Tip of the Day: Upgrading Your Green Tea

Hands down green tea is commonly regarded as one of the top line detox/healthy beverages that millions around the world consume every day. Green tea is stock full of a unique blend of chemicals, antioxidants and polyphenols which among other things can do the following:

• Promote fat loss by boosting metabolism
• Regulate diabetes by helping to regular blood sugar
• Regulate blood pressure by promoting healthier blood vessels and preventing heart disease
• Reduce risk of esophageal cancer
• Reduce bad cholesterol levels in the body and favor the cholesterol balance towards the good kind
• Reduce risk of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases
• Prevent tooth decay
• Combat depression
• Promote healthier and more youthful looking skin
• Posses antibacterial and antiviral qualities

The list literally goes on, and on, and on. But this article doesn't aim to convince you to drink green tea and make it a regular on your grocery shopping list; merely to show you that even a superpower drink can be augmented to kick even more ass.

Ingredients:

• 1-2 teaspoons of pure grounded green tea (try and get the real stuff, avoid the low quality tea bag variety)
• A handful of fresh/dry mint leaves
• 1 teaspoon powdered ginger (I prefer using sliced fresh ginger myself - 2 / 3 small slices ought to be enough)
• half a lemon’s squeeze OR a slice of lime
• 1 tablespoon honey (I prefer the Royal Jelly variety)

Process:

• Seems pretty fucking straightforward to me. Just add all this shit to a cup of hot water.
• Leave the mix to brew for at least 5 - 10 minutes before consuming in order to let all the ingredients and their chemicals fuse with the water. And also to avoid burning your tongue.

Note: You’ll notice (actually you didn’t notice) that I said hot and not boiling. Most kettles unclick after reaching the boiling point after which we immediately pour them in our mugs. It’s actually been proven that extremely hot water (one that hasn’t yet reached boiling point) is better for tea than boiling one. This is due to the fact that it doesn’t immediately scorch the tea leaves and allows for the blend of chemicals inside the leaves to fuse better with water. Just manually unclick your kettle moments before it reaches boiling point and you should be fine. Or not. Whatever, I’m not your mom.

Another Note: A word for the cautious, particularly males, some studies indicate that consumption of green tea and green tea by-products should be limited to two or three non-consecutive days per week maximum due to the fact it may also result in the boosting of estrogen amounts in the body (Definitely not a good dude if you own a willy, just a heads up!)