5 Myths & Facts About Tea

There are so many things to know about coffee. Sometimes, it can be hard to know which bits of knowledge are real and which ones are fake. We are here to sort that out so you can enjoy your tea with the correct knowledge.

Herbal teas are genuine teas. Sorry my friend, but herbal teas are not real teas. They are actually "tisanes", real teas are green tea, black teas, white teas, and oolong teas. If your tea is made by steeping fresh or dried flowers, herbs, seeds, roots, or plant barks in hot water, then it is a tisane.

Decaf tea has not caffeine in it. Unfortunately, when tea (and coffee) are decaffeinated, there is still a bit of caffeine left in the product. Not much, about 2 to 10 milligrams per cup. Why? Well, it is very difficult to remove 100 percent of the caffeine in these things, so some caffeine is naturally stuck in the tea (and coffee). Lo siento, mi amigos.

Herbal tea is safe to drink during your pregnancy. Many women believe that they need to avoid normal tea during their pregnancy in favor of herbal tea; however, herbal teas are not much safer during a pregnancy. Some herbal teas have ingredients in them that are not known to be safe with a fetus, so speak with a doctor prior to drinking herbal teas during a pregnancy.

Tea is great for more than just sipping. True! Did you know that you can use green tea for things like poaching fish or cooking grains? Next time you're looking for a fun way to use green tea, consider some cool methods like those!

Adding citrus to your tea makes it healthier. Yup! Tea already is very healthy for us, especially due to its flavanoids (little guys that help reduce heart disease). However, adding in a spritz of citrus (lemon, orange, lime, etc) will help preserve the flavanoids and add in nutrients from the citrus.

So next time you go reaching for a "healthy" beverage, consider brewing some K-Cup tea instead and enjoy the health benefits of tea with the fast, easy convenient brewing style of K-Cups! 

The Advantages of Drinking Green Tea When You're Sick

Trying to keep your body healthy is incredibly important. This importance takes a few ticks up when you are sick; doing whatever you can to ease the situation becomes a priority. Depending on the type of illness that you have, there are different things to do to help the situation and get you feeling better sooner.

Green tea has been considered a great natural remedy for many centuries. Even research from today confirms that there are many healthy qualities of green tea; anti-inflammatory qualities, anti-infective compounds.

Anti-inflammatory qualities-- There are many illnesses that have inflammation as a side-effect. Things like fever, swelling, pain, etc are all connected to inflammation. Green tea is loaded with great polyphenols, compounds that help suppress inflammation. It doesn't allow the immune cells, neutrophils, do their thing (which cause inflammation). Green tea also has catechins, which suppress inflammatory compounds called interleukins. You can indeed get these awesome qualities with green tea K-Cups.

Anti-infective qualities-- If you are sick with some sort of pathogen, then consuming green tea can help with hastening your recovery. A medical study from 2011 found that green tea can help prevent the admittance of Hep C virus. Another study from 2013 said that it also prevents the buildup of cells from various bacteria and fungi.

Looking for healthy, delicious way to help your body feel better and get over sickness? Consider having some K-Cup green tea.

Don't have any in your home? Then purchase tea from Coffeevines and get it at your home or office in only a day or two! We have many tea options available.

What is the Best Tea for a Sore Throat?

Do you have a sore throat? There are several tea options you can choose from that should help.

Herbal tea-- Herbal teas can help your sore throat in a few different ways. Some herbal teas have some sort of mucilage that will coat the mucus and shorten the healing process and have anti-inflammatory properties. They can also give you immune system a boost. Eucalyptus and peppermint tea are great for this. If you consume peppermint tea, you will consume menthol, which is great for decongesting nasal passages.

Traditional tea- Teas that are from the Camellia Sinensis plant, such as black tea, green tea, white tea, oolong tea, and pu-erh tea, are great at helping with sore throats. Some tea manufacturers blend these together and get creations like Irish Breakfast or Earl Grey tea. If you have these teas, you can add in some cinnamon bark, ginger root (peeled and sliced), and some honey or lemon; this will create a wonderful tasting tea with great nutrients that will help ease the soreness.

Fusion tea- Teas can be infused with sweeteners (natural) for added nutrients and health benefits. Honey and citrus are often the things that get infused into the tea. Honey is great for reducing inflammation and citrus (such as lemons or oranges) are great for vitamin C.

Of course, remember to take your medication when you are sick.

Do you need great tea delivered to you quickly? Then shop Coffeevines for a wide assortment of tea that will be delivered to your door.

A Brief History About Tea

The history about tea is one that is actually exciting and interesting for both those who enjoy tea and those who do not. It gives us great information about the world we live in.

Tea was first discovered in China and has made its way across the globe with great popularity, as it holds the position of second most consumed beverage in the world, behind water and before coffee. As we know, just about every country drinks it so some extent and it has tremendous health benefits.

