Tea 201 - Lies of Misstatements About Tea

While Americans still drink more coffee than tea, the popularity of our Camellia sinensis is rapidly growing.  Most of its popularity is because of the supposed magic properties of tea.  I say ‘supposed’ simply because there are a lot of myths being thrown out there about tea.  This article today will hopefully dispel some of those rumors.  As much as I love tea, I know it is simply a plant with many healthy properties.  But its amazing properties are still only quite limited.

There are a few good articles out there that give you the hard honest truth about tea, but there are some main points that need to be addressed:

Myth: Tea comes in many varieties.

Truth: False.  Tea comes from one plant and one plant only: Camellia sinensis.

Myth: Herbal Tea is tea.

Truth: False.  Unless there is Camellia sinensis in the tea, it is not technically tea.

Myth: Tea helps in fighting cancer.

Truth:  Studies have shown that it has helped tremendously for rats.  In the case of humans: there is not enough research to prove it one way or another.

Myth: Black tea has more caffeine than green tea.

Truth: False.  They are both the same.  The only difference is the way they are processed.

Myth: Tea will make you skinny.

Truth: Sorry, but false.  Some scientists believe that the caffeine can jump start your metabolism and ability to burn fat.  In fact, even if it did it’s so minimal that you can knock out all that the tea did for you buy eating an Oreo cookie!

There are even some misconceptions when it comes to loose leaf vs. tea bags:

Myth: Loose leaf is expensive.

Truth: You are technically getting higher quality.  However, it is usually the upfront cost of some loose leaves that appear expensive but once calculated only amount to about $0.10 a cup!

Myth: Loose leaf tea requires a lot of equipment.

Truth: False.  There are a lot of fancy items out there but if you have a teapot/cup with an infuser then that’s all you need.  In fact, here’s a link for a low cost beginners tea pot:

http://www.adagio.com/teaware/personaliTEA_teapot.html

Otherwise, there is no difference in making with loose leaf vs. tea bags. With a simple teapot/cup and an infuser there is no longer a question of one being more convenient then the other!

All right, there are many more misconceptions out there that may have to be written in another post.  However, I challenge you all now to go forth into the world and educate!