Tea and Your Mood

Each person has his or her own means of coping with various moods, especially when those moods are not so positive. While some prefer to snack on sweets as a pick-me-up, there are healthier ways of managing feelings through what we ingest. Brewing up a pot of tea is anexcellent way to boost your mood and cleanse your system, and there are a variety of teas that will do the trick depending on what frame of mind you find yourself in. Some of the best teas to brew up to increase your energy and boost your mood are green tea and rooibos tea.

If you are feeling stressed or angry, these teas can help. Green tea contains an amino acid known as theanine, which research has proven to have a positive effect on the brain. Once consumed, theanine instantly works to calm the mind and relieve stress, in turn allowing the brain to focus. Green tea also boasts incredible health benefits and will not keep you up through the night as it does not have a lot of caffeine. Similarly, rooibos tea is high in antioxidants and low in caffeine, making it great for those who are conscious of their health. A cup of rooibos tea can help instantly boost your mood and have you feeling happy again, as it is a natural energy enhancer thanks to the many compounds found in the plant.

A cup of butter tea is great for your mood

Rooibos tea is also recommended for those who are having trouble sleeping and need a little something to ease their nervous tension. It is recommended that those who are restless at night consume a cup of rooibos tea to calm the mind and soothe the psyche. Again, the low levels of caffeine will not keep your brain active and you will feel an instant serenity while you sip.

One tea which is not consumed as frequently as green is black tea, which has one of the higher levels of caffeine. Black tea is said to increase alertness in the brain and can help improve cognition, making you more productive throughout your day. If that is not enough to have you feeling happier, consider this: consumption of black tea has been proven to have positive effects on cardiovascular health. Not only will you feel more chipper, you will be doing your heart a favor!

If you are not a fan of any of the three teas listed, there are a few ingredients you can add to boost your moods or keep yourself feeling calm. Ginger is an excellent addition to your favorite cup of tea, as it can calm nausea, open your nasal passages for increased respiration, and soothe any soreness you may have in your muscles and joints. What better way to put your mind and body to ease than making sure that all parts of taken care of?

Another ingredient that many enjoy adding to their favorite brand of tea is honey, and while some try to avoid it due to the sugar, it can help you physically if you are having pain in your throat. You will feel happier and healthier in no time if you add a spoonful or two of this golden syrup to your tea, and you will forget all about that stubborn cold!

Tea's benefits to physical, mental,and emotional health are too good to pass up; that said, if you find yourself feeling down or unfocused, take a few moments to boil some water, let the tea bags steep, and take comfort in the soothing effects of these delicious beverages.

           

              

Buying Green Tea is Best When Testing a New Online Store

If you are regular tea drinker, you probably have a go-to tea store. Be it a brick-and-mortar shop or an online vendor, it is the place you trust to get good quality teas, because it has not let you down in the past. People who are new to tea, however, often don't know where best to buy their leaves and they find themselves having to try several stores to see which one delivers the quality and the price they desire.

Green tea leaves in the sun

Of course, it's not just people new to tea who might have to try new stores. Often those of us who already have a go-to vendor will lose that vendor when they go out of business or when their quality drops and we are then forced to start over and find a new tea shop. Similarly, sometimes our trusted vendor doesn't have a product we want and we have to look elsewhere to get it. In cases like these, we find ourselves in the same situation as those new to tea.

One thing we know that they might not, however, is that you want to place a small order first, in order to test a new shop. If they deliver that order on time and in good condition and the quality is as promised then they gain a bit of trust and we will feel more comfortable placing a larger order in the future. On the other hand, if they screw up the small order somehow, we immediately move on to a new online tea vendor. To put it bluntly, only an idiot would place a large order as their first order with a new store.

The question then becomes: what should I buy as my first order? Personally, I think green tea is best for this purpose. Specifically, I usually go with a sample of Dragon Well tea or of sencha. Both of these are teas I drink regularly and I feel very comfortable judging their quality. They are also teas that are available almost anywhere and they're not too expensive, making them perfect to test out a new online tea shop.

Even if you don't regularly drink these teas, you will probably still be able to judge their quality and they would make a good first purchase, but if you have another tea you purchase regularly, I would consider going with that one, assuming it's not too expensive or not too rare and unique. For example, if you are a big Darjeeling drinker, then, by all means, order a sample of Darjeeling tea. Whatever tea you feel you can judge the quality of best, order that one. As said, for me the best one is green tea. If you don't have a general go-to tea, then I would definitely go with green tea as well simply because it is basic and inexpensive. It's hard to go wrong with this type.

Online Tea Stores Have the Best Green Teas Outside Asia

Green tea is the best tea in the world. We all know that. Don't get me wrong, white tea and oolong tea both taste amazing too, but the more expensive and the good varieties are harder to find. Black tea is great too, but not as good as the rest. Even though good varieties of green tea are easier to find than good varieties of other types of tea, it can still be a bit of a challenge if you don't live in Asia. That is why I generally recommend you buy your tea online.

Even in big cities in the west, where you will often find a number of specialty tea shops, you can't always be certain that you are getting the quality the tea store promises. Sometimes you do and sometimes you don't. I bought a number of teas from shops all over Europe and the US, and I've got some great varieties, but I've also gotten some pretty bad ones. And I usually end up overpaying for them, because these stores always seem to charge an inflated price.

