Drinking tea associated with lower risk of heart disease

Tea is the most popular drink in the world after water and with good reason – it provides a range of natural health benefits, largely due to its flavonoid content.

A new scientific review just published in ‘Nutrition Bulletin’ [1] by independent nutritionists, Dr Carrie Ruxton and Dr Pamela Mason, has found that drinking three or more cups of tea a day is associated with a significant reduction in the risk of heart disease.

The review, which focused on black tea, reviewed 40 papers, most of which reported significant associations between regular black tea consumption and less heart disease. According to Ruxton & Mason, in the groups consuming the most tea, heart disease risk was 30-57% lower compared with groups who drank little or no tea. Their review found evidence of a reduced risk of various risk factors such as arterial stiffness and inflammation.Regular black tea consumption was also associated with reduced risk of stroke.

Commenting on this latest research, author and Tea Advisory Panel member, Dr Ruxton notes: “Mechanistically, these beneficial findings are thought to be due to positive factors in black tea such as flavonoids and theanine, which may help to control blood pressure by regulate nitric oxide production and inhibiting platelet Our review also found evidence of a link between black tea consumption and a reduced risk of type 2 diabetes when 1-5 cups of tea were consumed daily, depending on the study under investigation.”[2]

We’ve always known the ‘humble cuppa’ was actually rather mighty…time to put the kettle on.

If you’re anything like us then you will have enjoyed one too many mince pies this festive season! So to give us a helping hand as we head back to the gym (hmm?) We are drinking our fantastic “Skinny tea,”  Pu-Erh.

Our Pu-Erh Mini Tuo Cha tea comes in a compressed cake-like form and produces a strong, earthy flavoured liquor with complex and slightly sweet notes. It is low in caffeine and relaxes the body and mind. Not only that, it’s also favoured by celebrities such as Victoria Beckham for its alleged slimming qualities. Slip into those skinny jeans with the help of this “skinny tea”.

If it good enough for Mrs Beckham then we will definitely be having a cuppa!

Check it out online

?Join us to celebrate our Birthday with a cheeky glass or two of bubbly, tea cocktails from The Bon Vivant, nibbles from our new menu.. With live music, informal tea tastings and a sneaky peak at all our teas and accessories. See you there! xx

24th November, 6pm – 10pm
eteaket tea boutique, 41 Frederick Street, Edinburgh, EH2 1EP

The mornings are definitely getting darker, and here at eteaket we are in desperate need of some motivation to get out of bed on these dark and dreary mornings!

So we are brightening your journey to work with our fantastic resuesable takeaway cup, the Keep cup. Not only do they look fantastic but are lightweight, environmentally friendly, dishwasher safe, microwaveable and splash proof. They also last 4 years! And for those of you braving these winter mornings and putting us all to shame by still exercising, they fit into bicycle bottle holders!

To sweeten the deal we are also holding a keep cup challenge, simply:

1. Buy one of our fantastic Keep cups: £9.99 and to say thanks we will fill it for free, (well we don’t want you leaving empty handed).

2. Everytime you use your Keep Cup we will give you 10% off your drinks purchase.

3. When you buy your Keep Cup we will enter you into our Keep Cup competitors board. Every time you use your Keep Cup you’ll get a tally on the competitors board.

The person with the most tallys at the end of November will win an Afternoon Tea for two!

http://www.eteaket.co.uk/teaboutique/info_J02.html

I don’t know if it is these dark night’s rolling in or the miserable weather but here at eteaket we are feeling a little bit lazy! After those festive summer months all we want to do is curl up with a cup of tea (and lets be honest a cheeky piece of cake!). Thats why we are loving our magic tea press, making our tea lives a piece of cake! Just pop a teaspoon of our favourite tea in (ours is Chocolate Abyss if you’re asking) add hot water, leave for three minutes and then just release the tea into your favourite mug. We could bore you with the science, but the design allows the leaves to float freely brewing the Perfect cuppa.

