Te-a-me

Tea And Me

Tea lovers across India have one big reason to thank Emperor Shen Nung, who ruled over China 5000 years ago. Being a stickler for hygiene, the great leader ordered that all water in the palace be boiled. When his men were boiling water one day, leaves from a nearby bush fell into the water – and just like that, the first cup of tea had been brewed. Today, tea is the second-most consumed beverage in the world after water, with literally thousands of blends in existence.

But while many of us have tried the age-old Indian Chai Tea, humble black tea, the antioxidant-rich green tea, and perhaps some delicate herbal varieties, we may not be aware of the sheer range of tea available in India and what each individual brew can do for our health and well-being.

Black, green, white and oolong teas are all high in antioxidants, which make them all beneficial for general health and well being.

Many scientific studies have shown green tea can assist in weight loss, partly because of its caffeine content but also because of its antioxidants, which have a thermogenic effect. This means it increases the metabolic rate, which means you go on to burn stored fat.

Various tea flavors have different benefits to look out for. While Green Tea has more Anti-oxidants, Herbal Infusions are naturally caffeine free. If you want to just soothe yourself after a long day, aroma of a Jasmine Green Tea is your perfect partner, whereas Kashmiri Kahwa is an instant mood up-lifter. Similarly, Chamomile tea – a stress buster; Lemon grass tea with ginger – winter warmers; Peppermint / mint green tea – cooling tea (with additional herbal infusions like cinnamon Apple or the Cranberry apple); Ice tea for health (make a pot of tea and steep your choice of herb (or teabag) for five minutes then strain and add your mixer – apple juice is a really good one.)

Recently I had the chance to try various flavors of green and infusion bags from TE-A-ME Teas. So many flavors all under one roof! Viola… So, here are my reviews for some of the teas and infusions from their caddy box.

Kashmiri Kahwa Green Tea

kashmiri kahwaimage courtesy: beveragewala.com

Green Tea, being quite a rage among the young professionals these days, as a prominent part of their contribution to their own health, has become a household name in a very short span of time. Available in all forms, from loose green tea leaves to tea bags, the later being more often used in our daily lives mostly for convenience of having multiples cups a day.

I have found one simple solution to retain all the health benefits of green tea yet have a very tasteful experience towards it from day one – The Kashmiri Kahwa Green Tea fits in perfectly with my taste buds without having to change anything to my Green Tea daily intake.

I have developed a particular liking to TE-A-ME’s Kashmiri Kahwa tea bags, very easy to brew, carry and with a hint of the spicy taste of tea that I am used to in my teas. I absolutely love it. I like adding a bit of sugar to mine, like a couple of grains or half a tea spoon to my cup and the brewing process is the same. Now, I do not see my green tea as a health medicine, but I look forward to having four cups of tea daily.

Best thing about having TE-A-ME Teas is there are all real/natural ingredients within the tea bag so I am more than happy with the switch. I would love to know if anyone else has had the same experience as me with Kashmiri Kahwa Green Tea.

Cranberry Apple

cranberry apple

image courtesy: facebook.com/teame

Anybody who has every searched or ‘googled’ health teas must also be familiar with green, white and herbal variety of teas. While Green is full of anti-oxidants, white full of catechin, herbal teas are naturally caffeine free. Herbal teas are different from decaffeinated teas and have a great number of health benefits as well.

I recently had an opportunity to have a herbal tea of Cranberry Apple flavor. The first thing that I liked about this tea was the color of the blend in hot water itself. The dark red brew gave it a rich visual appeal. This particular infusion (TE-A-ME Cranberry Apple) blend had a full bodied character with a crisp taste of cranberry balanced well with the sweet fruit note of apple.

For me personally, this infusion was sweet enough on its own so I did not add sugar to it. Once I found out that herbal teas usually have no actual tea content in it (some people even consider it not a true tea), I tried to experiment with it and ended up cooling the brew in the refrigerator for the ice tea effect.

Result: It tasted even more fabulous than hot tea version of it.

Since TE-A-ME tea bags use all natural/real ingredients, I even made a mocktail out of the cool brew blending it with cranberry and apple juice using the tea as the base. Was an instant hit at the house party I threw last week. It’s slowly becoming a favorite infusion flavor of mine to have and serve to friends and family.

I recommend you try the cool version of it. Its simple tantalizing to the taste buds. Would love to hear from you about your experience with Cranberry Apple Infusion!!

Tulsi Green Tea

tulsi

image courtesy: beveragewala.com

After my experiments with Kashmiri Kahwa, I chanced upon TE-A-ME’s Tulsi Green Tea. Already having heard so much about Organic Teas and Tulsi being their signature flavor, I wasn’t too expectant of this one but nevertheless I gave it a shot.

Brewed hot water in the kettle and then added Tulsi Green Teabag. The first thing that caught me about it while it brewed was the gentle aroma of Tulsi. I usually make Tulsi Tea with black tea variant but the fact that this had a green tea base was enough to get my attention.

This tea was almost therapeutic. Perhaps better than the Green Tea flavor. I didn’t even need to add sugar to this brew. Taste and aroma is so authentic that it’s like a fresh homemade brew and not from a tea bag. This has become my favorite pre-breakfast tea. Now instead of using my grandma’s health tips of having Tulsi juice in the morning, I prefer the warm brew of Tulsi Green to start my day. It takes half the time to brew it and retains the goodness of Tulsi.

The flavors of Te-A-Me are absolutely refreshing and will help you set your mood perfectly for the beautiful day ahead. So, is you are a Tea person, which of these is your personal favorite Tea? Try them, experiment and brew your tea for a soothing experience.

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