This handy guide will help you to ensure your tea consumption aligns with your energy needs throughout the day:
Drink White Tea in the Early Morning
First thing in the morning, black or green tea is not the ideal beverage for you to drink. Take a lighter approach with white tea. This type of tea isn’t as heavy and has lighter flavors that are easier on your stomach and palate. For an extra boost of caffeine from white tea, look for a higher quality brand and make sure to use boiling hot water (around 200 degrees Fahrenheit). The hot water temperature may compromise the delicate flavor of white tea, but it will definitely give you a kick-start to your day.
Drink Green Tea in the Mid-Morning
As the morning progresses, green tea is a solid choice. This is because it will help to boost your metabolism to help burn extra calories during lunch and help fight the energy slump right before your midday meal. Since the flavor of green tea can be quite strong, it is important to learn how to prepare the tea to suit your own personal taste buds. If you prefer a stronger flavor, make sure to steep the tea in boiling hot water. If a more subtle taste is more to your liking, steep the tea in hot water.
Drink Black Tea During Lunch
Black tea is the wisest decision during lunch because it is widely available in restaurants and it helps cut down on any excess sweetness or greasiness that might be present in your food. This type of tea is also more resilient to being steeped in various water temperatures. Sweetened with a bit of honey, black tea is a healthier beverage than a sugary soda and most importantly will help keep your energy up and prevent that infamous mid-afternoon crash that is the result of a refined sugar spike. If you want to prevent bad breath, leave out the honey, since unsweetened black tea has been known to slow down the growth of plaque-forming bacteria in your mouth.
Drink Pu-erh Tea After Lunch
Pu-erh tea is unique because it goes under a special fermentation process before it’s put through its final drying. Because of this it is known to aid digestion. In China, it has been used traditionally for preventing weight gain after a large meal. Another benefit of pu-erh tea is that it has only a moderate level of caffeine in it, so it will help you stay awake during the last few hours of work, but you won’t be kept up at night.
Drink Oolong Tea in the Early Evening
Drinking oolong tea is a good decision after dinner because although it does contain caffeine, it does not have as much as is present in green or white tea. Steep the tea in hot, not boiling water, to reduce the amount of caffeine in your drink. When using loose leaf make sure to lessen the quantity you use to minimize the caffeine, without hampering flavor. If you want to cut out caffeine completely after dinner, opt for a herbal tea. Herbal options include ginger, chamomile, or rooibos, and these can help to soothe your nerves without an unwanted energy boost. Regardless of your preferences, always make sure not to drink tea too late in the night, because it has the ability to keep you up if consumed too close to bedtime. Featured photo credit: Flickr via flickr.com
