The Health Benefits of Drinking Green Tea and Coffee

The Chinese have used green tea to treat disease for many centuries. Today, Western culture is beginning to appreciate the benefits of green tea.
Recent research has revealed some of the health benefits of using green tea including the possible prevention of rheumatoid arthritis, cardiovascular disease, cataracts and even cancer.
Studies have shown that drinking green tea helps you burn more calories. Green tea aids weight loss programs.
Green tea can help fight food poisoning, as well. It also helps kill bacteria that cause plaque and subsequent tooth decay. This gives your immune system a boost.

One of the best benefits of green tea is its ability to fight bacteria.
In addition, green tea can help lower blood sugar and cholesterol. It even helps slow the aging process!
Why is green tea so beneficial? It has to do with the way it is processed.
Steaming the leaves keeps the antioxidants intact. Fermenting oxidizes the antioxidants in the leaves and renders the antioxidant much less effective. Black tea and oolong tea are fermented, but green tea is steamed.
One thing is certain: more is better, so drink as many cups as you like! Recommendations vary from 3 to 10 cups a day. How much green tea do you need to reap all of the great benefits?
Even though green tea has lots of great benefits, many of us are not about to give up our morning cup of coffee. Guess what? No problem!
You will be glad to hear that new studies have shown there are some healthy benefits of coffee drinking.
Coffee seems to offset some of the damage caused by bad habits such as smoking or heavy drinking. Some smokers who also drink coffee have been shown to have less heart disease than other smokers. Some heavy drinkers who also drink coffee regularly have less incidence of liver damage than expected.
Besides the caffeine in coffee, there are other ingredients that are beneficial to our health.
Coffee contains antioxidants including quinines, chlorogenic acid and tocopherols as well as essential minerals such as magnesium. All of these aid glucose metabolism and may, as a result, reduce the risk of diabetes.
Animal studies published in the Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry suggest coffee antioxidants boost the activity of enzymes which may protect against colon cancer.
Trigonelline is another beneficial ingredient in coffee which may help prevent tooth decay. Other benefits of coffee include reducing the risk of Parkinson's disease, helping relieve asthma symptoms and tension headaches, and inhibiting the formation of gallstones.
Now you can enjoy your morning brew with no sense of guilt!

Why Is Coffee Not My Cup Of Tea? Is It Stale?

Most everyone that I have talked to that does not like coffee said that it is the bitter taste they don't like. Fresh coffee is never bitter. In fact, fresh coffee is smooth and tasty even undoctored. So what is giving coffee such a bad rap? After some research it a cured to me that the problem is lack of freshness, and coffee that was brewed hours ago. Stale coffee itself is horrible to drink. Stale coffee can leave a bad taste in your mouth, but if you buy coffee that is guaranteed fresh when you brew it then it will taste smooth and refreshing. How does coffee get to the point of being stale? In many cases it is due to poor packaging, but in most cases it is due to over stocking.
Poor packaging is when the product is not properly sealed from the manufacture, or the seal is broken along the way. Most containers are plastic these days, but many still use the steel cans. The difference is the cost plastic is much cheaper to produce. Plastic is not as durable and sometimes is easily damaged. If the seal is broken then the coffee is exposed to the air, which dries out the coffee. This is the main reason coffee gets to the point of being stale. Another problem is over stocking.
What about coffee that was brewed 4 hours ago? If you were to brew a cup of coffee will be horrible. I have worked for a grocery store before and I have seen products stay on the shelves for months.

Do you see the problem now? It can vary, but the average length is about 6 months. How long can coffee remain fresh in a vacuum-sealed container? The problem is they can sit on that coffee for month, or even years until it is sold.

Many distributors of coffee buy by volume to get the coffee at a cheaper price. When a store over stocks there products the product sits longer on the shelf or in the back and over time the freshness fades away.
How fresh is your coffee? My wife hates coffee because of her first bad experience, and after I roasted her a fresh batch she admitted that it was really good and not bitter. If it is not fresh don't drink it.

The coffee can have a burnt taste that is also bitter. In many cases the coffee appears thicker because the water is vaporized over time.

How to Differentiate the Different Types of Tea

If you want to metamorphose into a more relaxed, mindful and balanced individual, throw out your coffee mug and have a cup of tea instead. You can either purchase conveniently packed tea bags or buy tea in its loose form. To brew, put tea or a tea ball in a pot or mug and pour in a cup of boiling water for each teaspoon of herb or tea. Cover and let steep for 15 minutes before straining and drinking. Teas can be enjoyed hot or cold (chilled then served with ice).
Check out the list below for the basic differences between teas for brewing:
* Black Tea - A dark and richly flavored beverage made from dried, oxidized and fermented leaves of the shrub Camellia sinensis, this tea has the highest caffeine level, about half as much as a cup of coffee.
* Chai - This tasty mixture of milk, black tea, and spices originated in India.
* Green Tea - A light and subtly flavored beverage made from Camellia sinensis leaves that are not allowed to oxidize or ferment. Green tea has about half as much caffeine as black tea.
* Herbal Teas - These are various herbs (leaves, stems, fruits, bark, flowers and roots of plants) steeped in hot water that are more correctly called "tisanes" rather than teas because they contain no leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant. They are caffeine-free. Often, several herbs are blended together.
* Mate - Also called yerba mate, this stimulating drink with a lot of caffeine is from South America, and is brewed from toasted wild holly leaves.
* Oolong Tea - Semi-fermented teas, such as oolong, are made from the Camellia sinensis leaves, but they are less oxidized than green and white teas. These teas also contain caffeine, but not as much as black tea does.
* Rooibos - Also known as red bush. Made from needle-like leaves of a South African shrub, rooibos is similar in taste to black tea but without the caffeine. It allegedly has antioxidant and cancer-preventive properties.
* White Tea - Considered the rarest of the teas made from Camellia sinensis, this delicate tea is produced from blossoms and young shoots. It is the lowest in caffeine but the highest in antioxidants. When brewed, it is almost colorless.
The author is a big fan of cooking recipes. Visit the following website for more info about health and cooking recipes.
http://www.101vegetarianrecipes.com
http://www.desserts-recipes.com
http://www.101cookingrecipes.com