Healthy Foods
Tea and Honey
By Leanne Ely, C.N.C
A favorite winter activity is keeping warm with a blanket and mug of hot tea with honey. Tea and honey have been used for ages as a cure-all for illness – reinforcing weak immune systems with a more delicious taste than Dayquil.
The best teas are organic loose-leaf teas. However, that doesn’t mean you have to dismiss bagged tea right away. Just keep an eye out for that magical word: organic–you certainly don’t want pesticides brewing with your tea. But whether it’s loose-leaf or not, you’ll always need a cup of fresh hot water made with cold water and brought to a boil. This is critical for good tea making.
If you’re using loose-leaf tea, you’ll need a tea ball. It’s a small, typically round, contraption that you put the tea leaves inside. It acts as a filter so you don’t have loose leaves scattered in your cup. To avoid any breakage, it’s always wise to temper the teapot with some of the hot water before you begin to steep the tea. How long should you steep? Usually about 10 to 20 minutes pending on the type of tea (it usually will come with directions).
A quick guide:
· Black tea — 5 minutes
· Herbal — 10 minutes
· Oolong — 12 minutes
· Medicinal — 15 minutes
· Rooibos — 20 minutes
Now, for the honey. There are just as many variations in honey as there are in teas!
When you purchase honey, always try to buy raw and local honey. Consuming local honey can aid in alleviating allergies and building up an immunity to local allergens.
Different types of honey include (but aren’t limited to): apple, orange blossom, mint, clover, blueberry, etc. Factors that can determine these variations are location and where you purchase honey. Overall they all have that famous honey taste with subtle differences in flavor depending on which flowers the bees pollinated to get your particular honey.
Tea and honey go together like, well…tea and honey! Enjoy a cup today!