Coronavirus & Tea

Can drinking tea help you to fight Corona Virus?

The simple answer is “No.”

However, there is a complex answer as well 🙂

But before we proceed, let’s just take a moment to understand Corona Virus and how it works.

“Corona Virus (Cov) infect variety of organs including the liver, respiratory and enteric tracts and the central nervous system. The resulting disease phenotypes (a phenotype would be any observable characteristic or trait of a disease, such as morphology, development, biochemical or physiological properties, or behavior, without any implication of a mechanism. A clinical phenotype would be the presentation of a disease in a given individual) comprise a vast spectrum ranging from acute life threatening disease to chronic inapparent infections. Host genetic background and age in addition to the specific virus and root of entry contribute to disease severity. Viral cellular and tissue tropism affects both the quality and quantity of immune response which automatically determine viral control and pathogenesis. (the manner of development of a disease).” (the full report: https://www.asmscience.org/content/book/10.1128/9781555815790.ch22 )

Three immunologists —Timothy Craig, a professor of medicine and pediatrics in allergy and immunology at Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center; Cathryn Nagler, a mucosal immunologist at the University of Chicago and distinguished fellow of the American Association of Immunologists, and John Wherry, director of the Institute of Immunology at Penn Medicine — said there’s no strong evidence that any herb or supplement, including vitamin C, will prevent coronavirus. Like drinking water, taking most of them probably won’t hurt you, but also won’t help. Probiotics also won’t save you. Colloidal silver can be harmful.

So, since our immune system is all we have between us and the ICU as this virus spreads, are there ways we can make it work better?

This is where tea comes in.

A  study conducted in 2003 had found that tea boosts the body’s defenses against infection and contains a substance that might be turned into a drug to protect against disease. Coffee does not have the same effect.

A component in tea was found in laboratory experiments to prime the immune system to attack invading bacteria, viruses and fungi, according to a study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

A second experiment, using human volunteers, showed that immune system blood cells from tea drinkers responded five times faster to germs than did the blood cells of coffee drinkers.

“We worked out the molecular aspects of this tea component in the test tube and then tested it on a small number of people to see if it actually worked in human beings,” said Dr. Jack F. Bukowski, a researcher at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and Harvard Medical School. The results, he said, gave clear proof that five cups of tea a day sharpened the body’s disease defenses.

In the study, Bukowski and his co-authors isolated from ordinary black tea a substance called L-theanine.

Bukowski said L-theanine is broken down in the liver to ethylamine, a molecule that primes the response of an immune system element called the gamma-delta T cell.

“We know from other studies that these gamma-delta T cells in the blood are the first line of defense against many types of bacteria, viral, fungal and parasitic infections,” he said. “They even have some anti-tumor activity.”

The T cells prompt the secretion of interferon, a key part of the body’s chemical defense against infection, Bukowski said.

“We know from mouse studies that if you boost this part of the immune system it can protect against infection,” he said.

To further test the finding, the researchers had 11 volunteers drink five cups a day of tea, and 10 others drink coffee. Before the test began, they drew blood samples from all 21 test subjects.

After four weeks, they took more blood from the tea drinkers and then exposed that blood to the bacteria called E-coli. Bukowski said the immune cells in the specimens secreted five times more interferon than did blood cells from the same subjects before the weeks of tea drinking. Blood tests and bacteria challenges showed there was no change in the interferon levels of the coffee drinkers, he said.

Bukowski said it may be possible to further isolate and refine L-theanine from tea and use that as a drug to boost the infection defense of the body.

(The health effects of tea have been extensively studied. So far, it has been linked to lower heart disease and cancer risk through the action of flavonoids, a type of antioxidant. Other studies have linked tea to helping combat osteoporosis, the brittle bone disease, and to relieving some allergy symptoms.)

So, Tea contributes considerably in building your immune system, which in return helps you to fight various diseases better.

What do you think?

Source: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences: https://www.pnas.org/content/100/10/6009

Your Favourite Tea Bag is Killing You.

Loose leaf tea or tea bags? Authentic or Quickie?

The debate is on since the time someone in America “invented” tea bag by mistake (the dumbest and most horrifying invention to any true blue tea lover).

Well, I made my point already there! You see, if you consider yourself a true blue tea lover, you can’t be seen with a tea bag (Forget Simon Baker in Mentalist. He even added milk to a Chamomile tea bag!) Trust me. It’s like blasphemy. Or, may be more! It’s like drinking premixed “scotch” (sounds weird right? A brand tried to sell a premix whisky – didn’t work at all) and calling yourself a whisky connoisseur.