The history
Legend has it that tea was discovered in China during the year of 2737 BC by the Chinese Emperor at the time. For a few hundred years, people consumed the beverage due to its medicinal abilities. When the Zhou Dynasty reigned, tea was considered to be almost sacred since it was used as a religious offering.

When the Han Dynasty came into power between the years of 202 BC to 220 AD, tea plants had become rather limited and could only be afforded by royalty and the rich, both for health and flavor.

Thanks to the Tang Dynasty, tea went from a drink for the rich to a common drink that everyone could afford and enjoy; the government at the time encouraged planting of tea plants and sharing the crop with everyone. Also, during this time, tea was shared with Japan via Japanese priests in China. The priests drank the tea to remain awake and meditated, thus, it was associated with Zen Buddhism. From this, Buddhists created the Japanese Tea Ceremony. The Japanese enjoyed tea so much that they also started planting tea plants.

During the 1600s, tea arrived in England and was due to imports of the East India Company when Charles II marrying Catherine of Braganza, a Portuguese princess. Tea became a drink of the royals. The aristocrats formed "afternoon tea" so they could enjoy time together for tea. Tea became rather expensive so smuggling began so the poorer residents could afford tea as well.

Years later, East India Company began importing tea to the Americas.

We are certainly glad tea came to North America because otherwise we wouldn't have K-Cup tea and other delicious forms of tea. Enjoy tea? Purchase green tea, black tea, especially some English breakfast tea? Then shop Coffeevines! 

What You Should Know About Tea

Tea is a fun and healthy drink. There are many health benefits to it and it is interesting to know a lot about it. We have compiled another list of cool things that you ought to know about tea. Once you read these, you'll want to get some tea for yourself.

1. "Tea", the word, comes from the Chinese word, T'e; this word hails from a Chinese dialect called Amoy. The word is the name of the plant that the tea leaves come from.
2. "Chai" comes from the Mandarin word "Ch'a". 
3. Tea comes from the Camellia sinensis plant. Black tea, green tea, and oolong tea all come from leaves that are pulled from the same tea plants; what makes them different are their processes. Black tea is fermented, oolong is semi fermented, white tea is unfermented, and green tea is unfermented as well. White tea is from the same bush as the others but is picked before the tea buds open. 
4. According to Chinese stories, Emperor Shen Nong was the first man to discover tea in 2737 BC. His servants were purifying water and some leaves from tea bushes fell into the water and created tea. In tea's early days, it was for medicinal use only. 
5. When a Jesuit priest named Jasper visited China from Portugal, he traded with men in the region and was allowed to bring the tea leaves back to Portugal with him. This is believed to be how tea made its way to Europe. 
6. All the way until the mid-1800s, China was the world's biggest producer of tea and their main customer was Great Britain. Great Britain began finding tea from places like India, Africa, and other regions when it grew harder to find tea from China. 
7. United Arab Emirates is the biggest consumer of tea in the world, consuming 14 pounds of tea every year. China is still the world's biggest producer of it. England comes in seventh, the United States is in 69th. 
8. Tea used to not be brewed from tea bags, that did not happen until Thomas Sullivan, an American, sent some to customers in some silk pouches. His customers did not know to take the tea out of the silk. 
9. The world's most expensive tea hails from China, in the mountains of Ya'An, located in the wonderful province of Sichuan. The way it gets to be the world's most expensive tea is due to how it is grown. Field workers fertilize the tea plants with the feces from the pandas since it is so nutritional. How much for a cup? About $200. 

If you are looking for more moderately priced, yet gourmet quality, tea, then shop Coffeevines. Find great brands of single cup tea. 

More Good News About Green Tea!

Tea is one of the biggest and best beverages in the world; some say it is on the A-list of beverages that we have around the world. It's true, when you think about it, it is tied to all these wonderful things that can happen to our bodies; we see it is linked to weight loss, reducing stress and anxiety, controlling the growth of some cancer cells/free radicals. However, the list of things that tea can do does not stop there, now we can add… uh, what was it? Oh, that's right, "memory enhancer". Almost forgot. I should make myself a green tea K cup. 

Studies have been showing that tea, especially green tea, have been linked to enhancing our memories. Researchers from Switzerland did an experiment; in the experiment, they gave participants a drink that had 27.5 grams of green tea extract in it (those participating in the experiment were not privy to the information about what the beverage was). During the consumption of their beverages, the participants' brains were monitored by a fMRI machine as they completed tasks that challenged their short term memories.

Those who had green tea extract in their beverages were doing better than those who did not. They did better on the memory tasks and their brains showed different patterns of activation between their frontal lobe and the parietal lobe (front and back of the brain). Green tea apparently stimulates interaction between these two areas.

Further studies will be done to extend the knowledge on this subject.