By Julie Deardorff
February 15, 2009
It's true that, unlike the rest of the world, Americans more often
drink our tea instant and iced. But a revolution is brewing.
We're warming up to the beneficial qualities of tea, the second most popular drink on the planet behind water.Tea sales in the U.S. are expected to double over the next five years, bolstered by a growing interest in its potential health benefits, according to market research firm Packaged Facts.
Starbucks, meanwhile, has introduced syrupy-sweet concoctions known as Tea Lattes and Tea Infusions. And 6-year-old competitor Argo Tea now has 13 Chicago stores, including "tea-osks" in hospitals, and plans to expand to New York later this year, a spokeswoman said.
"People come to tea as an alternative to coffee," Bill Todd, owner of Todd & Holland Tea Merchants in Forest Park, told me. "They like that it has caffeine but doesn't slam you. And they're looking for health benefits."
Still, Todd tries to educate his customers because so many misconceptions about tea are rampant. He set us straight on a few, included below. Think you know what you're sipping in that teacup? Read on
MYTH: Tea comes in many varieties. False! Only one plant gives us tea leaves-the Camellia sinensis. The differences in color and flavor among the three basic types-black, green and oolong-depend on how the leaves are processed. For black tea, the most popular type of tea in the U.S., the tea leaves are exposed to air, or allowed to oxidize. Green teas are less processed to preserve the green color and delicate flavor. Oolong tea is between black and green.
MYTH: Herbal tea is tea.
False! Even more shocking is that Rooibos isn't tea either. Technically, tea must come from the Camillia sinensis plant. Herbal teas such as Celestial Seasonings' popular Sleepytime product are made from other plants and called "tisanes." Rooibos or "red tea" is not a leaf; it's a seed from a bush that grows in South Africa. Though herbal teas can have health benefits, most of the research has been done on tea, not tisanes.
MYTH: Tea can help fight cancer.
True-if you're a rat. Studies show tea has a powerful cancer-fighting effect in rodents, said nutrition professor Jeffrey Blumberg, who runs the Antioxidants Research Laboratory at Tufts University. For humans, the data are less clear. But tea can help reduce your risk of heart disease, Blumberg told me. Catechins, a type of flavonoid, are what make tea healthy. Flavonoids are plant compounds known as phytochemicals. Tea is one of the most highly concentrated food sources of catechins.
MYTH: Black tea contains more caffeine than green tea.
False! Even though some black teas have names like "Awake" and green teas are called "Zen," the difference between green and black tea is in the processing, something that doesn't affect caffeine content. Because they're derived from the same plant, they contain similar amounts unless you brew your green tea for short periods. By the same token, green tea isn't healthier than black tea.
MYTH: You can decaffeinate a regular tea.
False! You can certainly try, as I have, by brewing a cup for 30 seconds, tossing out the water, and starting again. But this popular technique isn't backed by any evidence. If it does work, you're not just tossing out caffeine, you're also throwing out catechins and flavonoids, which tend to be released in the first 30 seconds.
MYTH: Drinking green tea will make you skinny.
False! Some scientists speculate that caffeine and EGCG-a highly active catechin in tea-may act together to increase fat oxidation. But study results are mixed, and the effects, if any, are so modest that they'll be wiped out by half an Oreo, said Blumberg. Still, tea has zero calories if you don't add milk, honey or sugar. (A 12-ounce Tazo Berry Chai Tea Infusion from Starbucks has about 190 calories.) So even if tea doesn't boost your metabolism, as some say, it can have a good substitution effect.
MYTH: Adding milk negates the health
benefits of tea.
It might! But it might not. Only one study has shown that adding
milk decreases the body's ability to absorb catechins in tea.
But the results haven't been replicated, said Blumberg. The debate
is whether the proteins in milk bind to the flavonoids in tea,
potentially reducing them.
MYTH: Restaurants know how to serve tea.
