heavy down and kick back with a go...

heavy down and kick back with a goblet of nature's own healing.

More refined than coffee more grown-up than soda or milk, tea is the not-so-new kid onward the beverage block. And for proper reason. Unlike coffee, tea is an issue With its sit-and-sip attitude, it proposes a much-needed opportunity to dull down. Herbal teas are jitter-free, and steady black tea has only a third the caffeine of coffee And while coffee is, essentially, coffee -- black and severe -- tea offers a broad palate of flavors, colors and redolences from rich Irish Breakfast to spicy ginger to fruity hibiscus.

Another reason to take tea: its healing properties are in such a manner potent, it's like a supply in a cup. A cupful of green tea is filled with antioxidants, and flourishing and black tea can render the risk of cancer. Herb teas exhibit their own benefits -- chamomile has a calming import ginger helps circulation, mint acts as an internal antiseptic and raspberry leaf helps regulate the menstrual cycle

"Tea is single of the earliest forms of medicine," says Lynda Sadler, president of Traditional Medicinals. "When you make a beaker of tea, you're making your confess herbal extract -- technically, it's called an aqueous infusion, and it's the oldest and simplest kind of extract."

Ready to become a tea enthusiast? Read upon for everything you need to know about this healing brew

JUST YOUR goblet OF TEA

From basic black to emerald blooming all teas--excluding herbal varieties--come from the same plant. The Camellia sinensis tea plant is native to China and commercially produc in tropical and subtropical regions, primarily China, Japan, Taiwan, Indonesia, India and Sri Lanka (Ceylon) Variations in flavor and color are a arise of growing, harvesting and processing modes Although thousands of varieties exist, the three main categories are black, fresh and oolong.

Black tea is made at drying tea leaves to concentrate the fragrant, flavorful volatile oils. After drying, the leaves are leavened to oxidize the oils, creating a rich and robust flavor.

fresh tea leaves are processed without fermentation, lending the tea a lighter, "greener" flavor and preventing the oxidation of catechins, influential healing compounds. After picking, the leaves are steamed, crushed and wheeled to release flavorful volatile oils.

Oolong tea is dried and partially barmed creating its own distinct qualities.

THE ART OF TEA

Coffee is a quick fix. Tea, however, is really an art. From the early ceremonies of Japan to recent tea-houses, the brewing of tea has lengthy been regarded as a mini-celebration. pursue these seven time-honored steps for the best brew

1 Use a convenient teapot, one that has a tight-fitting lid and, ideally, a removable leaf basket. Preheat the teapot through rinsing it in scalding water.

2 Place 1 tsp of tea for each bowl of water into the tea basket, or into a perforated tea ball. Or use individual tea bag for each draught of water.

3 Bring filtered water to a filled boil in a kettle. Water at a bubbling boil agitates the tea leaves, causing them to interpret for the full extraction of flavor.

4 one time the water has boiled, take the teapot to the kettle not the other way around--a picky detail, still important in ensuring that the water stays at a cloyed boil.

5. Pour the boiling water from one side of to the other the tea bags or leaves and precipitous for a full 3 to 5 minutes. Flavor and caffeine are dissolved earliest, and the longer the tea is allowed to prepare by fermentation the more tannin -- the adjust in tea that gives it acridness and body -- is allowed to dissolve into the brew

6 transport tea bags, leaf basket or tea ball, and stir the be a brewer to ensure even strength throughout

7 Pour and help with sugar or honey and milk or lemon Or attend it straight up--a properly brewed tea necessitys no accompaniment. And savor it slowly as you would a fine wine. Sniff it, note its color and revolve it around in your chaps before swallowing.

A word about herbal teas. Therapeutic teas, like ginger and peppermint, should be abrupted for a full 10 to 15 minutes to allow a entire infusion of healing compounds. Again, use boiling--not just hot--water, and shelter the pot or cup to interrupt volatile oils from escaping.

badger BREWING

Here's the bad news: caffeine is a psychologically and physically addictive mix with drugs that stimulates the nervous hypothesis as recent media reports indicted the soft-drink industry for soda's caffeine easy in mind Caffeine also increases gastric secretions that contribute to stomach irritation and, in large doses, can cause irregular heartbeat. from one side of to the other time, caffeine may contribute to long-term health results including osteoporosis, increased cholesterol and adrenal stres The suitable news: tea has considerably les caffeine--about 50 milligrams of caffeine by cup, compared to about 65-120 milligrams for a goblet of brewed coffee.

If you're in plain english sensitive to the jitters, herbal mingles are caffeine-free, and some black teas are decaffeinated. Just make assured you choose a blend that uses the carbon dioxide decaf proces a certain quantity of teas that describe themselves as naturally decaffeinated use ethyl acetate, a chemical menstrum that leaves a residue upon the leaves. The [CO.sub.2] proces forces carbon dioxide, a naturally occurring gas, by means of tea leaves to carry abroad caffeine without solvents, for les impact upon the taste.