sugar added. Until recently, none of these studies specifically focused on abdominal fat. However, last week the first study about coffee, tea, and waistlines was presented at the First International Congress on Abdominal Obesity in Hong Kong.
Continue reading Comments (0) brewed on Feb 4th, 2010
Tea—the Ultimate Comfort Food
It’s a long standing tradition. You’ve read about it in books and stories. You’ve seen it in movies, plays, and TV shows. Someone is worried, sad, exhausted, and what do they do to comfort themselves? They have a cup of tea. Someone wants to comfort someone who’s going through a hard time or wants to talk about a serious problem. What do they do? They offer the other person tea.
In real life, people don’t do this as often as they once did, but maybe they should. It seems that these days we reach for a convenient pill, go to a bar, or shell out big bucks for a therapist when maybe what we really need is a nice hot cup of tea.
Continue reading Comments (0) brewed on Feb 1st, 2010