Not necessarily. If they give you a cup of hot water with the tea bag on the side, you're forced to push the floating tea bag down with a spoon or, even worse, your finger. Bad, bad, bad! "Always put the tea bag in first, then add the water," Mark Ukra counseled in "The Ultimate Tea Diet" (Collins Living, $16.99). Ukra also wrote that if you're making it at home, put milk in first, then the tea bag and then the water. Others (including my husband) insist that you should add milk after the water. Use boiling water for black tea and brew three to five minutes. For green tea, steep for two to three minutes in water that was about to boil, says the Tea Association.
MYTH: Tea bags are lowbrow.
Actually, they come in classy whole-leaf
mesh pouches these days. Michelle Wu, owner of Chicago's Loose
Leaf Tea Loft, noted that loose-leaf teas are considered higher
quality than bagged tea because the leaves are larger and have
more room to expand and give up their flavor. If you do use tea
bags, "buy a brand such as Mighty Leaf where you can actually
see the tea leaves," said Susan Blumberg, author of "All
the Tea in Chicago" (Des Voeux, $9.99).
Once, we were advised to cut out caffeine. But the latest research shows a daily cup could be a lifesaver. By Jane Feinmann
Tuesday, 19 August 2008
Giving up your skinny latte or double espresso every morning is currently top of the list of finance editors' tips for pain-free belt-tightening in the face of the looming recession. Apparently, the nation is listening Starbucks and other coffee-shop giants are now seriously feeling the pinch. And a good thing too, you may think. Coffee may be your favourite stimulant, but isn't it also a dangerous diuretic that has also been linked to a range of serious illnesses, including heart disease and cancer?
Well, before you let your local supplier
go to the wall, it's worth getting the bigger picture on the health
benefits of coffee, which has emerged from studies that have monitored
large populations over several years. The results from these long-term
studies tell a very different story showing just how badly
earlier research misjudged the health benefits of the roasted
bean. So here are some reasons why drinking coffee early and often
is good for you:
1. Coffee is as hydrating as plain water.
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It's a complete myth that a normal cup of coffee is a diuretic.
A large Starbucks has only 330mg of caffeine and you have
to absorb at least 550mg of caffeine in a single drink to produce
dehydrating levels of urine, according to a new review of coffee
studies carried out by the US Center for Science in the Public
Interest. So you can count your morning cup of coffee as part
of your daily water requirement. It's only when your drink contains
more than 550mg of caffeine that you'll start to produce dehydrating
levels of urine, according to the review
2. It probably cuts your risk of heart disease, and certainly
doesn't raise the chances of a heart attack
People with high blood pressure commonly avoid coffee as a stimulant
that might make their condition worse. Yet a series of large clinical
trials show that the opposite is true. University of California
cardiologists studied the 10 biggest trials of heart disease and
recently concluded there was no evidence that coffee increases
the risk of heart attack, sudden death or abnormal heart rhythms.
Most dramatically, a study of 27,000 women, followed for 15 years,
found that those who drank one to three cups of coffee a day reduced
their risk of heart disease by 24 per cent. Exactly why isn't
fully understood. It's known that caffeine does bring about a
small, temporary rise in blood pressure. But while regular consumers
of caffeine-rich cola are more likely to develop permanent high
blood pressure, the same is not true of regular coffee drinkers,
according to a 2005 study following 155,000 nurses for 12 years.
The explanation may be in non-caffeine components of coffee. So
far, 800 different aromatic compounds have been identified, including
many powerful antioxidants.
3. It cuts the risk of some cancers and has no adverse effect
on others
There was widespread alarm when research published in the early
1980s suggested that coffee raises the risk of pancreatic cancer.
An international review of 66 clinical trials, published in 2007,
provided final confirmation that coffee consumption is not carcinogenic
the cigarette-smoking that accompanied the coffee was the
likeliest cause. Another study of 59,000 Swedish women showed
no connection between caffeine consumption and breast cancer.
There's even a suggestion that coffee-drinking can prevent cancer.
