When it comes to the list of the most popular drinks in the world, the second-most popular beverage (after water) is tea. It’s enjoyed by people around the world throughout the day and at all times of year and is more than just a yummy alternative to fruit juice, coffee and soda. Tea can also provide numerous health benefits for both the mind and body.
If this early part of the year has you thinking about ways to become healthier in 2019, drinking more tea is something you should consider. Whether you like to consume it when you first get up in the morning, as a break during the busy work day or to help you get ready to relax and go to sleep, you’ll find that this drink can have many positive effects. Read on for some of the top teas you should stock up on in your home and office, to help improve health and wellbeing.
Black Tea
It’s one of the most commonly imbibed drinks about the world, but black tea also happens to be a healthy beverage. It’s made from the leaves of Camellia sinensis plants and possesses good levels of antioxidant compounds like theaflavins and thearubigins. These are disease-fighting flavonoids which work to help stop stem cellular damage in the body. The compounds have also been linked to lower levels of cholesterol.
In addition, if you drink three cups or more of black tea per day, you could potentially cut your risk of stroke by more than 20 percent. It pays to steep your tea for a longer amount of time rather than shorter, though, as doing so increases the level of antioxidants you’ll end up with, you can read more for Velvet Foam’s review and benefit of black tea.
Green Tea
Green tea is another healthy beverage to drink regularly. It’s quite similar to black tea, but it differs in that the leaves of the plants are dried out and heat-treated soon after being picked, which stops the fermentation process. This provides the tea with a more delicate flavor.
Like black tea, green varieties are full of antioxidants. However, in this drink you’ll find antioxidants called catechin polyphenols. These compounds have been linked with helping to prevent numerous medical conditions such as heart disease, high cholesterol and cancer. It’s believed that drinking just a single cup of green tea each day can lower the risk of cardiovascular disease, too.
Peppermint Tea
It’s often consumed to refresh the palate after a meal, but peppermint tea offers more than just a cleanse for taste buds. In fact, the tea often helps people who are dealing with bloating, abdominal gas and muscle spasms, and it is seen as an aid for treating numerous cold and flu symptoms.
Whether you’re suffering from just a head cold or a full-on flu (for more details check out this article on how to tell the difference between cold and flu), the menthol in peppermint tea can act as a decongestant. Made from the dried leaves of peppermint plants, this drink can help to thin mucus, sooth sore throats and break up coughs.
Reishi Mushroom Tea
If you’re looking for a tea that will help you ward off a wide variety of health issues, start drinking reishi mushroom tea. Known as the “mushroom of immortality” in ancient Eastern medicine, this tea is created from a specific type of fungus that seems to help people improve their immunity levels, reduce inflammation and allergy issues and steer clear of heart disease and cancer.
Since reishi mushrooms work as an immunostimulant, they can help to balance out threats to the body’s equilibrium. As such, this means drinking a tea made from the fungus can help with problems such as leaky-gut syndrome, high cholesterol, arthritis, muscle aches, chronic bronchitis and other infections, water retention, AIDS, constipation and Epstein-Barr. This tea is also said to help improve focus, memory and concentration and be useful as a natural antihistamine for people with allergies.
In recent years, scientists around the world have been looking into the potential medical applications of reishi and have found rather amazing results. In fact, the anti-cancer properties of the mushroom have been officially recognized in Japan, where the government has condoned it as a cancer treatment.
Ginger Tea
Ginger tea is another beverage you want to have on hand all the time. It is particularly helpful if you suffer from travel or motion sickness. It’s a digestive aid that can help to curb vomiting and sooth upset stomachs. Furthermore, if you’re suffering from chills during a flu or other virus, it can help to warm up the body.
A professional writer with over a decade of incessant writing skills. Her topics of interest and expertise range from health, nutrition and psychology.