Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Green Tea! Not Coffee, but close enough?


Hello readers! For today’s blog (well I should say tonight), I’m going to  do something a bit different. I’m going to venture into the world of tea. You may think “Pfbbbt! This is supposed to be a coffee blog, tea doesn’t count” but you are….. really freaking super duper full of poop…er wrong. Although different in taste, tea is (for the most part) a healthier alternative to coffee. My particular favorite, green tea, is jam packed full of anti-oxidants and other healthy science things. It also packs a ton of caffeine, serving the same purpose as coffee. It is for this reason that I have Tazo’s Zen Green Iced Tea as my choice for today.
Before starting with the tasting, let’s get some green tea vibes going. For some reason, whenever I think of green tea, I think of hippies. Hippies aren’t bad people. In fact, they are really good people sometimes. All that acid short dropped short-circuited them every once in a while and caused them to forget where their house is, but I think the weed helped chill them out. It is due to these chilled out acid trippers association with the ganga that green tea seems to work in my brain. Sure, Mr. Hendrix lit his guitar on fire, but I’d like to think that after going nuts on stage he kicked back with some groupies and drank tons of green tea to help him relax… or consumed something green at least…
Anyway, I got really off-topic, so time to return to my tea. Zen Green Tea boasts that it is a simple green tea with hints of spearmint and lemongrass. These added hints of flavor help to create the refreshing taste I love in green tea. The spearmint isn’t overpowering, it doesn’t send you to some icy, mountainous region full coldness with  Lindsey Stirling, but it does provide that needed minty-ness to the equation. To add to the mind, in comes the lemongrass. You must be thinking, spearmint and lemongrass? Tazo must be on CRAZY PILLZ! But it works so well! The lemongrass is subtle, like adding lemon to a glass of water, it simply enhances the flavor from boring water to “HOLY CRAP! MY WATER IS CITRUSY!”
Making the tea is simple. Get some hot water. Pour it over some green tea bags. Let that water steep for 5 minutes. Take the teabags out and then dilute the concentrated tea with equal parts water. Bam. You now have green tea. So why don’t we taste it?
First Sip: Summer comes along
Second Sip: Me and green tea are gonna be friends
Third Sip: Say it aint so, green tea! You can’t already be gone!
Green tea is much like summer for me. I get it, I enjoy it and relax, and forget I have stuff to do until I realize that summer is already gone, along with my green tea. If you are not a coffee person (it’s okay if you’re not. Perfection is not for everyone), then I strongly recommend trying green tea. If you must sweeten it, don’t put sugar, but throw in some honey from a local beekeeper (it will help with your allergies. Some science things about the bees and pollen that I don’t want to get into because I will never finish this blog by midnight and I doubt you want to read five more paragraphs explaining the wonderful world of bees).  Thanks for reading, and enjoy your summer! 

3 comments:

  1. LOL This blog entry is my favorite thus far. I think the whole hippie thing works because we are still hearing your personal view about something. Different teas make me think of different things. Green tea reminds me of a Japanese tea ceremony. There are different types of green tea, but all seem to remind me a Japanese woman elegantly preparing tea and doing so in a clean and peaceful environment. I have had Tazo's Zen Green Iced Tea before. I like it and I too think it's a cool and refreshing summer drink.

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  2. I enjoyed your musical choices for this post. I can't quite get on green tea wagon, but I do love rooibos, or red tea. My favorite has to be the mango rooibos found at Teazers. I happen to love caffeine, a little too much at times, and rooibos does not contain caffeine, which is why I can enjoy this guilt-free. It too has a lot of good science stuff associated with consumption.

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  3. The Mamas & the Papas are the best. I cannot do tea, especially green. For whatever reason hot tea is associated, in my head, with sickness. That's the only time I ever drink it: sore throats and cant sleep nights. I know I should get on top of the healthy benefits. My mother drinks green tea like water and that lady aint never sick!

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