Now, that was all about passion. But passion, these days, are not that relevant after all. We need rationale. And we need scientific reasoning. So, here it is:

Before that let’s clarify what includes loose leaf and what’s a tea bag:

Most (90%) tea bags contain small cut leaf which is primarily tea dust and very broken tea leaves and twigs; while  Whole Loose Leaf Teas are primarily made up of Whole, large and Unbroken Leaves.

Tea grades such as dust & brokens have higher surface areas which means higher exposure to the essential oils and more of a chance for them to evaporate. The large grades have a relatively lesser surface area and hence the essential oils remain intact. Hence better Aroma, Better flavor and more Antioxidants!

Tea bags have limited space for the tea leaves to let water flow and absorb very little water and hence the infusion and the yield is not very flavorful, Loose Leaf tea have space to expand and hence allow the water to be absorbed and flow through the leaves and extract good amount of vitamins, minerals, flavors all along with great aroma.

Loose leaf teas can be reinfused several times (in many cases) unlike a tea bag.

Tea bags may release tannins more quickly when compared to loose leaf tea resulting in bitter and astringent brews.

Most tea bag teas are machine picked and machine make unlike most whole loose leaf tea which are carefully handpicked and carefully selectively processed.

Not convinced yet?

Ok… No problem. Let me share with you a study called the The Glaucus Studies, 2013

The Study consisted of 25 varieties of tea bags that were tested for 365 different illegal pesticides of the eight well-known brands. They are manufactured in India and China for global distribution. Some countries already have banned these brands, but not the U.S.

Here is the list of eight brands and 25 types of teas that were found “adulterated”:

1. Tetley – Pure Green Tea, Long Leaf Green Tea
2. Twinings – Classic Assam Tea, Classic Lady Grey, English Breakfast, Earl Grey
3. Uncle Lee’s Legends of China – Green Tea, Jasmine Green Tea
4. Celestial Seasonings – Authentic Green Tea, Antioxidant Max Blackberry Pomegranate, Antioxidant Max Blood Orange, Antioxidant Max Dragon Fruit, English Breakfast Black K-Cup, Green Tea Honey Lemon Ginger, Green Tea Peach Blossom, Green Tea Raspberry Gardens, Sleepytime Herbal Teas, Sleepytime Kids Goodnight Grape Herbal
5. Lipton – Clear Green Tea, Darjeeling Tea, Pure Green Tea, Yellow Label Black Tea
6. No Name – Black Tea
7. King Cole – Orange Pekoe
8. Signal – Orange Pekoe Two Cups

Unfortunately, if you drink tea, you may see several of your favorites on the list! The Glaucus Testing selected an independent and highly accredited lab, so there would be no discretions. The brands were chosen because they were specifically marketed as “100 percent natural and healthy.”

Source : https://www.sadakafirm.com/tea-bag-containing-deadly-pesticides/

It’s kind of ironic because some of the names like “Pure Green Tea” are nothing more than a marketing ploy to make you feel believe that it is all natural, this is exactly why organic whole leaf tea is always a better choice.

  

Toxic Tea Bags

So, if the alarming levels of pesticides wasn’t enough to get you to make the switch, perhaps the epichlorohydrin that is used to treat these tea bags to ensure that they do not disintegrate or tear, will. This chemical, epichlorohydrin is a chlorinated epoxy compound that is used as an industrial solvent. It is not only a strong skin irritant, but also a known carcinogen. According to Dow, it is a very dangerous chemical that requires a special handling procedure, and yep, that’s right – the tea bag companies mentioned above use this chemical to spray their bags. That chemical is not only being absorbed into our skin, but it’s being extracted in hot water and then consumed.  

Given your love for tea bag which you have been drinking as tea for a while now, how much poison are you now carrying in your body?

Conclusions:

Tea bags gained momentum in an era when there were no alternative to the convenience that they offered. People had foregone quality for convenience.

Now days there are enough tea accessories available in the market so making loose leaf tea is as much a convenience as much a tea bags!

I usually carry a strainer like this with me along with my tea leaves. It costs something between Rs.150-Rs.200 and are easily available in Amazon. If you are living outside India, please check online stores in your own country.

Tea & Health

I very often get asked these questions:

Is tea really good for health?

What are the health benefits of tea?

Which of the teas I should drink to improve my health?

