Tea will save you from thirst in the summer and warm you in the cold season - you just need to know what drink to prepare for different seasons in order to get benefits and pleasure from it.
We learned how to drink tea in the summer heat from the Chinese - they, according to a long-standing tradition, quench their thirst. Chinese tea experts are sure that this drink is much better than sour milk, mineral water and cold water, and even more so than soda. These cold and cool drinks give a cooling effect only for a while, and then the body is forced to increase the temperature in order to balance its difference in the stomach and in the rest of the body.
Best of all at this time, green and white teas help not to disappear from the heat. Experts have deduced a pattern - the less processed the tea leaf, the better it refreshes and quenches thirst, as well as invigorates and cools. These can be the first delicate leaves of a tea bush (they are used to make delicate varieties of green tea) or spring tea buds with leaves covered with white hair (this is white tea) that are not heavily heat-treated.
China and Vietnam have made great strides in the cultivation of special summer teas. They create special conditions for growth, they are collected and processed in a special way. Central Asia, the Middle East and other places where tea bushes are grown do not particularly care about elite varieties. It is customary to drink simple tea there, but it must certainly be fresh. How to determine how fresh tea is on the store shelf? Just look at the collection or packing date on the box. The earlier it was packed (April-May), the better. The summer collection can also be bought, but it is noticeably inferior to the spring one in taste and sophistication. But tea in March or February packaging, and even more so in autumn, does not make any sense to buy - it has already lost its freshness.
For summer tea, it is better to buy one of the four main types of summer tea: white, white pu-erh, green, and tea with floral or other aroma additives. Their brewing methods differ:
- you need to take a little more white tea than usual, brew with water at 70-75 degrees and let it brew for 5 minutes. Then cool to 60 degrees and enjoy the delicate taste. If you cool the drink to 40 degrees, the cooling effect will be greater. This tea leaves can be poured several more times;
- green tea is best brewed in a small teapot and drunk from small cups (it contains a lot of caffeine, so you shouldn't risk it). After you have filled it with 70-75 degrees water, one minute is enough for the tea to infuse. It is better to drink it without sugar.
- tea with additives - a good way out in the summer heat. You can buy tea with jasmine or mint, they are the best for refreshing. By the way, mint can be bought, dried and added to any tea.
When it comes to cooling the tea, this is not a good idea. Tea "lives" just as long as it remains warm, then all its useful properties disappear. Ideally, cool the drink to room temperature and add lemon. Then the heat will definitely not be scary.
As for winter, everything that warms and tones up, helps to endure the cold is suitable here, it should be a drink with a rich tart taste. The best drink for this time of year is ginger tea with lemon. It warms up the blood, invigorates, saturates the cells with vitamins. The next most popular is black tea with the addition of sea buckthorn and honey. This is a vitamin and invigorating drink, and also delicious. Sea buckthorn and honey can be added to taste.
Black tea can be brewed with cardamom, vanilla, cinnamon, citrus zest, honey, as well as aromatic and medicinal herbs.
Recently, masala tea has become more and more popular - a drink made from black tea brewed in milk or cream and generously seasoned with spices. It perfectly warms, invigorates and brings great pleasure thanks to the essential oils of spices. And hot milk pleasantly envelops the throat and warms the breast.
In winter, it is also very nice to add self-picked herbs and dried berries, as well as rose hips to the usual tea leaves. You can compose a peculiar composition of different herbs and try different options, creating your own unique tea with different additives.
