The Perfect Pot of Tea

There is, in fact, an art form and a science to bringing the brew to perfection. The perfect pot of tea is far more than just pouring boiling water over some leaves.
The first step is to fill your tea kettle with cold water. Always use fresh water, and don't rely on old water that has stayed in the kettle from the last time. Turn the kettle on to boil. Make sure your kettle is a stainless steel, non-reactive vessel.
While the kettle is heating, fill your clean teapot with hot water. (Since the polyphenols in tea can go rancid if they are left in the pot, making your tea taste bitter, it's important to wash your teapot thoroughly after each use….unless, of course, you're using a Yixing teapot!)
Essentially, you are pre-heating the teapot, a process which helps keep the tea warm and allows the leaves to open fully. Dry the teapot out after it has been warmed with the hot water.
Pick your pleasure and select the tea leaves you are going to use. In general, use 1 teaspoon of loose tea for each cup, placing the leaves into your infuser. If you're making tea for more than six people, add one extra teaspoon of leaves for the pot.
Bring the teapot to the kettle so that heat is not lost, and then pour the boiling water over the tea leaves in the pot. Use the teapot's lid to hold in the steam and properly steep the tea. For black teas, the proper steeping is three to five minutes.
Allowing the tea leaves to steep for more than five minutes, or pressing or squeezing the wet tea leaves can result in a bitter taste because too many of the polyphenols are released. Stick to the time-honored formula of a teaspoon per cup. You can't make a perfect pot of tea by using poor quality leaves and increasing the amount of time it steeps, or by using more tea and steeping it less time.
Herbal tisanes and green teas require five to ten minutes of steeping.
In England, and for many tea lovers, making tea by the cup instead of in the pot - is improper and taboo.
While you may never earn a perfect 10.0 at the Olympics, or find the absolute perfect match-made-in-heaven, it's easy to make the perfect pot of tea.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Lady Dawnya Sasse, is author of the world's first online tea business programs entitled "Start a Tea Business" and "Start A Children's Tea Party Business." To learn more about her online classes and to sign up for her FREE Tea Radio Broadcasts visit her site at
http://www.TeaEvents.com
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This article may be distributed freely on your website, as long as this entire article, including links and this resource box are unchanged.
Copyright 2005 Dawnya Sasse All Rights Reserved. Tea Events

http://www.TeaEvents.com

Green Tea Weight Loss: Hollywood's Favorite

There is no secret that people in Hollywood worry about being thin and some of the them will go to extreme measures to make sure that they stay that way. Weight loss is a big deal to a good many people in the world and that is not more evident than to the people in Hollywood.
There is a lot of research that supports this theory but just like everything else there is a lot that looks to shoot it down. This is due in part to the supposed medicinal properties that green tea holds and the many benefits of drinking it. This has become one of the most popular weight loss solutions in Hollywood and the other parts of the world. Of course there is always something new coming down the pike for this type of thing and that is evident with the green tea weight loss theory.
Green tea weight loss depends on the persons desire to drink green tea. The research shows that green tea weight loss works by the lowering or maintaining of blood sugar during the meal times. This means that the body is not creating the products that create fat as readily as it normally would when the green tea is being ingested. Of course this all means very little if you do not have a healthy diet to start with. You should take this to heart when trying this green tea weight loss plan as it works only with the proper food intake and that means a big life style change for many of the people involved.
The green tea is said to help ease the stomach problems that a lot of people have and that means that it is flying off the shelves every where you turn. It is also said to be great for a whole host of ailments that come down and that is all not quite proven as of yet. Many people are turning to green tea because it offers a much better and less bitter taste than its siblings. Green tea weight loss is catching on all over the world and mostly because of the popularity of the product itself.
Green tea weight loss depends on a good many things and you should ask your doctor before undertaking such a plan. There are a good many reasons to drink this substance but it is better to be safe than sorry.
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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.

Why Aren't You Using Green Tea Capsules?

Green tea capsules and tablets represent a simple, excellent, and effective way to get the benefits of green tea.
Although drinking green tea is very enjoyable and soothing to some people, many others don't like the bitter taste. Moreover, some people are realistic enough to know that the more trouble they have to go through to get the benefits of something, the less likely they are to do it.
Everyone now knows that drinking green tea is healthy just like they know that juicing vegetables and fruits is healthy too. But not many of us have the time to juice vegetables and fruits everyday, just like we don't have the time to brew green tea and sip it.
That's why green tea capsules are a fantasic way to get the health benefits of this ancient drink in the few seconds a day it takes to swallow them.
Moreover, if you are taking a quality green tea supplement, you could get more of its potent antioxidants than you could if you drank 4 to 5 cups of the tea a day because of its concentrated nature.
Green tea has a history as colorful as it is flavorful.
Legend has it that almost 5,000 years ago a Chinese emperor was sipping hot water whilst relaxing under a tea shrub when some of the leaves accidently blew off the shrub and landed in his cup.
He took a sip, liked what he tasted, and since then green tea became the health drink of choice in Asia, and is now spreading to the Western world rapidly.
What's really amazing is that it wasn't until recently that research has discovered just how incredibly powerful the health benefits of green tea are.
What Green Tea Contains
Green tea has many beneficial substances, like catechins, tannins, fluoride but, most important of all, powerful antioxidants called polyphenols.
One of these polyphenols in particular, which is referred to as EGCG, has been shown in studies to have potent anticancer properties. Indeed, EGCG is now thought to be one of the most powerful anticancer compounds discovered to date.
For the health savvy people who have heard about EGCG, it is the primary reason they drink green tea or use green tea capsules and supplements.
In one large study with chinese participants, it was discovered that the men and women who drank green tea had lower rates of: rectal, pancreatic, and colon cancer.
Other studies conducted here in the United States revealed that EGCG may be able to get cancer cells to stop reproducing.
Amazingly, it may accomplish this by somehow signalling the cancer cells to die, which in scientific terms is called apotosis.
Even more remarkable is that EGCG doesn't appear to hurt the healthy, non-cancerous cells of our body, so it seems to work selectively. This study was conducted at Case Western Reserve University, located in Ohio.
Other studies are now showing that green tea may be able to help mitigate the damage from LDL cholesterol -- otherwise known as the "bad cholesterol" that is a key marker in heart disease.
In fact, its possible role in lowering cholesterol is another of the biggest reasons people are now turning to green tea capsules and supplements.
Despite all of the potential health benefits of green tea, some people avoid drinking it because it does naturally contain caffeine, which makes some people jittery and nervous.
The good news is that green tea used in green tea capsules and tablets often contains much less caffeine than a cup of green tea itself. A cup of green tea contains about 40 mg of caffeine whereas a daily typical serving of green tea capsules might only contain 5 mg of caffeine.
Importantly, the typical serving of green tea capsules or supplements will have the same concentration of the polyphenols and powerful antioxidants as the green tea.
Even better for some people is that green tea can be decaffeinated and used in green tea capsules so that you can get all the benefits with none of the caffeine.
So there you have it. If you aren't already using green tea capsules for your health, it's time to give it some serious consideration as part of your supplement regimen.