Teas of Many Colors

Tea is the worldwide beverage of choice, next to plain water--black tea, oolong tea, green tea, white tea, and herb tea. Teatime can mean anything from a simple cup of tea to a mini-meal with cake and sandwiches, or the elaborate Japanese tea ceremony in which every gesture is prescribed by a ritual centuries old. We drank it in Japan as powdered green tea, scarcely diluted with water, a strong, bitter drink sipped through tea candy.

My favorite is green tea fresh made from leaves, a tasty, healthful, low-caffeine beverage.

The English drink strong black tea much diluted with milk and heavily loaded with white sugar, not so healthful but more stimulating. A cup of black tea at normal strength yields roughly 3% caffeine. Compared to coffee’s 9% caffeine, that’s low.

White tea is really pale green, made from the youngest, palest leaves of the camellia sinensis plant. The leaves are plucked before they fully open from the tips of the tea plant’s branchlets. I imagine them being gently plucked by young ladies in kimonos.

A cup of white tea is said to contain more healthy constituents than a serving of vegetables. That may be an Oriental conceit; vegetables vary in both the kind of nutrients and amounts and they don’t say which veggies they’re alluding to.

Oolong tea, sort of like a cross between green tea and black tea, manages to have all the health benefits of green tea, due to the gentle way in which it is dried. It has a more catechins, so it prompts your body to burn 200 % more fat than other teas do, according to Japanese experts.

All teas get a B+ as weight loss aids and an A as healthful, unless you load yours with sugar. Add ¼ teaspoon of ginger for a digestive aid to your after-dinner tea.

My preferred sweetener, if I use any, is honey. It contributes some enzymes and vitamins, and it tastes very good. You could use coconut sugar. It’s light brown indicating that it contains some nutrients. It’s glycemic index is only 57, versus white cane sugar’s 100, with all the nutrients processed out of it.

A PERFECT CUP OF TEA:

Black Tea: Bring 8 ounces of water to a boil. Remove from heat and let the water settle down. Pour it over 1 teaspoon of tea leaves. Cap the cup or teapot and let it steep a few minutes. Black tea needs only 2 or 3 minutes to release its flavor. Pour. Add lemon slice. Sweeten. Enjoy.

White Tea: Boil water and pour over tea leaves as above Steep 4 or 5 minutes.

Green Tea: Proceed as above. Steep only 1 or 2 minutes. Stir. Let leaves settle.

Oolong Tea: Use 1 to 1½ teaspoons of tea leaves to each cupful of boiling water. Different oolongs need more or less than 2 minutes steeping time. Steep to taste.