"hot tea" news and stories

After months and months of green and white tea based products, including Enviga, green tea lattes and even green tea vodka, some beverage companies are starting to go back to black teas as the inspiration for their drinks. Nestle and Coca Cola announced this week that they would be concentrating their joint venture project on black tea-based beverages after the group has rolled out Enviga in Europe in early 2007.

The green tea craze was all in the name of the various health benefits that have been attributed to it. Black tea is still a consumer favorite, however, and now there are studies that have shown that drinking any kind of tea can be good for your health, so there is no reason to stay away from it as a drink option. On top of that, green tea seems to have oversaturated the market for the time being and people are probably ready for a change. It will be interesting to see what the group comes up with, since green tea drinks tended to be far more innovative than the average flavored ice tea and perhaps some of the inspiration for those drinks will be applied to black teas now.

Source

According to the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, "drinking three or more cups of tea a day is as good for you as drinking plenty of water and may even have extra health benefits."

Though it's been touted to have antioxidant properties, there has still been a common belief that tea is dehydrating because of caffeine content. However, UK nutritionists have found that tea rehydrates as well as water. Dr. Carrie Ruxton, public health nutritionist, said that "even if you had a really, really strong cup of tea or coffee, which is quite hard to make, you would still have a net gain of fluid."

In fact, tea is healthier than water overall because while water simply replaces fluids, tea replaces fluids and provides flavonoids and other compounds that promote health: reduction of rick of heart attack, protection against cancer, strengthening of bones, and protection against tooth plaque and potentially tooth decay.

I wouldn't necessarily go replacing water with tea, but if you're drinking lots of soda or juices with high sugar-content, perhaps tea is a better option.

Source

The Chicago Sun Times managed to get ahold of some of the first samples of a new line of products from Snapple. After dominating the iced tea market with their teas flavored with real juices, Snapple is releasing a line of tea bags. The tea bags will be available in four flavors, Le-mmm-on, Wild 'Bout Berries, Orange-Inality and Strawberry, all of which are flavored with real fruits and natural juices. Le-mmm-on is, predictably, lemon flavored black tea, while the Orange-Inality is an herbal tea infused with orange and a hint of lychee. These teas may already be available in your area, but if you have not seen them yet, it is likely that they will be on shelves soon.

Source