Even in Asia, buy tea online before you get it at a touristy tea store like this one in Shanghai

The solution is obvious and I've already mentioned it above and many times in the past: in order to get the best quality and the best prices, you want to buy tea online. Or you want to travel to Asia. And when I say Asia, I mean Japan or China. Those are actually the only countries in Asia that drink good tea. Okay, maybe that's not quite fair to Malaysia and Indonesia, which do have some tea plantations, but not really that many. It's also not fair to India which has some pretty good tea itself, but that tea is marred by the fact that buying it is a bit dangerous—you will almost certainly get a fake product and thus a much lower quality product.

No, you want to buy your tea from an online tea vendor. The problem is there are so many that you face the same issue you would with a brick-and-mortar store. Who can you trust? Luckily, there are a few sites online that provide reviews of online tea shops and compare the various tea stores in terms of price, quality, selection and other factors. This allows shoppers like us to get all the necessary information and to make an informed decision.

Of course, there are still some risk involved as there is with any online purchase, but by informing yourself beforehand, you can minimize that risk. To do so even more, I suggest buying a small sample from a new tea vendor and seeing if they deliver on their promises. If they do, then you can move on to more expensive purchases and see if they offer good quality for a good price. In this way, you'll end up with one or two online tea stores that you trust. And with that, you never have to worry again when you go online to buy tea.

Want To Buy Tea Online? First Learn To Brew

I've encountered a number of persons who don't enjoy the taste of tea, but I can't help believe that almost certainly, they just have never had tea that had been brewed in the right way. With each kind of tea pretty much having its own method of brewing, it's not hard to see why people often do not know the best method to make their tea. And when specific mistakes are made, the resulting tea tastes bad tasting. Luckily, pretty much any process will work just fine for pretty much any cup of tea. As long as you take care of a couple of crucial points, you'll get a good-tasting cup; I'll cover those essential factors for the more widely enjoyed teas below. For more detailed instruction head to: http://www.letsdrinktea.com/

How about we begin with the easy one. Black tea is far and away the least difficult to prepare and not many individuals encounter any trouble making a wonderful cup. Basically, you dump 100 ºC water on top of the leaves and leave them to steep for 2-3 minutes. The popular Assam tea can be brewed with this process, as well as the Chinese black teas, Ceylon teas and Nepalese teas. Darjeeling tea shouldn't be prepared with this method, however. Owing to the fact that it is not completely oxidized, it needs to be made with cooler water (80-90ºC or 180-194ºF), similar to an oolong tea.

With a large variety in the way of preparation among the different types of green tea, they are can be quite a bit more tasking to brew the correct way. The proper water temperature and the steeping times are the important two factors you definitely should beware of. 80°C (176°F) is the preferred temperature for steeping most green teas.

That temperature is a bit too high for the Japanese tea gyokuro, though, because its delicate leaves demand much colder water of 50°C–60°C (122°F–140°F). The Japanese tea Houjicha, which is roasted, is another exception. It is perhaps the easiest and most forgiving tea to prepare, so you can simply use 100°C water. The instructions indicated on the packaging will tell you a good place to start for steeping times. Otherwise, try one minute and 30 seconds for gyokuro and two minutes for all other teas.

Forget all that I just mentioned, if you're preparing Matcha green tea powder; it is entirely unlike other green teas. And if you buy tea online, which you can do at http://www.letsdrinktea.com/buy-tea-online-shop-review/, you're going to want to try matcha at least once. Due to it being in powder form, it requires a very different and somewhat intricate preparation method, including distinct utensils. Matcha is the tea featured in the Japanese tea ceremony and if you have ever seen one performed, you know how involved it can get to prepare matcha. The preparation method for this exceptional quality tea could go on forever, so I won't worry about it here.

Also quite a bit more challenging to make the right way is white tea. It needs a somewhat lower water temperature than green tea, because the leaves are much more delicate. The correct temperature range for both White Hair Silver Needle and White Peony is 75-80°C (167-176°F). For steeping times, try 2-3 minutes and adjust it as you see fit. If you prefer a less mild cup of tea, lengthen your steeping time; should you like your tea milder, lower the steeping time.

This is why you should buy tea online

Oolong teas are probably the most difficult variety to make in the right way, apart from matcha. The traditional Chinese method of preparation needs a huge amount of leaves and leaves them to steep for a very quick period, but the process is repeated over a number of infusions. Not to worry, though; you can brew oolong teas by using standard methods and they should taste great. As long as the water temperature is just below the boiling point, the infusion will be good. For more info on all types of tea try: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea

The guidelines presented above are quite a bit simplistic, I am aware. Naturally, to brew the most delicious cup, you'll want to use the instructions for the individual kind of tea. If you don't have those, however, following my guidelines will give you a good cup of tea, no matter the kind. Let's hope, this will inspire at least a small number of men and women who have formerly decided they don't like tea, to give it one final chance. Tea is tasty and healthy and definitely worth trying a couple of times, until you unearth a kind of tea and a way of brewing that is perfect for you.