A tea a day keeps the doctor away! (Tea in general)

Member Name: aksram

Product:	Tea in general
Date:	19/06/09 (64 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: medicinal value- relieves cold, anticancer

Disadvantages: caffeine content

***** I had written this review in hot drink section before but moving it to this category as this seems more appropriate. APOLOGIES if you had to read it again but i have added some more information *****

Tea is by far the most popular drink consumed in Britain today, with over 165,000,000 cups being drunk in the UK every single day of the year. The largest producer was India, followed by China, Kenya and Sri Lanka. It is called chai in india and made slightly differently. Chai is basically black tea brewed with selected spices or herbs and milk. Here's a recipe of making one of the indian masala teas. Try this as it also has some medicinal values.

Indian Masala Chai
Ingredients:
3 - 4 Tea Spoons/4 Teabags of good tea (Tetley/Darjeeling/Lipton)
1 inch ginger- can be fresh, dry or powdered ginger
3 - 4 cardamom pods, crushed
3 Cloves
Small piece of cinnamon
1 tsp fennel seeds
1 or 2 whole black peppers (optional but spicier and tastier when added)
Sugar to taste
Milk -warmed

Method-
This is best done on a saucepan on hob instead of microwaving.
1) Boil 2 cups of water. Add all the ingredients and boil again for about 15 seconds. Let stand for a minute.
2) Add milk and sugar
3) Sieve it into cups

Because the spices are all fresh (not spice powders) the aroma and taste is excellent. Using Twinings tea bags is not recommended as it is very mild.

It does take a longer time (approx 15 minutes) to prepare than the normal tea.

It has some medicinal values too. It relieves cold and congestion. Tea also prevents cancer and cardiovascular diseases. But drinking too much means you are taking in too much of caffeine leading to some nutritional problems.

Tea does refresh you even in hot weather- It simply raises the body temperature momentarily, you perspire and the perspiration on your skin creates a cooling effect.

Summary: Drink tea in limited amounts to get the best of its benefits.