Self-Care Saturday: A Steaming Mug of Tea
Good morning and happy Saturday teacher-friends!
Today I want to share with you a love of tea I discovered while teaching and pregnant with my daughter. I’m a pretty hard-core coffee drinker, but in the twilight-zone that is pregnancy, I suddenly found coffee gross. Not only that, but I wanted to eat things like lumber. And so in an effort to NOT eat lumber and get some caffeine, I turned to tea, and the earthier the better!
Unlike coffee, tea strikes me as a little exotic and takes me to cultures I know little about. Tea can be used for ceremony, medicine, or community. I find that all of this just adds richness to the beverage itself. I can be enjoying a hot mug of tea, knowing that the scents and tastes have been shared for generations. It can be a soothing escape, instead of just the quick caffeine fix of a black cup of coffee.
Anyway, I wax poetic. Some types of tea and how you can enjoy them:
Black Tea: Probably your best bet if want caffeine like coffee. The leaves typically go through a full oxidation process which makes the leaves the characteristic black or dark brown. Black teas have robust flavors and usually a higher caffeine content than other types of tea. Personal Fave: Lapsang Souchong. This tea literally tastes like campfire.
Green Tea: In production, green tea leaves are only allowed to wither very briefly and then they are rapidly heated to halt oxidation. The results are subtle flavors with many undertones and a lower caffeine level. Personal Fave: Jasmine. This tea is smooth and earthy with a hint of tangy. I drink it for a little burst of caffeine in the afternoon that won’t keep me up all night.
White Tea: White tea has a comparable caffeine level to other teas. It is the most delicate of the teas, produced from young shoots of the tea plant with no oxidation. White teas are complex, smooth, and sweet. Personal Fave: White Peony. The flavor is subtle, but the aroma is sweet and relaxing.
Oolong Tea: These teas undergo partial oxidation. They are very fragrant and the aroma is often compared to a bouquet of fresh flowers or fruit. I like them for the earthy undertones and the slight pop of caffeine.
Rooibos Tea: Is not technically tea. Rooibos is an herb that is native to South Africa, and because it’s an herb, it has no caffeine. Red Rooibos has been oxidized longer becoming redder in color and sweeter and richer in flavor. Green Rooibos endures less oxidation and tastes more mineral-like. I do not care for Rooibos tea, but it’s pretty popular so you should feel free to try it 🙂
Herbal Tea: Herbal teas have no caffeine. They are often used for relaxation in the evenings or for medicinal purposes. Sometimes a blend of several flavors, herbal teas can be sweet or spicy or fruity. Personal Fave: Chamomile with a generous helping of honey. Sometimes I add a drop of Thieves Vitality and/or Lemon Vitality (Young Living Vitality Essential Oils) if I have a sore throat. Very effective!
If you want to learn more about the tea you drink, I highly recommend The Story of Tea by Mary Lou Heiss and Robert J. Heiss. It’s a beautiful coffee table book that I just found at my local library. The authors share their travels to learn the backgrounds of the tea they love with gorgeous pictures and narrative.
I’m currently living in Michigan. The Polar Vortex just passed through. But whether or not you, too, are surviving ridiculous temperatures, Saturday is always a good day to sip a mug of hot tea, read a good book or play a game with the family, and join generations in this practice of sweet relaxation and self-care.
