Darjeeling Tea is the World’s most expensive and exotically flavoured tea. The fine quality and flavour of tea has resulted in it having a worldwide reputation for excellence. It can take up to ten years before the leaves are ready to be plucked. The taste of Darjeeling varies with the seasons. Darjeeling Tea is often had in the afternoon.

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Jasmine Tea is a famous tea made from Green or Pouchong (Chinese Green) tea leaves that are scented with jasmine flowers. The jasmine flowers are harvested during the day and stored in a cool place until night. During the night, the flowers bloom with full fragrance. The flowers are layered over the tea leaves during the scenting process. The quality of Jasmine tea is determined by the quality of green tea used as its base and the effectiveness of the scenting.

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Green Tea is produced from various regions like, Terrai (plain lands near Darjeeling), Assam & Kangra (Himachal Pradesh), it results in a substantially different beverage because the manufacturing process is significantly different. Green tea is not served with milk or sugar, but you can decide that for yourself.

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Tea leaves contain more than 700 chemicals, among which the compounds closely related to human health are flavanoides, amino acids, vitamins (C, E and K), caffeine and polysaccharides. Moreover, tea drinking has recently proven to be associated with cell-mediated immune function of the human body. Tea plays an important role in improving beneficial intestinal microflora, as well as providing immunity against intestinal disorders and in protecting cell membranes from oxidative damage. Tea also prevents dental caries due to the presence of fluorine. The role of tea is well established in normalizing bloodpressure, lipid depressing activity, prevention of coronary heart diseases and diabetes by reducing the blood-glucose activity. Tea also possesses germicidal and germistatic activities against various gram positive and gram negative human pathogenic bacteria. Both green and black tea infusions contain a number of antioxidants, mainly catechins that have anti-carcinogenic, anti-mutagenic and anti-tumor properties.

 Whether its drunk hot or cold, did you know that tea is one of the best things you can drink?
Tea drinking has been claimed to have health benefits for centuries, but only in recent years have doctors conducted studies to see if the claims are justified.
Considering the amount of tea drunk around the world every day, the news that the drink can be good for you is welcome indeed. Recent research has indicated that drinking tea as part of a healthy diet and life style can help maintain a healthy body including a healthy heart.
The value of tea may be due, in part, to its antioxidants. Like fruit and vegetables, tea is rich in antioxidants. (In tea these are known as flavonoids). Antioxidants in the diet may help the body in its management of free radicals – highly reactive substances capable of causing damage to body cells.

                            

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Black tea has been proven to contain some of the same heart-healthy ingredients as purple grape juice and red wine-antioxidants and flavanoids. This study unveiled the role black tea plays in preventing plaque build-up on artery walls and cardiovascular disease.
According to the study, black tea consumption increases the functionality of the vascular endothelium, which forms the inner lining of cells in all blood vessels and responds to the body’s oxygen levels. The endothelium also facilitates blood flow needs by causing blood vessels to expand or contract.
The study examined immediate and long-term effects of black tea vs. water consumption on 50 people with coronary artery disease. Researchers concluded tea improves endothelial-dependent dilation in the arteries while water had no effect.

About 60 years ago, Dr. Minowada of Kyoto University noticed that sugar in the urine of hospitalized diabetes patients fell markedly during periods when they participated in the Tea Ceremony. He reported green tea had the capability of lowering blood sugar. Unfortunately this important report was ignored, but in recent years Japan once again has shown a heightened interest in diabetes and in the ability of green tea to reduce blood sugar. The sugars and carbohydrates in our food are digested mainly in the duodenum, where they are converted to glucose and then absorbed into the blood. The agent that regulates the intake of blood sugar into tissues is insulin. Diabetes is characterized by insufficient secretion or improper functioning of insulin, which hinders the proper absorption of glucose into tissues and leads to a high concentration of blood sugar that must eventually be excreted into urine. If this high concentration of blood sugar continues for a long period, it will affect the vascular system and cause serious diseases including arteriosclerosis and retinal hemorrhages. Dr. Y. Hara and Dr. M. Shimizu have demonstrated that green tea catechin has ability to lower blood sugar, and polysaccharides in green tea possess the same ability.

The speed of thought may be the order of the day but with it comes the stress of forever keeping the body going. Diets are the first casualty and the clock takes its toll. Tea should be drunk because it’s healthy. As simple as that. Antioxidants or free radical scavengers from five or six cups of tea a day will go a long way in keeping your cholesterol level down, lessen chances of a heart or cancer attack. It’s good for your eyes, teeth and plenty else. “When feeling hot, thirsty, depressed, suffering from headache, eye ache, fatigue of the four limbs or pains in the joints, one should only drink four or five times a day. Tea tempers the spirit, harmonises the mind, dispels lassitude, relieves fatigue, awakens thought, prevents drowsiness and refreshes the body and mind.” The pre-Confucian scholars were united in extolling the virtues of tea as a health drink over wine and water. 

Many consumers who’ve taken to popular bottles teas and the hot Chai served at coffee houses have the mistaken notion that they are low calorie and good for you.
Tealeaves or teabags have zero calories. That means tea without milk and sugar has no calories whereas tea with sugar and milk contains calories. The amount of calories in tea depends upon the quantity of sugar and milk added. Generally one teaspoon sugar contains 16 calories, one teaspoon of powdered creamer contains 11 calories and if we add sugar and creamer then it will contain 54 calories.
When iced tea is made from teabag, water and ice cubes. It has zero calories but when sugar is added then it gets calories. “Commercial mix’ iced tea has higher calories than an iced tea because of added sweetener.
One big cup of commercial mix iced tea has calories same as the calories in 4 cookies. Generally 1 cookie contains 50 calories. Thus 4 cookies have 200 calories. So one big cup of commercial iced tea would have almost 200 calories which way is too high.