Dr. Tea: This is Dr. Tea and we are going to talk about the additions to tea today, milk, lemon, sugars, agave, artificial sweeteners and honey. Are they good for you, are they not? Number one, milk, believe it or not the English, were not the first ones to put milk in their tea, that's right.
In the 1700s when tea was provided to Europe, the tea was sent to France and in France they got tired of breaking their bone china. So one day a friend of Madame de Sévigné, as she describes in her letters, said, dear friend put a little cold milk at the bottom of the cup and then add in the hot tea, so her precious tea ware from china wouldn't break. Now adding milk to your tea. Is it good for you? Up until about May of `07, nobody did a study on it, but the Germans completed a five year study, and they concluded that the addition of protein milk, milk from cows actually destroys the antioxidants that are in the tea. So if you want to add milk to your tea, what we do here at Dr. Tea's on Melrose, we add soy milk or almond milk. Therefore you get the same sort of flavor and consistency and color that you do get with milk and you keep the antioxidants in the tea.
Now adding lemon to the tea is absolutely perfect in terms of the antioxidants. It's a matter of flavor, and if you are going to add lemon to your tea, add lemon to your tea after you pour your tea, not before you pour your tea. A lot of people add those little packets blue, yellow and pink to their tea. I want you to imagine them, because that's all you should be using, is a imaginary packet. Please don't use those packets. They are addicting number one. Number two they have been proven for weight gain not weight loss. You actually gain weight from the use of those packets, as proven in clinical studies, and number three, they are made in a factory.
If you have to have a sweetener use sugar. At least it comes from the earth. The brown sugar preferably, sadly you are going to be gaining a lot of weight with that. So, at Dr. Tea's what do we use, we use agave. Now agave is like honey. You can see the consistency, it's like honey. I use this for three main purposes. Agave does not spike the glycemic index, which means, you don't get a sugar high from agave. You will come down from it. So you will need more sugars after you drink or eat with agave. Number two, it's very low in calories, 60 calories per tablespoon and it is exceptionally sweet, and we use about a half a teaspoon per eight ounces here at Dr. teas. And lastly the most important thing is agave nectar is vegan and therefore it's very mild and it blends beautifully with the tea. I am not a vegan, I am not a vegetarian, but for those of you who are, the agave nectar is absolutely perfect.
So today, we have learned all about the additions to tea. We want to do away with the milk, as it destroys the antioxidants. If you are going to use lemon, put it in after your tea, they are autistic with the antioxidants. Out of sugars, artificial sweeteners are imaginary here. Agave or honey, we prefer agave, as it's low in calories. It doesn't spike the glycemic index and it's fantastic as a natural blend with the tea.
This is Dr. Tea and we have learned all about the additions to tea today, and stay tuned next week, we are going to talk about herbal tea and herbals South Africa. Are there really a tea?
Transcription by:
Scribe4you Transcription Services