i love tea. every morning i have a cup of tea with my bagel. so, i decided to write a few words on the subject for those of my friends and readers who are uninitiated.

what tea is:

tea is made from the leaves and/or buds of the camellia sinensis bush. anything which contains ingredients other than that is either a blended tea(tea leaves mixed with other ingredients, e.g. chai tea, earl grey) or a tisane or herbal tea(tea-like drink made with other plants, spices, e.g. chammomille, kudzu). the different varieties of 'real' tea are created by the differences in preparation of the leaves.

how tea is made:

tea must, must, must be made with freshly drawn(i.e. not bottled, distilled, or previously boiled), boiling water, unless it is a green tea, in which case bring the water to just under boiling. boiling water causes the cellular structure of the leaf to break down and release the good stuff into the water. in fact, in the traditional english method of tea preperation, the mug or teapot is heated by running hot water throughit, so that the boiling water will not cool too quickly. closely follow the steeping times provided on the tea packaging, unless you want stronger tea. in that case, go a little over the recommended time. not too much over, though, or else you will begin to mess with the tannin levels and make the tea bitter. try drinking the tea black for a while first, and if you can't get used to that then add a splash of milk and a pinch of sugar. the reason for this is that 'naked' tea has all the good stuff in a hot, invigorating beverage that has no calories. anything you add, adds calories and fat and other such.

why tea is good for you:

http://www.ancientway.com/Pages/TeaHealth.html
http://www.teahealth.co.uk/tea_statsfacts_01.html
http://www.greatbritishtea.com/teaandhealth.htm

what i drink:

twinnings earl grey
twinnings irish breakfast tea
twinnings english breakfast tea
bigelow constant comment
stash premium chai spice black tea

links

http://tom.carlson.org/tea/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/F8237?thread=133804
http://www.fatsquirrel.org/veghead/wot/vetea.html
http://www.booksatoz.com/witsend/tea/orwell.htm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/alabaster/A859737