Enjoy Your Tea Time!

Enjoy Your Tea Time!

 

Tea is an aromatic beverage commonly prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured leaves of the tea plant, Camellia sinensis. Camellia sinensis is the species  of the genus Camellia, a genus of flowering plants in the family Theaceae. 

There are lots of reasons why you enjoy a hot cup of tea: the aroma of various flavors of tea; holding onto a hot tea mug warms hands on a cold winter morning; sipping tea in front of the fireplace is a great way to relax. 

Furthermore, tea has a lot of health benefits like:

Tea contains antioxidants

tea's antioxidants protect your body from the ravages of aging and the effects of pollution.

Tea has less caffeine than coffee

Coffee usually has two to three times the caffeine of tea. An eight-ounce cup of coffee contains around 135 mg caffeine; tea contains only 30 to 40 mg per cup..

Tea can help you in maintaining a healthy weight

Green tea extracts may actually interfere with fat formation in the body. As a side note: green tea extracts should not be confused with bottled green tea drinks that may be full of added sugar.

Tea is calorie-free

Tea doesn't have any calories, unless you add sweetener or milk. Consuming even 250 fewer calories per day can result in losing one pound per week. If you're looking for a satisfying, calorie-free beverage, tea is a top choice.

Tea increases your metabolism

 Lots of people complain about a slow metabolic rate and their inability to lose weight. Green tea has been shown to actually increase metabolic rate so that you can burn 70 to 80 additional calories by drinking just five cups of green tea per day.

Green tea may help you see better

 The eye, like any part of the body, can suffer oxidative stress -- making it more prone to disease. Study found that components in green tea positively affected the tissues of the eyes, especially tissue related to the retina.

Tea bolsters your immune defenses

 Drinking tea may help your body's immune system fight off infection.

Black tea can help to reduce stress levels

 A cup of black tea may be just what you need to reduce stress. Study found that black tea actually helped in reducing levels of the stress hormones in study participants. Black tea showed yet another benefit related to stress: blood pressure. 

May help you fight diabetes

Study reviewing a variety of caffeinated teas found that the caffeine in tea may help in reducing the overall risk of diabetes.

Reduced cancer and cardiovascular risks

Researchers showed that the polyphenols the antioxidants found in green tea may help to stop the progression of certain cancers. Scientists observed that after a year, 30% of men in a placebo group progressed to prostate cancer, compared with only 9% of men who were in a tea-supplemented group.

Other cancers for which tea provides protective health benefits are cancers of the gastrointestinal tract, lung, breast and skin, researchers say.