Tea Blog

Waiting for the kettle to boil and then the tea to steep can seem interminable, like waiting at the doctor’s office. This is especially true if it is your first cuppa of the day. Thank goodness there is a huge universe out there to ponder. Like solar flares. Fascinating!

We revolve around a fiercesome ball of fire in the sky and have a love/hate relationship with it. We bask in its warmth and go sailing, golfing, and swimming. We plant and tend crops, knowing that the rays from that fiery ball will spark those plants into life. Yet, at the same time, we know that sunburn is a concern and can lead to skin cancer and that the plants could get seared and destroyed if the rays are too strong.

Yes, the Sun is a very dangerous thing that can harm us but also helps us. And every now and then, it belches. In a manner of speaking, that is. Not quite the way you and I — uh, well, being somewhat ladylike, I never, well almost never…

Anyway, solar flares (the aforementioned belches) happen every so often. On the good side, they cause the light show in the north skies called the aurora borealis. On the bad side, they knock out some electrical stuff and can wallop satellites orbiting Earth so that cell phones don’t work for awhile, which can be good if your boss is calling to tell you you’re fired and bad if you are calling your girlfriend to tell her that woman she saw you with last night was a long-lost cousin — honest!

There is also quite a bit of misinformation and rumors about solar flares, such as the idea that there can be “killer flares.” Despite their destructiveness, these flares can’t totally destroy us.

So how does all this relate to tea? Well, tea can inspire a love/hate relationship: you love this tea and hate that one. Tea has both its good side and bad side — great taste that stimulates yet calms and lots of claims for health benefits versus too much caffeine for those hypersensitive to it and tannin in some kinds of tea that can cause bitterness. There is also scads of misinformation and bad science out there about tea.

No, tea will not make you into an instant raving beauty or cure your cancer with a few cupfuls. Even the most highly touted diet tea won’t give you back that svelte figure you had in your late teens and early 20s. However, tea has a lot less caffeine than coffee and far less acid. It’s full of antioxidants that can help you keep looking younger longer and stay healthy longer. And it can be a great substitute for fat/sugar laden desserts. Tea has no calories, and even adding a teaspoon of sugar and a bit of milk makes a cuppa tea far more sensible than a slice of chocolate cream pie or a heaping serving of trifle.

Speaking of tea, that kettle is steaming, announcing that the water within has reached the boiling point. Time to get that good/bad tea to steeping. Yum!

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