Green tea has been lauded throughout time for it’s many health benefits. It’s healing properties have been known to the Chinese since the ancient times and is still used today to treat illnesses raging from heart disease, to weight loss, and cancer.

The ancients may have been onto something. Modern science has proven the cancer fighting and fat burning abilities of green tea. One of the things that makes green tea so special is its powerful concentration of antioxidants. Antioxidants are molecules or chemicals that slow down the oxidization of another molecule. The antioxidants in green tea hunt down free radicals (rogue cells) in the body that cause cancer… and destroy them. Thereby inhibiting the growth cancer causing cells.

Scientific studies in Asia have shown that the more green tea that subjects drank, the less the risk of developing stomach cancer, esophageal cancer, prostate cancer and other gastro-intestinal cancers — sometimes as much as sixty percent. Drinking green tea before and after cancer removal surgery also lessens the risk of recurrence.

Green tea is also a great helper of the heart. It’s proven to lower cholesterol and prevent blood clots. The antioxidants and caffeine in tea work to dilate the blood vessels and keep them flexible — making them less susceptible to clogging.

What makes green teas healing powers different from that of black tea?

It’s all in the preparation. Green and black tea both derive from the same plant, Camellia sinensis. The difference is the way that the teas are processed. In preparing green tea, oxidation is halted soon after the freshly picked leaves are harvested, thus preserving their ripe hue. The leaves are air or steam dried no longer than two days after being plucked from the bush. The steaming and absence of fermentation in green tea preserves the naturally occuring compound EGCG. Epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) is a catechin polyphenol, the powerful antioxidant that gives green tea most of it’s cancer fighting, and LDL cholesterol lowering abilities.

Black tea and Oolong teas are fermented which morphs EGCG into other chemical compounds, making it a less effective agent of good health than it would be in it’s original form.

Here are a few of the diseases/ailments that green tea is reputed to heal:

• Cancer
• Diabetes
• Heart Disease
• Increase metabolic rate
• Burn fat
• Rheumatoid arthritis
• Infection
• Boost immune system
• Prevent cognitive deterioration

Here are some of my favorite loose leaf green tea varieties:

• Chinese Sencha Green Tea
• Japanese Bancha Green Tea
• Ginger Sencha Green Tea
• Green Chai Tea
• Enchanted Forest Almond Tea
• Macaebo Exotic Spice Tea
• Orange Sencha Green Tea

Now that you know all the health benefits of green tea, enjoy a steaming cup. The lack of flavor is one of the widest complaints about green tea. Unfortunately, green tea has been given a bad wrap because many people only experience pre-bagged green tea from the grocery store. These teas are absolute rubbish. The best tea is loose leaf tea.

Loose leaf teas preserve the full flavor of the tea. Bagged tea leaves are pulverized in order to allow for rapid diffusion. However, in doing so, the surface area of the tea leaves is increased, allowing for quick evaporation of the essential oils that give tea its distinct flavor. That’s why most grocery store tea bags are just flat-out bland.

Happy sipping!

Wikipedia defines a hot toddy as “mixed drink that is served hot.” This is quite a vague description given to a drink that is consumed primarily as a home-remedy for the common cold or flu. The Toddy takes many forms… but it is essentially hot tea laced with spirits (most often whiskey, rum or brandy) and made palatable with a few drops of honey, lemon and spices of your choice (cinnamon, cloves or nutmeg).

Like chicken soup, the majority of the drink’s healing properties come from the heat and steam which serve to open up the sinuses, aiding in decongestion. The honey helps to soothe the throat and the liquor, if nothing else, eases the soul.

A Toddy can be made with a base of black, green or herbal tea — really, it is a matter of preference. More traditionally, cloves and cinnamon are added to Toddies to improve the flavor. I opt for a green or black chai, or similar blend of aromatic tea, that already contains these spices. Green tea with ginger is also a nice option.

Of course loose leaf teas, with their robust flavor profiles, provide a nice base for anyone looking to add their own spices to a brew. Check out Indulgeteas.com for a wide selection of premium loose leaf teas for your next hot toddy.  See our guide to tea for characterstics and steeping instructions for  an array of tea varieties.

Toddy Ingredients (1 cup):

• 1-2 Tsp of tea of your choice (black, green, or herbal)
• 1 Tbsp honey
• 1/4 lemon
• 1 cup of hot water

Preparation:

1. Boil the water
2. Pour honey into the mug
3. Pour liquor and juice of the lemon into the cup
4. Place loose leaf tea in diffuser over cup and pour on the hot water (or drop teaball, or prepared teabag into water)
5. Steep for 2-4 minutes
6. Remove tea ball, bag or diffuser, stir to blend honey, tea and liquor
7. Sip and enjoy

Choosing a drink to pair with a cigar is a truly enjoyable task. Wine, scotch, beer and coffee have historically been the accepted beverages of choice to compliment a cigar. I thoroughly enjoy all these potables, but he reserves a special place in his heart for tea. It seems only natural that the two should be married, if for no other reason than for their similar physical composition. Many cigar lovers refer to themselves as Brothers of the Leaf when articulating their relationship to others who share their passion. The tea leaf is cultivated and cured in a similar fashion to the tobacco leaf and thus produces a flavor profile that complements a good cigar like no other drink. The shear diversity of tea varietals, country of origins, flavors and aroma will challenge and entice seasoned cigar smokers to pair their most cherished sticks with a steaming cup or iced glass of tea. For the price of a bottle of Makers Mark, one could sample a dozen Tea from indulgeteas.com and enjoy nearly 200 delicious cups.

I believe that most negative opinions towards tea stem from only being exposed to overpriced, bitter tasting, over produced grocery store caliber offerings. Those fancy boxes are often filled with nothing but cheap, flavorless leaves that are ground into a powder called fannings and hidden from view inside a teabag. Fannings may brew quickly, but their flavor complexity, aroma and color are severely diminished. Artificial flavorings are often added to spice up or mask these bland, inferior teas.

Quality tea is painstakingly cultivated and picked at the peak of perfection. Whole leaf tea infuses hot water with complex flavors as it blossoms in your cup. The color and aroma of loose leaf tea is nothing like the cloudy, bland experience that comes from Lipton’s. Aside from a good cigar, there are few things in life as simple and enjoyable as a properly brewed cup of whole leaf tea. Here are a few pairing suggestions.

Mild, Connecticut wrapper cigar – Mate tea
Corojo or Criollo wrapper – Gunpowder (Black Tea)
Cameroon wrapper cigar – Japanese sencha (Green Tea)

Although it may never replace scotch or wine as the number one beverage of choice when pairing a cigar, whole leaf tea might just get a seat at the table next to its more potent cousins if I have my way.