It is known world wide that the English (as a whole) like a nice cup of tea, and I'm not exception. Tea is cheap, and also very fast to make, but what exactly is it, and is it any good for us. Hopefully in the next few paragraphs, you'll learn a little more.

Tea is an 'aromatic beverage prepared by pouring boiling hot water over cured leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant'. This particular plant is usually found in foreign climates and is particularly native to South and East Asia. However it can be grown anywhere, under the right conditions. Even a small company in Pembrokeshire, Wales has been able to grow a couple of plants in polytunnels, and now sell the tea, as a kind of cottage industry.

What some people find confusing with Tea, is the many different types. Certainly when I was younger, there were no tea bags, like there are today. It was done by spooning tea leaves into a tea pot, and then pouring boiling water over them. When it had brewed, you would then pour it out into a cup, through a strainer. It was the strainers job to catch all the leaves. But this day and age it is more common to use tea bags. It is these bags that contain the leaves, rather than the strainer.

So why so many different types you might ask? Well this is mainly down to the techniques used to produce and process the plant itself. Here's a few examples:

White Tea - Wilted and unoxidised
Yellow Tea - Unwilted and unoxidised but allowed to yellow
Green Tea - Unwilted and unoxidised
Oolong Tea - Wilted, Bruised and partially oxidised
Black Tea - Wilted, Sometimes crushed, and fully oxidised
Post-Fermented Tea - Green Tea that has been allowed to ferment

Tea has many health benefits. These come in the way of anti-oxidants, mainly catechins which have anti cancer properties for certain organs. But most importantly it can be a very relaxing drink, which has very few calories (with skimmed milk) and can be refreshing in hot and cold weather.

I personally drink Tetley Tea. I usually buy the boxes from home and bargain, and try not to pay more than 1p a Tea Bag, although if you don't shop around, in the some of the supermarkets, this could be anything upto 2p a bag. Obviously all the other flavours and makes, vary quite a lot in price. They obviously do in taste too, so it is worth trying a few, to find out which ones you like.

Copyright stebiz 2012 - also on ciao.co.uk