By AMY SHANKLAND
Sandwiched
Today I’m writing about one of my life’s passions – tea. I often say I am a tea drinker in a coffee drinkers’ world, although in fact, tea is the number one beverage in many countries outside the United States.
I can thank my mother for starting me on this path. She loved to drink iced tea when I was little – the instant kind, which I despise now. She’d let me have a sip, but didn’t allow me to drink it often, instead making certain I drank my milk. (Thanks, Mom!) This of course made me want to have tea even more.
I often write in this column about how important it is for sandwich generation members to take care of ourselves so we can take care of others. Drinking tea is a fantastic way to do that! In fact, I attribute my four-to-five cup a day habit to my recent dramatic reduction in bad cholesterol. (Oh, the “sexy” things we talk about in middle age.)
Tea is good for you for so many reasons. It has antioxidants and less caffeine than coffee, it may reduce your risk of heart attack and stroke, and helps with weight loss/hydration. Tea may also help you prevent cancer. I saw and purchased a book called Cancer Hates Tea by Maria Upenski last spring. It seriously changed how I think about and drink tea!
I used to be a lazy tea drinker and would only use tea bags. According to Upenski, tea bags are merely tea dust – they don’t offer much as far as benefits. Using loose leaf tea is the best way to get all of the beverage’s advantages. I’ve converted to loose leaf and now consider myself to be a tea snob!
Where can you get loose leaf tea? I love Hamilton County’s own Pam’s Tea Shoppe, pamsteashoppe.com. She’s at the Noblesville Farmer’s Market, but you can also visit her store in Fishers. She has super-speedy, reasonable shipping as well, which I take advantage of often.
It’s easy to learn how to brew your own quality tea – in fact, Pam encloses instructions for you to help. And in my opinion, you don’t need to add a thing to them thanks to so many flavors. But if you must have a sweetener, I would encourage you to use as little as possible.
My favorite black tea is Harney & Sons Paris Tea, which Betty Gerrard (a Noblesville legend) introduced me to years ago. I highly recommend this one for beginning tea drinkers, as it is fruity and many people agree it doesn’t need sweetener.
I find that tea gives me a nice lift in the morning, but I’m not “wired.” And, of course, you can switch to matcha/green tea later on and herbal tea in the afternoon to avoid caffeine. My favorite herbal tea is rooibos, which has a host of benefits as well. I could write a whole other column about match and rooibos teas, but I’ll let you check those out on your own!
Drinking high-quality loose leaf tea is an easy, yet tremendous way to stay strong and healthy in the sandwich generation.