Hello everyone ♥
I really want my blog to be interesting for my
readers so I decided to add one more lifestyle rubric, accept for #WhatIAteToday.
Beside my interests about skincare & haircare,
perfumes, makeup, manicure and another beauty related things I have a few more,
one of them I decided to share with you today – the aromatic strong tea.
Tea is my all time favourite drink since I was
little kid – I prefer it strong, unsweetened and in huge mugs. Usually the
winter is the time when most of the people drink tea, so I decided to post now
my favourite teas and in case you’re interested I could post my summer faves
which you can consume cold as well later next year.
So today we’re going to talk about 5 of my favourite teas – how to prepare them correct, which are their benefits (and negatives) and how to consume them.
One thing you have to know for sure is that the best
high quality teas are the loose leaf teas and not the ready packed teas. If you
can choose you should definitely go for a loose leaf tea. The reason is that
the bigger and complete the tea leaves are the better the quality of the tea
is. The content in the ready packed tea is made of the leftovers from the real
tea and respectively, this type of tea has lower quality.
Here are my 5 favourite teas:
1.Ceylon tea
Every morning I like to start my day with a
cup of strong hot tea, mostly black tea. The 3 most popular variations of black tea are Ceylon tea, Earl Grey and
English breakfast. I really enjoy and like all 3 variations but today I decided
to share with you my thoughts about the Ceylon tea. I don’t know if you know
it, but the black, white and green tea are all made of the plant tea /Camellia sinensis/. The
white teas leaves are wilted and unoxidized, the green tea leaves are unwilted
and unoxidized and the black tea leaves
are wilted, sometimes crushed, and fully oxidized. During the process of
oxidizing the leaves turn their color from green to black. The name of the
Ceylon tea comes from the place where is cultivated and produces – Ceylon, Sri
Lanka. The Ceylon tea’s
taste is strong, slightly bitter and I can feel the slight sour note to it.
Compared to the Earl Grey and English breakfast I can feel the sour note only
in the Ceylon tea and for me it’s the lightest and non concentrated version of
black tea of all of the 3, so if you’re new to the drinking of black tea then
maybe you should start with the Ceylon. The scent of it is strong, thick and I
can smell the slight amber note to it. The color of the tea is yellow-brownish.
I prepare the Ceylon tea with 1 tsp of dry leaves and really hot water (around
90-95◦) and steep it for 4-5 minutes. Mine I bought from a herbs market in Turkey but the Ceylon tea is so
popular and you can definitely find it in any store, that sells loose leaf
teas. From the packed variants I like the Тeekanne and Lipton. In one cup
of green tea there’s 45mg caffeine, which is almost the same amount as in a cup of coffee
and that’s why I drink it only in the mornings. I prefer to drink it clear, but
in case you don’t like unsweetened tea than you can add some brown sugar. The black
tea has a lot of benefits if you’re dinking it regularly, for example it has
calming and refreshing effect at the same time, it works against the bad
cholesterol and it has even weight reducing effect (but you have to drink it with no sugar or cream added).
2.
Chinese white tea
White tea comes from the buds and leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant. The leaves and buds are allowed to wither and
dry in natural sun.
The name "white tea" derives from
the fine silvery-white hairs on the unopened buds of the tea plant, which gives
the plant a whitish appearance.
White
tea’s taste is similar to the black tea’s taste, but it’s way finer, softer,
lighter and clear, without the bitterness and thickness of the black tea’s. The
scent is delicate, soft and slightly woody and the color is apparently not
white, but light yellow-ish. I prepare it with hot water (65-70°), and the time for steeping is just about 1-2 minutes.
In a cup of white tea there’s way little caffeine compared to the black tea so
you can definitely drink it not only in the mornings, but also in the
afternoons or during the day. This particular one is by the Bulgarian brand
Bioprograma – a few months ago I had the chance to try authentically Chinese
white tea and on my opinion, this Bulgarian tee taste pretty similar to the
original. The
benefits from the regularly drinking of white tea are a lot, mostly the fact
that is great for keeping your skin young and wrinkle free and it’s really good
for your oral hygiene.