As Paul says “Its Magic!”…

With summer finally here (yes, even in Scotland) and the excitement of Wimbledon upon us we thought it was about time to explore the simple pleasures of iced tea.

Although it’s one of the most refreshing drinks around, iced tea is still very much frowned upon in the UK, which is strange given its prominence around the rest of the world (particularly in the US). Have a go yourself with our simple guide and let us know how you get on.

There are two main ways to make iced tea:

HOT BREW METHOD

This is the quickest way to make iced tea.

• Brew some tea. Use roughly 2 teaspoons of tea leaves per cup of boiling or hot water depending on tea type. That’s 8oz or 227ml give or take of hot water, so about double the amount of leaves as for normal hot tea. Remember never use boiling water for green or white teas – instead leave the kettle off the boil for about 2 mins. Brew the tea for the recommended time before removing the leaves (generally 3-4 mins for most black teas).

• Pour over ice. Pour the concentrated hot tea over ice cubes in a temperature resistant jug. If your iced tea goes cloudy, add a touch of boiling water. Add more ice if necessary but be aware that this will dilute the tea. A clever option is to pre-prepare some ‘tea ice’. Just make a little extra iced tea, fill your ice cube tray with it and put it in the freezer. Why not be a little adventurous and try your tea ice with some different drinks or cocktails?

• Do you want it plain? If you want a straightforward plain iced tea, use the best quality leaf tea you can find. It’s generally best to go for teas that have bright top notes rather than more malty teas like Assam. Teas with natural floral or fruity notes chill particularly well.

• Do you prefer it sweetened? Sugar and honey make good sweeteners. If using honey, it’s a good idea to add it to the hot tea first and stir until dissolved. If using sugar, it’s best to boil one cup of water with one cup of sugar and stir until the sugar is completely dissolved. You can then add the sugar syrup to the iced tea to taste.

• Try adding other things. Another option is to add fresh or frozen fruit or fruit juice to your iced tea. Or experiment by adding various spices while the tea is still hot (we particularly like cinnamon, nutmeg or ginger). Fresh herbs like mint, basil or lemongrass also work well when added to your iced tea.

COLD BREW METHOD

This method is only recommended for green and white teas. For best results, use a good quality leaf tea and filtered water, which helps extract the tea better when brewing cold.

Use roughly two teaspoons of tea leaves per cup (roughly 8oz or 227ml) of cold water (again roughly double the amount of leaves as you would for normal hot tea). Add cold water to the leaves and refrigerate overnight (or longer for a stronger taste). Sweeten or garnish as desired.

Here is a list of our most popular teas to make iced

Unflavoured Tea: Ceylon Lover’s Leap, Second Flush Darjeeling, Ceylon Vert & White Peony.

Flavoured Tea: Life’s a Peach, Jasmine Chun Hao, Blooming Marvellous, White Peach.

Herb & Fruit Infusions. Although they don’t contain any tea so not strictly iced teas, these herb & fruit infusions work really well iced: Strawberries & Cream, Zen Zephyr and Cranberry Apple Riot.

Please let us know how you get on with your iced tea or if you have any interesting recipes or ideas (hello@eteaket.co.uk).

Happy experimenting.

© eteaket ltd June 2010

We’ve finally sent our first eteaket newsletter.

Check it out http://tiny.cc/es2uc to claim your free Afternoon Tea, 10% off web orders until 11 June 2010, enter our Extreme Tea competiiton, details of forthcoming events and tea and health news.

It’s not perfect but at least it’s a start – technology doesn’t exactly come easily to me!

How many of us have already broken our New Year’s resolutions? I for one still haven’t set foot inside the gym – not even for a cheeky Jacuzzi – despite the fact I’m paying a small fortune for the privilege.

I’ve decided to be more realistic this year. Turning my addiction to tea to my advantage, I have resolved to achieve the following 4 simple goals:

1. Lose a little weight

Although I firmly believe in the power of cake to help me get my PMA (positive mental attitude!), it is possible to overindulge sometimes. That’s where tea comes in. You see, tea without milk has no calories. Using semi-skimmed milk adds around 13 calories per cup, but you also benefit from valuable minerals and calcium.

