Lifestyle:My Favourite Teas #1 (EN)

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?

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Have a nice evening everyone ♥