Tuesday TeaDay 3/09/10 Why tea???

[blairswhitaker]

from an ancient chinese medicine to drink of the common man, tea is Zen and Zen is tea....


( in my days before sobriety when it came to wine, bourbon, microbrew ect. I found I have a naturally highly defined palate, so this transfers nicely to the world of tea)

[LauraW]

1) I love it, the flavor, the variety, the versatility - hot or cold (even though I nearly never drink it cold), by itself or paired with food, or for use in cooking/baking. Any health benefits are sort of an added bonus, I suppose.
2) Caffeine, and I can't drink coffee. It's too... something... for my stomach, and gives me indigestion. And it's bitter.
3) Helps give me a flavorful variety of no-calorie drinks to keep me from drinking other things most of the time. Like others, I do enjoy sodas from time to time, but not nearly as often anymore - which is great, because that cuts out 300-400calories from what I was consuming before, and is an easy way to feel healthier about my lifestyle, especially because I haven't been able to fit in exercise to my routine.

Darjeeling this morning/afternoon. Boring tea-day today, but they can't all be perfect, right? Then there'd be nothing to which to compare the good days!

[msurads06]

I drink tea for the caffeine, health benefits, and because it is healthier than the sodas that i would otherwise be drinking. I cannot drink coffee so for long time, my only caffeine source was soda. I had tried bag tea (didt really know any other existed) a few times and occasionally i would drink it when i wanted something warm, but a few months ago at my sisters weding i tried some loose leaf tea and i was sold. I have been trying many diffrent types and have pretty much stopped drinking sodas, though i occasionally splurge. I also seem to eat less junk food since i started drinking tea on a regular basis.

Started the day with bai yun oolong from norbu, followed by young hyson with lunch, right now cha hua from norbu, wasnt sure about it at first, but its definately growing on me.

[Ebtoulson]

I still drink soda, but I've been drinking a lot less since I started drinking more tea.

I have to say drinking tea actually made the option of giving up on soda a possibility. I stopped drinking soda a couple months ago and have only had the urge to get specific soda a couple times, and once I got it, I realized it wasn't even that great.

[Kathryn]

I drink tea just because I love it. There are so many great flavors, and there's just something comforting about a hot cup of tea.

It's nice that there are health benefits, but it's not a big deal to me. I'd drink it even if there weren't. And the idea of getting any kind of caffeine boost from tea is rather laughable to me; I have a high tolerance for the stuff, so I don't even notice the teeny amount in tea.

[debunix]

My after-dinner tea will probably by a rosemary tisane.

I have a very happy rosemary bush in my yard and don't do enough with it. How do you make your tisane?

[LauraW]

Made some sencha to enjoy with dinner - and it held its own against the stew that had been cooking since about noon. Spiced apple cider at the moment, it's a little late for caffeine at this point (or at least that's what I keep telling myself). Also, was cleaning up the kitchen, and found 2 old black teas I'd put in canisters and completely forgot about... I'm almost afraid to try them now. The last of the stash of tea I brought back from France... in 2006.

[brad4419]

Because I love it period. The health benefits are a nice bonus but not my main reason for drinking tea.
The only way I like coffee is with a whole lot of sugar and about half of it is french vanilla creamer. Drinking this everyday would be awful for your health and gets boring fast. I just love the variety of flavors with tea. Oh yea and I don't like caffeine at all so the less of it the better.

Long Jing in my cup today.