WESTSIDE — I learned recently from Peggy Carrier’s Hiwasse News that January is National Hot Tea Month and I’ve been doing my best to celebrate it with a cup of the warm brew every morning. Sweetened with a teaspoon of Don Kane’s delicious local honey, it’s a great way to start each morning.
I used to be a coffee drinker and I still have an occasional cup, but when I had a struggle with high blood pressure last year, I was advised to forego the caffeine and I switched to a new beverage for my morning routine.Drinking tea has been shown to have many benefits. Tea, unlike coffee, does not raise blood cholesterol levels. Tea is a good source of zinc, manganese and potassium. The tannins in tea help preserve vitamin C in the body.
Research at Washington University in St. Louis showed that tea inhibits growth of decay-causing bacteria in dental plaque. Tea may help adult bones fend off osteoporosis. Researchers in India and Russia claim it may help minimize some longterm effects of radiation, as mice fed tea were less likely than others to develop leukemia after radiation exposure.
Tea helps banish depression - a plus duringlong, gloomy winter days - and has been recommended for skin cancer protection. Research in Arizona, where a large number of people suffer from skin cancer, shows that drinking hot tea with a citrus peel lowers your chances of skin problems. People who consumed more of the bioflavinoids in tea and citrus had less cancer and better skin.
Although we shouldn’t have to worry about this for awhile yet, tea is also a great help in relieving sunburn. Use a damp tea bag or cotton balls dipped in cold tea and gently rub over sunburned areas for relief.
The practice of drinking tea came from China, where its origins are lost in the mist of legends, the most colorful from an emperor who lived over 5,000 years ago. He set a good example for his subjects by always boiling his drinking water. One day a few leaves from the branches burning under the water pot fell into the water, giving it a delightful scent and flavor. The branches were those of a wild tea plant.
Another tradition, held in Japan, is that knowledge of tea traveled east from India to China, being introduced by a Buddhist saint who devoted himself to sleeplesscontemplation of the Buddha. Growing drowsy during his meditations, he cut off his eyelids and threw them away on the ground. They sprang up into plants from whose leaves men found they could make a drink to banish weariness.
Tea is mankind’s oldest established and most loved beverage because a cup of tea tastes good and makes life more pleasant by giving a feeling of well-being to both mind and body.
The great tea-drinker Gladstone said, “If you are cold, tea will warm you - if you are too heated, it will cool you - if you are excited, it will calm you.”
No standard tea recipe suits all tastes but, when you are making tea for several people, remember that a stronger brew can always be weakened byadding hot water to the cup but nothing can be done to strengthen weak tea. The best general recipe is one spoonful of tea for each person and one for the pot.
Strong brew or weak, milk or no milk, sugar or no sugar (or honey), loose tea or tea bag, hot or iced, lemon or mint? Since so many people are convinced their way is the right way, there can be only one answer to the question. The right way to drink tea is the way you like it best!
Susan Holland is longtime resident of Benton County and a staff member of the Westside Eagle Observer. She may be contacted by e-mail at [email protected].
Opinion, Pages 6 on 01/26/2011