As if that’s not enough, a Swiss study on green tea found that the caffeine interacts with the flavonoids and appears to speed up calorie burning, including fat calorie burning (American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Nov 1999). Click here for more info on the health benefits of tea.

I also swear by drinking some sweet flavoured tea when you’re tempted by an extra slab of cake – my particular favourites are Rooibos Crème Caramel and Chocolate Abyss. Or try some Pu-Erh, favoured by celebrities like Victoria Beckham for its alleged slimming properties.

2. De-stress

After a hectic year setting up eteaket, I really need to learn how to relax a little. By making myself take at least 20 mins out a day to just sit with a pot of tea and no distractions (especially no mobile, internet, newspapers or TV), I have found it easier to stay relaxed and maintain perspective. Try it yourself – you’ll be amazed how much more productive you are.

My favourite teas to relax with at the moment are Yellow Gold Oolong and the aptly named Chillaxin’ Chamomile.

3. Spend more time with family and friends

Tea is a very sociable drink and the whole ceremony of tea leaves, tea pot and china cups really helps people connect. Don’t forget, eteaket’s Afternoon Tea is available 7 days a week and is only £9.85 per person. For that, you get a sandwich of your choice, a freshly baked scone with clotted cream & preserve and a selection of mini patisserie served on a vintage cake stand plus a pot of tea.

It you’re ‘too busy’ to make it into eteaket, we now do Afternoon Tea parties for any occasion, be it a private party, wedding or corporate event. We also hire our vintage china and cakestands. Further details will be on the website shortly – in the meantime, please contact us for further information.

4. Help the environment

Last, but not least, in my list of achievable targets for 2010 is to help the environment. Did you know that tea has a significantly smaller carbon footprint than beer, Coca Cola, or milk.* Also, by choosing leaf tea over tea bags, your carbon foot print is about 9/10ths less than if you used tea bags. It’s a no-brainer really considering brewing loose leaf tea gives the leaves room to steep properly resulting in fuller flavour.

I’m also going to start re-using my tea leaves by adding them to my plant pots and watching my plants thrive. If you’re interested in other ways to re-use tea, click here.

So, by continuing my perfectly healthy addiction to tea, I’m confident I can realistically help control my weight, relax and de-stress, spend more quality time with family and friends and do a little to help the environment. That’s not bad for a humble leaf!

* See recent research by tea expert Nigel Melican reported at http://samovarlife.com/teas-carbon-footprint/

Check out this article Tea Trails Around The World by Andy Hayes who I met last week. The article discusses the best places to visit tea plantations. We even get a few mentions in the article.

I cannot rate Sri Lanka highly enough as a destination, be it to explore tea plantations, immerse yourself in the culture or relax on the stunning beaches. I took this picture while relaxing on a deserted beach at Unawatuna with a pot of tea. It’s a hard job, but someone’s got to do it!

eteaket feature in the PlanetEye Traveller this month on How to Make the Perfect Cup of Tea.

Here are our top tips:

• “You need to start with the freshest tea as possible.  That’s why you should buy tea from eteaket – they work directly with suppliers so you know you’re getting fresh stuff.
• It isn’t necessary to boil filtered water, but you do need to make sure that you use fresh water from the kettle.  If you re-boil water leftover from the last cup, the water gets de-oxygenated. (I do this a lot so had to admit my mistake, though Erica was forgiving!)
• We discussed at length on the use of bone china cups (with the little gold strip on the rim).  While Erica couldn’t say why this makes tea taste better, we both agreed it does.
• Water temperature is important.  Some teas, like green tea, doesn’t fare so well with boiling water.
• Brewing time is important (hence our timers).  Be sure you know what the brewing time is for your tea.”

Click here to read to full article. For a slightly more detailed brewing guide click here.