Valentine's TeaDay, Thursday 2/14/08

[Wesli]

Sencha is very clean. When I think of chinese greens, I think of more nutty and foody flavors. If I thought of chinese greens as clean, I'd drink more of them.

In the guricha, the tang is there, but not the crisp and sharp aspect. I do brew it delicately though, 176°f for 1 minute. This might keep possible sharpness/crispness away, but it leaves me with a yummy bowl of tea.

[Pentox]

Sencha is very clean. When I think of chinese greens, I think of more nutty and foody flavors. If I thought of chinese greens as clean, I'd drink more of them.

In the guricha, the tang is there, but not the crisp and sharp aspect. I do brew it delicately though, 176°f for 1 minute. This might keep possible sharpness/crispness away, but it leaves me with a yummy bowl of tea.

Hehe, everytime someone refers to a drink as being "nutty" I keep getting reminded of Austin Powers. "It's a bit nutty"

[Chip]

LOL...I missed the great Guricha debate. Guricha is a great Japanese variety tea for me, different enough to warrant getting it a few times a year. The new one from O-Cha was procurred specifically due to customer requests. It sounds like a very unique offering/blend...like nothing I ever had before,

OK, green is in my cup RIGHT NOW. Yutaka Midori. Tasty.

As far as the health benifits of tea, I truly believe there are many. It is a primary reason I started drinking tea in the first place...then I found out that I loved it in so many ways, that the health reasons almost faded away.

But then recently I was thinking, I never get sick anymore, this is really strange for me since every year I used to get killer colds and sinus infections that I had to do a strong antibiotic regimen...and I swear I might have died w/o the antibiotics.

Now, nothing...this last little bout was more of an inconvenience than being sick...a mere shadow of being sick.

I am not offering scientific proof, because I am reluctant to believe a lot of the studies out there anyway, they often are tied to some miracle oolong sales pitch or something. And unfortunately, the pharmaceuticall companies are not throwing a lot of money towards tea research.

Often my beliefs are based on logic to some degree, logic tells me that tea helps.

[Pentox]

Or bless the power of PLACEBO!!!

tea update: switched to jasmine pearls to finish off my bag of them.

[Wesli]

this last little bout was more of an inconvenience than being sick...a mere shadow of being sick.

That is exactly how I felt about my last cold. It lasted 3 days instead of 5. I usually get a real runny nose and end up with a pocket full of kleenex, but that didn't happen. Coughing was hardly a problem. The cold still seemed bad, but such is how it is when you only get sick 2-3 times a year.

[Eastree]

I have never attempted using tea for the sake of medication. So I have no opinion on the topic.

As for the day, whatever I sip, it'll be tea for one as usual.

[Ladytiger]

Started today with Assam Medlody and grabbed a bottle of Inko's White Tea to review.
Before I really got into teas, I really never got sick, only twice a year because of allergies. Since I started drinking tea daily, I haven't seen any real change...yet.

[jogrebe]

I'm drinking Sencha at the moment. As to getting sick its hard to say if tea makes a difference as its been over a year since I've last been sick beyond a minor cold that I was the only one that was not hit hard by it. So maybe all the tea I drink is what is making the difference.

[JT]

I made some Golden Buddha this morning.
Now I'm on my 5th infusion of Ureshino Tama Ryokucha from Itoen. I just opened it up today. It's very similar to dens guricha.


I'm not advocating the use of tea for medicinal properties, I drink it mainly because I like the taste. When I was sick last week it made me feel better right after drinking. I also seemed to recover pretty fast. Who knows if it helped or not.
When I was younger, I'd get sinus infections and bronchitis multiple times a year and ended up on antibiotics a lot. I rarely get sick anymore too. This year is the first time I've caught anything in a few years.

[Victoria]

Switching to one of my new favorites - Orange Blossom Oolong from Chado - Yes a flavored oolong, to which I had previously stated never again. Delish! And wow, the aroma on this one is just outstanding.

[TimeforTea]

This morning and afternoon, I enjoyed my first cups of adagio vanilla green. I really liked it--it was very soothing.

And speaking of WINTER, the other night my husband came home from work and I was shoveling the sidewalk and steps of our house. I didn't want to stop because I had so much energy. He said, "I know why you have so much energy. It's because you quit "the coffee" and are drinking green tea now."

I am not saying to "drink green tea for energy". All I'm saying is that I feel a lot better replacing coffee with green tea.

Chip, hope you feel better soon!!

Edit: ended this evening with a cup of Valentine's tea from adagio. I'm not one for black teas, but this one was excellent! It really tasted like chocolate covered strawberries!

[TimeforTea]

I have never attempted using tea for the sake of medication. So I have no opinion on the topic.

It's not about "using tea for the sake of medication". It's about drinking tea as part of a healthy lifestyle.

Scientific studies (antioxidants, etc.) aside, we all know that drinking tea is a lot more healthier than drinking cream and sugar filled coffee; soda; juice drinks; energy drinks; etc.

[Eastree]

So, my question for everyone. What say you, does tea help prevent illness for you in your personal experience???

My angle: medicine can be used to prevent illness. That's not why I drink tea. The health aspect of tea is an aside to my enjoyment of the beverage.

But I do find it interesting when a site describes teas in interesting ways such as, "This tea is a very good daily tea. It is also recommended as an efficacious remedy for the hives."

[scruffmcgruff]

Agreed, Eastree.

Oh, does chicken count as "herbal" or "other"? Other, right?

[Chip]

The health aspects of tea...or potential health aspects are up for much debate, which is one reason I introduced it here. It is a good topic over a cuppa tea, right!!!

One other health tid bit for me is I used to have severe acid reflux. I had avoided getting on the med train because I feared never getting off of it. I happened to start drinking tea a short time later and since I drink green tea, it is gone, no symptoms or occurances. Again, my own brand of logic tells me tea had something to do with this...but I draw no conclusions.

Newbee2tea, I am fully recovered I think...thanx.

Round 2, Ding Gu Da Fang, my new fav Chinese green tea. It is a Long Jing look alike and a little more robust...and a lot cheaper than most Long Jing. I recommend this to anyone thinking of trying green tea.