For centuries, tea has been used to boost health, beauty, and overall wellness. Tea has been proven to help with a variety of illness from the common cold to cancer, aid in weight loss, help healthy organ functioning and much, much more. Depending on the type of tea you choose, there is a multitude of benefits to each. There are a wide variety of teas available, and each with their own unique healing properties. Curious, I looked up the different main types of teas that I drink, herbal, matcha, and fruit to compare the different benefits of each.
1. Herbal Tea
Herbal tea is an infusion of leaves, seeds, roots or bark of herbs in black teas or water. Drinking herbal tea allows us to reap the benefits of the specific herbs in an easily digestible form that are otherwise not easily available or as prominent in many foods. Many variations of herbal teas are on the market today, staying with the most natural source such as organic teas with no other added ingredients is the best way to go. Steeping your tea covered helps maintain the essential oils within the tea, and loose leaf form of herbal tea is an often more fresh and natural way to absorb the benefits and enjoy the tea. Popular herbal teas include chamomile, rooibos tea, peppermint, ginger, dandelion, rosehip and more. Reach for peppermint or ginger tea to ease your stomach, sooth nausea, and aid in digestion. Drink chamomile for a natural sedative, with calming properties that can ease insomnia, sore throat or anxiety. Rooibos is high in vitamin C and antioxidants and is used for maintaining healthy skin. Dandelion tea helps cleanse your liver and also aid in digestion. There are many benefits of each type of herbal tea, each with its own specific function, set of nutrients, antioxidants, essential oils and benefits specific to the herb.
2. Matcha Tea
Matcha green tea has Japanese origins and has been a popular tea in the Far East for centuries for its healing and energizing benefits. Matcha is the highest quality of green tea over traditional green teas. The Camelia Sinensis plants are to thank for the leaves that become stone ground to make this tea. Matcha green tea is full of antioxidants, five times more than any other food, and is considered a super food. Matcha is also a great source for natural coffee and is recommend over black tea and other coffee benefits for energy because it is also proven to boost focus and memory, sharpening the mind and energizing the body without any crash or negative effects on your adrenals to cause fatigue later on. Overall, matcha green tea is a great booster for immunity, healthy skin, weight loss, brain function and a healthy source of energy.
3. Fruit Tea
The main benefit of choosing a fruit tea to drink are all of the vitamins and minerals it offers. Fruit teas are essentially black teas that are infused with natural fruit essence or juice, also called tisanes. Popular fruit teas include raspberry, strawberry, peach, blueberry, black currant and other berry flavors. The infusing gives traditional tea the flavor and other benefits of the fruit itself. Fruit teas are a great way to get all of the health benefits of tea without the caffeine. Fruit teas still contain many other sugars, so although fruit teas may be the must delicious of the bunch, they are not always the healthiest option in the spectrum of teas. Yet fruit teas are a delicious and healthy alternative to traditional soft drinks and juices, and you can make your own at home by brewing traditional black tea and squeezing the juice of your desired fruit into it.
What do you think?