 

The answer to these questions is very simple :

Tea is NOT a medicine and therefore it should not be looked at only from a health perspective. Speciality teas are like wines; and some of the speciality tea are more expensive than wine or champagne (yes such tea come from India). Therefore speciality tea are for celebrations, snob values, prestige values as well as for lifestyle enhancement or style statements. Tea is such an interesting beverage that even if you drink one kind of tea every day of your life, you will still not have drank all the possible teas available in the world. And tea is also about experience and exploration.

To sum up tea is a philosophy  – you study that philosophy,  immerse yourself into it, get the good things out of it and enrich your life. Tea is not a paracetamol to help you reduce your fever but it is a soothing drink to help you sleep peacefully when you have temperature and make you feel better when you wake up. No other beverage in the world can be compared with the versatility of tea. So let us enjoy it for all the things that it offers to us –  after all, you don’t drink wine because it’s good for your health (they say red wine is good for your heart).

A fine tea is like a good romance. You will never get enough of it. Enjoy Life!

 

For health benefits of Tea, please read by blog post : http://teawithsusmita.com/2017/11/10/all-teas-are-good-for-your-health/

Tea – Trends for 2018

Tea takes you to places. Literally. So I ended up visiting Dubai to attend the Gulfood Festival and to witness what’s happening for our favourite drink all around the world. And what an experience it was!

The Gulfood Festival was held at the Dubai Trade Center (18^th to 22 February 2018) which with over 1.3 million square feet of covered exhibition and event space, 21 halls, over 40 meeting rooms across 3 floors, and hosting over 500 events annually – is a very impressive infrastructure. I couldn’t visit all the halls and exhibition areas even in 5 days. So instead, I simply remained at the beverages section enjoying the many intertwined  aromas of tea, coffee, juices, health drinks etc and experiencing the bustling activities around.

The Beverages Hall

As expected the tea section was dominated by the Sri Lankan and the Indian tea companies. The tea boards of both the countries were present, along with a host of small tea brands who participated under these two tea boards. There were also quite a few large tea companies who were there independently and had large spaces displaying their variety of teas. I was not surprised to find Dilmah, the very reputed Tea Brand from Sri Lanka, occupying one of the largest booths.

I found that the Sri Lankan Tea companies were displaying lot more functional teas with herbs, flowers, and spice blends, while the Indian tea companies where primarily focusing on pure orthodox or CTC teas and some tea mixes (No!). The green tea, which is growing strong with its positioning as a health drink, was one of the most discussed teas;  while I also found a few matcha tea booths offering interesting innovations.  There were no Chinese or Japanese tea representations, though. But I did found teas from Kenya and Vietnam (collected samples from them – they looked and smelled really nice); and found Argentine mate making inroads into Indian market as a direct competition to green tea. Mate, which is actually a herb, is the national infusion of both Argentina and Uruguay.

Tea trends in 2018

Based on my 5 day visit and after talking to quite a few tea suppliers from India, Sri Lanka, Kenya; buyers from UAE, Egypt, Iran, Lebanon, Russia (and others); tea brands from North America, Europe and Asia, here are my top 5 trends for tea in 2018:

1. Teas with functional ingredients are going to be the next big trend, primarily riding on the health benefit platform that most teas – particularly green teas – are offered with.
2. Herbal Teas are becoming very popular for the European and the American market (USA & Canada).
3. Look out for cold pressed teas.
4. Healthier tea drinking options – example iced tea without sugar.
5. Gourmet and specialty teas which have stories to tell.

My view:

Instead of copying the trends in coffee, which I am increasingly finding in tea, tea companies should focus on their own innovations and creativity. Tea is a more dynamic and versatile beverage as compared to coffee, therefore, imitating coffee trends for tea would be, literally, underplaying the possibilities that tea as a drink offers.

Tea is more like wine. While health is a great platform to be in for tea, tea should and must be positioned as a celebratory drink that can match every mood of one’s daily life.

Here’s to that cuppa!

 

Write to me at itsourcuppatea@gmail.com

Tea Tasting and Evaluation for a Tea Startup

A new tea startup approached me sometimes back to help them with tea tastings and evaluation and help them with the right tea selection for their portfolio. I was happy to do so for them. I received 7 samples of tea –though I asked for only 4, and tried 5 of their teas.

The teas were sent to me in small plastic pouches, which interfered with the tea aromas giving them a little plastic smell. However, the tea inside didn’t lose its character much and the tasting went on good. I would not recommend packing teas in these kind of plastic pouches ever, particularly if you are sending it for trial or tasting purpose:

 

Here are my observations after tasting their teas:

Name of the Tea: EMCT – B9#

Aroma: A typical grassy green tea smell after the brew.

Flavour: A very strong bitter taste.