3. Chinese green tea
The very first time I tried green tea was a total
miss – I didn’t like It at all (it was packed and the whole packaging had an
awful taste) so long time I afterwards I didn’t want to try it again. Later I
decided to give it a chance since I adore the flavor of the black & white
tea and since they’re all made of one plant I decided that I’ll probably like
it. After that the green tea turns quickly in favourite of mine. Mine
particular one is original Chinese green tea and the taste has nothing to do
with my previous bad memories I had. Although I had to mention that nice
tasting packed green tea is by Lipton and Ahmad. Green tea leaves have
undergone minimal oxidation during processing
compared to the black and white tea. Green tea’s taste is fine, delicate, slightly
earthy and the scent is fresh, soft and somehow reminds me of sea. If you’re familiar with Elizabeth Arden’s Green
Tea perfume you already know how the authentic green tea smells like. I like to
drink my green tea during the day – a cup of it contains 35mg caffeine so it
works like a coffee to me. Regular drinking of green tea has thousands of
benefits and I’m sure you’re all know how to search more information about
them, in case you’re interested. I only
want to mention that drinking green tea or taking green tea supplements
decreases the blood concentration of total
cholesterol, works against the free radicals and works as an
antioxidant. I prepare it as I pour the green tea leaves with hot, but not
boiling water – around 70 ◦, and
steep for 2 to 3 minutes. Sometimes I like to add ginger to the green tea,
especially in the wintertime and in the summer I mix it with mint tea and a bit
of honey – it’s great homemade ice tea.
4. Honeybush tea
I first tried the Honeybush tea last summer and
since I love eating honey so much I was sure that I’ll like the honeybush tea –
and I was right. Cyclopia, better known by the common name Honeybush, or Heuningbos in Afrikaans,
is a genus of some 20 species of flowering
plants in the legume
family, Fabaceae,
of the subfamily Faboideae. It tastes similar to the roibos tea and it
has naturally sweet taste and smell. It’s smell is kind of a strong, really
smoky and slightly woody. The taste it’s interesting – naturally sweet,
honey-like, thick and I can definitely feel the woody note to it. I don’t think
everyone would enjoy this tea – it slightly reminds me of roibos, but I
personally don’t like roibos at all, but enjoy drinking honeybush. The
interesting thing it is that if you add some honey to the tea it would taste
like sweet honey drink which is great, if you have really sweet tooth like I do
– it satisfies my crave for sweet just like drinking a milkshake for example.
The color of the tea is ochre – yellowish brown with slight orange tint. I love
drinking Honeybush tea during the winter and autumn time – somehow it’s taste
reminds me of winter, it comfy and warm. I prepare it as I use 1 tbsp honeybush
leaves with boiling water and steep for 5-7 minutes. Mine honeybush tea is from
markets Lechitel and I want to mention that the honeybush leaves are super
small and tiny, so be careful how you’ll prepare your tea if you don’t want to
have tiny leaves swimming all over your cup. Honeybush tea is really nice for
your organism if you drink it regulary - it controls your hormones level, it
works antioxidant and anti toxic.
5. Arabian tea 1001 nights
The last tea I decided to review today is really
interesting – mix of green tea, sunflower petals, rose hips and rose petals,
orange flower hips. It’s unique! It’s from one of Dubai’s local tea &&
herbs markets and I can’t repurchase the same again, but I want to pay
attention to the teas in the Arabian markets and stores nearby. There you can
definitely find really interesting and non typical flavor combinations. This
particular tea has super specific scent which I can’t associate with anything
similar to it – it’s tasty, sweet and so aromatic, like fine luxury
dessert. It’s taste it’s the same as the
scent – sweet, non typical and so tasty! I can definitely feel the orange
flower hips and the sweetness probably comes from them, and the rose hips
flowers and sunflower hips are making the taste of the tea so unique. The tea’s base – green tea is unrecognized.
The color of the tea is bright yellowish-green. I’m sure you can’t imagine how
tasty this tea is. It was something so new for me that has changed my point
about the teas – before I drank it I used to go for the classic teas – black,
green, white and their mixtures. By now I’m always looking for new and
interesting flavours and combinations.
So this was everything about part #1 of my favourite
teas. Which are your favourite teas?
Have a nice evening everyone ♥