Japanese researchers monitored the health of 90,000 men and women
for over a decade, and reported in 2005, in the Journal of the
National Cancer Institute, that regular consumers of two cups
of coffee a day had half the risk of developing liver cancer compared
with those who never drank it.
4. The cream in your coffee more than offsets
the slight reduction in calcium-absorption that caffeine appears
to cause
Caffeine does bring about a slight reduction in the absorption
of calcium in the bones, and some scientists have claimed that
people who drink coffee regularly have a higher risk of bone loss
and fractures. This is probably because coffee drinkers are less
likely to have milky drinks, according to bone biologist Dr Robert
Heaney of Creighton University, Omaha. He says that the small
caffeine-related increased risk of osteoporosis is easily offset
by adding a couple of tablespoons of milk per cup.
5. It makes you feel good
It's not imaginary: a decent cup of coffee improves your sense
of well-being, happiness, energy, alertness and sociability, according
to research at John Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore. You
have to drink the stuff regularly, however. Having the odd cup
is likely to cause anxiety and a feeling of being unwell.
Those with a coffee habit, however, may even be better protected
from potentially lethal depression. When Harvard University researchers
monitored the mental health of 86,000 nurses over a period of
10 years, they found that those who were regularly drinking between
two and four cups of coffee a day were significantly less likely
to have committed suicide.
The finding is still controversial. Researchers acknowledge that
people suffering from depression may have been advised not to
drink coffee so that the group most likely to commit suicide
would not be drinking the beverage. "An intriguing possibility,
however, is that caffeine can help prevent or ameliorate depression,"
commented the lead researcher, Professor Ichiro Kawachi.
6. It helps sports men and women recover
from extreme exercise
New research has shown that adding a few cups of coffee to the
carbohydrates eaten by athletes following exercise boosts muscle
recovery by up to 60 per cent apparently solving a problem
that has foxed sports physiologists until now. The study, published
in the Journal of Applied Physiology in July, has found a solution
to a problem that has resulted in increasingly complex dietary
schemes designed to help athletes recover faster.
"If you give an athlete more petrol in the tank, they will
go further. What we've done is to give them 50-60 per cent more
petrol," said Professor John Hawley, head of the exercise
metabolism group at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology
in Victoria, Australia. "It has been incredibly hard for
exercise physiologists Cancer Institute, that regular consumers
of two cups of coffee a day had half the risk of developing liver
cancer compared with those who never drank it.
4. The cream in your coffee more than offsets
the slight reduction in calcium-absorption that caffeine appears
to cause
Caffeine does bring about a slight reduction in the absorption
of calcium in the bones, and some scientists have claimed that
people who drink coffee regularly have a higher risk of bone loss
and fractures. This is probably because coffee drinkers are less
likely to have milky drinks, according to bone biologist Dr Robert
Heaney of Creighton University, Omaha. He says that the small
caffeine-related increased risk of osteoporosis is easily offset
by adding a couple of tablespoons of milk per cup.
5. It makes you feel good
It's not imaginary: a decent cup of coffee improves your sense
of well-being, happiness, energy, alertness and sociability, according
to research at John Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore. You
have to drink the stuff regularly, however. Having the odd cup
is likely to cause anxiety and a feeling of being unwell.
Those with a coffee habit, however, may even be better protected
from potentially lethal depression. When Harvard University researchers
monitored the mental health of 86,000 nurses over a period of
10 years, they found that those who were regularly drinking between
two and four cups of coffee a day were significantly less likely
to have committed suicide.
The finding is still controversial. Researchers acknowledge that
people suffering from depression may have been advised not to
drink coffee so that the group most likely to commit suicide
would not be drinking the beverage. "An intriguing possibility,
however, is that caffeine can help prevent or ameliorate depression,"
commented the lead researcher, Professor Ichiro Kawachi.
6. It helps sports men and women recover from extreme exercise
Journal of Applied Physiology in July, has found a solution to
a problem that has resulted in increasingly complex dietary schemes
designed to help athletes recover faster.
