Freshly-brewed Tea

I agree, tea tastes best sipped from a bone china teacup, especially a treasured heirloom. {Musings about tea originally inspired by this post on a favourite blog.}

What's your favourite cuppa? This past month I've been drinking organic White Bai Mu Dan Leaf with cinnamon, ginger, and cardamom for my breakfast tea.

Varieties, history, traditions, health benefits and of course, techniques to brew the perfect pot of tea -- Camellia sinensis is fascinating to study from different perspectives. But where to begin? Dietitians and nutrition professionals may want to start with Dietitians of Canada's Practice Based Evidence (PEN), which has a Knowledge Pathway on Green Tea. Although a subscription is needed to access PEN's complete resources, these two factsheets are freely available online:

• Tea (Health Canada monograph)
• The Pleasure of Eating: Could Chocolate, Green Tea and Red Wine Actually be Good for Us?

Another online resource is The Tea Association of Canada's web site, which includes information for health professionals and links to the Proceedings of the Fourth International Scientific Symposium on Tea and Health.

I've also been using Google Scholar to retrieve an abundance of articles on tea's antioxidant properties and potential health benefits. Here's one example: a recently published review on green tea. I could probably make tea a topic of study for the rest of January although I was leaning toward cabbage, cauliflower & quinoa.

Three cups of tea

Three types of tea (Camellia sinensis) brewed for 3 minutes each: white (top), black (lower right), and green (lower left). I didn't have Oolong in my tea canister or I would have represented all four basic tea types.

I have tea on my mind as a result of reading this book (a Christmas gift -- thanks J, P, S & K), this blog post, and a few Twitter updates in which people have been discussing their beverages-of-choice. Oh, and learning to knit. I find tea and knitting go well together. Especially in January.

If you are curious about aspects of tea, you can share in my learning journey that begins here.