Brewing Time:  2-3 min.

Comments: The tea looks like grass blades and is very smooth and silky to touch. The bitter taste was very strong and it stayed for a while on the tongue and mouth.

Pictures below:

 

Name of the Tea:  CTC – F MSD

Aroma: A very grassy smell which was not very pleasant on the nose; however green tea lovers may like it.

Flavour: For such a strong smelling tea, the taste was very smooth. I was quite surprised by it.

Brewing Time:  2 min.

Comments: Dried / just bit smoky smell when you smell the leaves. Comparable to most good green teas (not tea bags) available in the market.

Pics below:

 

Name of the Tea: 95101 – 174C530

Aroma: A very intense smell.

Flavour: Tastes more like an oolong tea

Brewing Time:  3 min.

Comments: The tea is all whole dry leaves with stem. A darker brew than a traditional green tea; quite different than the most available in the market. Can be positioned as nice and different green tea.

Pics below:

Name of the Tea: CTCS – 17A6528

Aroma: A very raw, oily smell after the brew; nice dry grass smell as whole leaf.

Flavour: Mild to strong in taste, but smooth with a very interesting flavour.

Brewing Time:  2 min.

Comments:  Darker brew. Tea is all dried whole leaves. A nice relaxing tea, though more oolong-ish than green after brew.

Pics Below:

Name of the Tea: MSDCTC S

Aroma: The lose leaf has a kind of a semi dried smell, while the brew is little smoky.

Flavour: A very non green tea taste, good for those who like a little darker brew.

Brewing Time:  2 min.

Comments: The lose tea looks like tea granules; it nicely opens up when brewed. A nice refreshing tea. Recommended.

Pics below:

 

Final comments:

I liked most of your teas; though found a couple of them are more like Oolong tea than green tea. However, I also feel that most of your green teas can be positioned as premium green teas and sold to the real tea connoisseurs rather than to those following the green tea fad with major focus on the price, packaging and delivery.

 

If you want me to taste / evaluate your teas, please write to me at itsourcuppatea@gmail.com

 

A brief history of Tea in India

The history of tea is as fascinating as the history of mankind. Some believe that tea was first ‘discovered’ some 4000 years ago in China when a king, who was sleeping under a tree had kept his hot cup of water, right next to him, to be taken when he woke up. The story goes that some leaves of the tree, under which he was sleeping, fell on the hot boiling water. When the king woke up he found the leaves floating on the water, the colour changed and a beautiful aroma coming out of it. He took a sip to see what that aroma tasted like and he was amazed. He fell in love with the brew! The rest, as they say is history.

While this is a very convincing story about the invention of tea as a beverage from China, many a tea historians are now saying that tea was also very popular in India around the same time. The Indian tea, however, were more herb based with lots of premium spices which were brewed together for a fine pix of delicate aroma, excellent flavour and requisite health benefits. The tea, those days in India, were truly the drinks of the royalty. And saffron, cardamom and basil were some of our choices spices and herbs.

However, credit should be given to the British who made this Asian drink a truly global beverage. Such was their love for tea that when they couldn’t get tea from China, they picked up some Chinese Tea Plants (Camellia Sinesis) and planted them in high altitude Himalayas in the Darjeeling. Slowly tea cultivation moved to other parts of India like Assam, Nilgiris, Himachal and neighbouring country like Sri Lanka; and in no time, tea became one of the most profitable cash crops for the British empire from India.

The Indian citizens, however, took time to get used to the British tea, and it was not until middle of 20th entury that Indians, mainly the elite class Bengalis, took to teas as a regular beverage. Until then Indians were still having their herbal teas mixed and brewed in their homes.

The British, unlike the French, love to have their tea with a hint of milk and a dash of sugar. India converted to milk tea; and perhaps, due to the love and faith that Indians have on milk and its health attributes, it slowly became a cooked, boiled tea in milk and sugar, rather than the brewed tea that the British sip.

 

A cup of Tea

The Chai

This cooked tea that we drink everyday at home, and which we lovingly call, the Chai, or the Kadak Chai, is good for your morning bowel movement perhaps, but it kills all the goodness of tea. Chai, after all is a concoction of milk, water, sugar with pinch of dusty tea. And it’s sad that while we produce some of the best and most premium whole teas in the world, we end up drinking the tea that are neither good for our health, nor are they premium. Many problems like indigestion, bloated stomach, laziness, blood sugar, etc comes from this milk tea with sugar.

The time has come for us to switch over to the healthy teas that are brewed correctly, and take pride of the finest teas that we produce in India that the world die for.