"If you give an athlete more petrol in the tank, they will
go further. What we've done is to give them 50-60 per cent more
petrol," said Professor John Hawley, head of the exercise
metabolism group at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology
in Victoria, Australia. "It has been incredibly hard for
exercise physiologists Cancer Institute, that regular consumers
of two cups of coffee a day had half the risk of developing liver
cancer compared with those who never drank it.
4. The cream in your coffee more than offsets
the slight reduction in calcium-absorption that caffeine appears
to cause
Caffeine does bring about a slight reduction in the absorption
of calcium in the bones, and some scientists have claimed that
people who drink coffee regularly have a higher risk of bone loss
and fractures. This is probably because coffee drinkers are less
likely to have milky drinks, according to bone biologist Dr Robert
Heaney of Creighton University, Omaha. He says that the small
caffeine-related increased risk of osteoporosis is easily offset
by adding a couple of tablespoons of milk per cup.
5. It makes you feel good
It's not imaginary: a decent cup of coffee improves your sense
of well-being, happiness, energy, alertness and sociability, according
to research at John Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore. You
have to drink the stuff regularly, however. Having the odd cup
is likely to cause anxiety and a feeling of being unwell.
Those with a coffee habit, however, may even be better protected
from potentially lethal depression. When Harvard University researchers
monitored the mental health of 86,000 nurses over a period of
10 years, they found that those who were regularly drinking between
two and four cups of coffee a day were significantly less likely
to have committed suicide.
The finding is still controversial. Researchers acknowledge that
people suffering from depression may have been advised not to
drink coffee so that the group most likely to commit suicide
would not be drinking the beverage. "An intriguing possibility,
however, is that caffeine can help prevent or ameliorate depression,"
commented the lead researcher, Professor Ichiro Kawachi.
New research has shown that adding a few
cups of coffee to the carbohydrates eaten by athletes following
exercise boosts muscle recovery by up to 60 per cent apparently
solving a problem that has foxed sports physiologists until now.
The study, published in the to help athletes in this way, and
it's a dilemma that has occupied researchers for decades. We asked
athletes to ingest caffeine, which has no nutritional benefit,
and the results were astounding."
In the study, athletes cycled to exhaustion before eating a carbohydrate
sports drink, bar or gel with a high caffeine dose the equivalent
of five or six cups of strong coffee immediately after the
exercise, and then two hours later. "We found that the amount
of carbohydrate that could be stored by the muscles when ingested
along with caffeine was about 60 per cent higher than with carbohydrates
alone. If you've got 60 per cent more fuel there for your next
day's run, cycle ride or football game, there is no question that
you would be able to go further or faster.
"The practical outcome of that is that an athlete training
or competing the next day will have a better training session
or race," Dr Hawley predicted. "Caffeine has a wonderful
effect on both short-term sprint performance and on endurance.
It is a remarkable drug that affects both ends of the spectrum."
7. It appears to offer protection from diseases
There are suggestions that a couple of cups of coffee daily reduces
the risk of Alzheimer's as well as Parkinson's disease, and possibly
diabetes. Caffeine appears to protect the brain from the harmful
effects of cholesterol, which is involved in the destruction of
the brain cells that leads to Alzheimer's. Other research has
shown that people who drink four or more cups of coffee a day
are less likely to develop Parkinson's disease, and that coffee
intake appears to be linked to a lower risk of Type 2 diabetes.
But don't overdo it...
*Coffee is no 'cure' for a hangover
The water in coffee will help to rehydrate you, and the caffeine
will give your brain a jolt, but the overall effect is likely
to make you feel worse. A strong coffee will irritate further
your already delicate stomach, and the increased blood flow to
the brain can increase the pounding in your head. The favourite
hangover remedy of a cocktail of black coffee and paracetamol
is potentially toxic, scientists reported in the journal Chemical
Research in Toxicology last year. Caffeine triples the amount
of a toxic by-product of paracetamol being broken down, increasing
the risk of potentially fatal liver damage.
