Will You Benefit From Drinking Tea?

Tea - always relate it to the 'teh tarik', tea with sweetened milk, a specialty within the indian muslim restaurant or stalls in Malaysia.

My mom will always mumble that I drink too much of such teh tarik as she said the tea leaves used for such tea is the lowest grade of all. Lowest grade? Why do they do buy such a grade? Because it's so much cheaper. This are actually tea dust gathered from tea producing factory, quoted by mom.

True? After hearing that for years, I'm still into teh tarik. When I travel overseas, the Lipton Tea is my travelling companion too. Don't leave home without it ..... hehe. A few cans of sweetened milk will follow along also.

This time round, I bought the Boh Tea. Went shopping last minute owing to last minute work in office on the day of travel and don't have time to travel round to shop for my preferred brand.

When I'm back in Kuala Lumpur, the next day's breakfast will certainly be at a mamak restaurant for my favourite cuppa of teh tarik and roti telur.

Too much of teh tarik?

The American Heart Association did a study where it was found that drinking three cups of tea a day cuts the risk of brain clots by 21 per cent and also will help in reducing blood pressure. How real is this? I'm on the right track at the moment. Already started drinking tea from my teenage life till now ...... should be living past 100 years old for sure.

There's this Tea Advisory Panel who agreed with the findings. Why not? They can't disapprove it hehe else the tea producers will go after their necks.

On the contrary, the American Stroke Association gave a warning where they mentioned that 'excess caffeine intake is believed to contribute to high blood pressure'. Who is telling the truth now? Or whose findings are more reliable and better researched?

Out of nowhere, I bumped into this article where the British Medical Journal mentioned that drinking black tea at temperatures of 70C or higher increased the risk. Am I supposed to bring along a micro termometer when I go for my teh tarik time? Or you just tell the tea maker to reduce the boiling temperature of the hot water?

I find that sipping the tea once it's being served is the best time to taste the tea aroma. After it has cooled down, though easy to gulp down the throat, I find the taste a bit bland already.

Whatever it is, I'll try as many type of tea brands as possible as tea leaves prices are increasing by the day. The black tea is about of US$2.70 per kilogramme nowadays. Why is the price increasing? This is economics lesson ........ drought has hit Kenya and India which caused shortfall in the crop.

Maybe not the teh tarik as it's the lowest grade of tea dust ?!??!!?

Any drop in the production in Kenya - largest grower of tea or in India - world's biggest producer of tea will certainly cause Russians and British, being the world's largest tea consumers, to pay more. Why the Russians and British? The people who's doing those counting should just drop by in Kuala Lumpur (yeah, this city itself will convince you). Walk around those mamak restaurant and you'll be shocked on the number of people drinking tea way past midnight.

Reading: Three daily cups of tea can reduce risk of stroke - Daily Mail
Reading: Steaming hot tea linked to cancer - BBC News/Health
Reading: Tea prices are surging. Is your mug next? - BBC News/Business

Tags: Teh Tarik, Lipton Tea, Boh Tea, American Heart Association, Tea Advisory Panel, American Stroke Association, British Medical Journal, Black Tea, Kenya, India, Tea Dust, Tea Grade