A Beautifying Beverage With Antioxidant-Power

 

Hi all, hope you're well! There's been a bit of a slow-down with summer posting as I've been working on some (exciting!) projects... But I wanted to get to a question someone asked me about summer-beverage options. She said she's "addicted to iced-coffees" when the weather is hot, even though she "knows these aren't the best" for her -- and was wondering if switching to iced-tea would be a better choice. 

So, the short answer is that tea is a far superior choice to coffee (coffee is basically an anti-beauty-brew -- but that's a topic for a future post!) But to get real benefits from iced-tea, you want to go for the really good stuff. Typically, iced tea is made from regular black tea and loads of sugar -- all that pro-inflammatory, wrinkle-causing sugar detracts from the health benefits of tea.

I suggest upgrading to green iced-tea -- sweetened with stevia! Black tea is fine too, but because green tea is less-processed, it has greater antioxidant power. The polyphenols (antioxidants) in tea will fight free radicals (and help protect you from UV damage), lower inflammation, and aid in fat metabolism, among other benefits!

There is some research that says tea rehydrates as well as water. Even so, it's best to keep tea-drinking to no more than three cups a day, as tea contains caffeine, which is a stimulant. An interesting note, though -- a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition showed that caffeine from tea contains theanine, a protein which will offset some of the usual detrimental effects of caffeine found in other sources like coffee! 

To make green iced-tea, simply brew some green tea, adding about 50 percent more of the leaves or tea bags than you normally would for a regular pot of tea. Steep according to directions (don't over-steep, as this will make the tea bitter). Once it's cool, add some lemon if you'd like, for even more antioxidant power, and then sweeten to taste with stevia. Some fresh mint is nice, too. Voila -- a refreshing and beautifying summer drink!

Comments

[melanie]

What do you mean about over-steep? How long should we leave the bag in the hot water?

[BeautyCosmopolite]

Hi Melanie - iced-tea is often brewed "stronger" for more flavour, which is why I suggested adding more tea leaves or tea bags to achieve that stronger flavour, rather than steeping the leaves/bags longer in hot water. So -- just follow the tea directions for amount of steeping time (usually between 2 and 5 minutes depending on what kind of tea you're using). If you steep much longer than provided directions, you can get a bitter taste to your tea, which you want to avoid. Hope that helps!