*Coffee is addictive
Caffeine really is an addictive drug, according to neuroscientists
at John Hopkins University, Baltimore. They reviewed 66 studies
on caffeine withdrawal in 2004, and concluded that altering coffee-drinking
routines is likely to be a painful experience. Stopping drinking
even a single small cup of coffee every day produces withdrawal
symptoms. One in two people experience a throbbing headache that
begins 12 to 24 hours after the last cup is drunk and lasting
up to nine days. Less common symptoms include clinically significant
distress and an inability to function normally.
*You can drink too much coffee
Caffeinism is a controversial diagnosis, but there is evidencethat
you can overdose on caffeine, causing symptoms similar to panic
attacks and chronic anxiety, including palpitations, muscle-twitching,
flushing and diarrhoea.
How much caffeine?
*Cup of tea 47mg
*Cup of filter coffee 95mg
*Starbucks coffee grande 330mg
*Can of cola 35mg
*Diet Coke 47mg
*Can of Red Bull 76mg
by Karen Fernau - Jan. 18, 2010 03:55
PM
The Arizona Republic
Coffee drinkers turn to a cup of joe to jump-start the day or
to shake off afternoon lethargy. But boozed up, coffee becomes
a relaxing grand finale to dinner.
Top a coffee cocktail with whipped cream or flavor with chocolate,
and an after-dinner coffee drink doubles as dessert.
"It just seems that we can't get enough
coffee, and our craving for coffee makes it perfect for an after-dinner
drink, a comforting way to end the meal in style," said Kim
Whyte, a mixologist at the Lobby Bar in the Arizona Grand Resort
in Phoenix.
Coffee drinkers make up more than one-third of the world's population,
according to industry estimates. So it's no wonder the aroma and
flavor of coffee or espresso are becoming increasing popular as
an after-dinner indulgence.
If there's a signature after-dinner caffeine jolt, it's Irish
coffee, a blend of piping-hot coffee, whiskey, brown sugar and
floating cream.
Whyte and other mixologists, however, are taking coffee cocktails
in new directions, pouring such creations as a creme brulee martini,
a blend of Absolut Vanilia, hazelnut syrup, triple sec, espresso
and a splash of half-and-half.
"The strong flavor of coffee makes it compatible with a host
of liquors, especially flavored vodkas," Whyte said. "And
they can be served cold or hot, and go with whatever foods a person
likes. These cocktails are like wine. The right one is the one
you like to drink."
Any good caffeine-spiked cocktail begins with a good cup of coffee.
Whyte advises always to use good, fresh coffee. Beans lose flavor
quickly, so try to use them within two weeks of roasting. Beans
are naturally oily, so if you're buying them from a grocery bin,
stay clear of beans that are dull and dry, a sign they're past
their flavor prime.
Here are other tips for making top-notch coffee or espresso for
an after-dinner drink.
· Buy whole beans and grind your coffee just prior
to brewing. For drip brewing, the grind should be similar in consistency
to granulated sugar. Grind only as much whole-bean coffee as you
need for immediate brewing. Coffee begins to lose flavor and aroma
within one hour of being ground.
· Make sure your coffee pot or espresso maker is brewing
at the right temperature: 180 to 185 degrees for coffee and 190
to 200 for espresso. Too low a temperature produces weak drinks,
and too high produces a bitter flavor.
· Water is an ingredient, so use filtered or bottled
water, never softened or tap water.
· Once coffee is brewed, make cocktails within 15
to 30 minutes. Coffee retains its flavor for about that long.
· Cleanliness also matters. Wash filters and pots
well. Any residue will quickly turn the next pot into a bitter
brew. Those who brew coffee regularly should clean their coffeemakers
monthly. To clean, add white vinegar to the water reservoir until
one-fourth full. Fill with water until full. Run the water-vinegar
solution through the coffeemaker.