January 31, 2020

 

Is Iced Tea Good For You? An Ultimate Guide of Benefits

Reading time: 3 minutes

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Drinking enough plain-Jane water everyday got you down? Simply put it can be uninspiring and boring!

Enter a more adventurous way to hydrate…with more flavour and little to no sugar!

Iced black tea… Iced green tea… Iced white tea…Iced herbal tea…  

All. Great. Choices. 

Exploring the world of iced tea can be a fun adventure best enjoyed with a group of friends! Learning about the various types of blends, ways to prepare them and fun pairing ideas can end in the exciting creation of your own inspired colourful and flavourful blend!

Now that you've decided to move forward with this iced tea adventure, here are some health benefits of iced tea that you can use to convince your friends to join you!

There are many kinds of regular and herbal teas and each has its own set of benefits.  

 

What are the Benefits of Iced Tea?

 1. Hydration, Hydration, Hydration

We all need to drink more! 😉 

Like water, tea is hydrating, even caffeinated teas can count towards your daily eight or so cups. 

A 2016 study found that caffeine levels under 300mg/day did not decrease the hydration value of tea when compared to drinking water.
Considering a cup of black tea only has about 50mg of caffeine, that’s a lot of tea to drink before the caffeine starts to reverse the tide! [1].

There are a lot of health benefits to being fully hydrated so now is the time to jump on the bandwagon!

• kickstarts your metabolism,
• helps your digestive system work better
• fires up your immunity by supporting healthy functioning organs
• gives your skin that sought after healthy glow,
• keeps headaches at bay,
• helps build stronger bones, and
• ensures good physical and mental energy levels.

So honestly what’s not to like about drinking more to stay fully hydrated? Only that you might need to visit a restroom a little more often 😊

 

2. May Aid in Weight Loss

Can tea help you lose weight? The answer is yes... but lets qualify that with “only if you don’t pair it with donuts”!

3. Rich in Cancer-fighting Antioxidants

Antioxidants are bad ass! And there are a lot of them in tea. What’s so great about them? They help fight against free radicals and cell damage in our bodies that are connected to aging. They also fight against many types of chronic disease and cancers such as breast, skin, prostate and lung cancer.

So which teas have the most antioxidants?

Research shows antioxidant activity decreases in the following order: green tea>oolong>black tea. Antioxidant activity can be affected by how they produce the tea (leaf origin, wilting, twisting, fermentation duration/method, drying duration/temperature) and how they prepare the tea (steeping time, brewing temperature).

4. Supports a Healthy Heart

More good news on the antioxidant front! Because of the high level of antioxidants, especially flavonoids, drinking tea is associated with reduced risk of cardiovascular disease and heart attacks. There is growing evidence that tea consumption reduces cardiovascular risk factors such as

 

5. Boosts Mental Alertness

Although iced tea (not herbal tea) normally contains significantly less caffeine, it can still keep you mentally alert throughout the day.

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Benefits of Iced Tea Made from Herbal Blends

Herbal blends also have some helpful health properties that will contribute to your daily wellness.  

Hydration	Weight loss support	Antioxidants	Mental alertness
All	Turmeric Ginger Rooibos,	Hibiscus Lemon Balm Turmeric Ginger Rooibos	Peppermint

 

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What Type of Iced Tea is Best?

Well now that you’re convinced to give cold brewed tea a try where do you start?

Be warned, not all iced teas are created equal. Whether choosing a ready-to-drink bottle of iced tea or venturing to make your own, make sure you know the pros and cons of your choice!

1. Iced Tea made from Loose Leaf Tea.

• Pros: Loose leaf tea provides a much broader variety of flavors and aromas. It contains the best part of the leaf and varies by geographic location, estate, season and appearance, among other things. Loose leaf tea is better quality than tea bags, containing the best part of the leaf.

• Cons: Loose leaf tea can be a little more of an investment and some people are overwhelmed by the choices provided by loose leaf. 

 

2. Iced Tea Made from Tea Bags

Blended for standardization, tea bags continue to be snubbed by Tea connoisseurs. They often lack flavour and depth of flavour but to be fair using tea bags is the easiest way to make homemade iced tea and there are a zillion different flavours to choose from.

• Pros: A simple, quick and economical way to prepare iced tea that delivers a consistent taste. Tea bag manufacturers are beginning to create pyramid teabags containing higher quality tea leaves with room to expand with more sophisticated flavours.

• Cons: Traditional flat tea bags contain low-grade tea fannings and dust that are leftover once the good leaves are used for loose leaf tea. This lower-grade tea yields a less flavourful brew as a result of being compacted in a tea bag. It is often stale due to the increased surface area of the small pieces and in turn increased evaporation of essential oils on the leaf surface.

3. Ready-to-Drink Iced Tea:

The Many ready-to-drink iced teas are

• Pros: Ready to drink is a convenient time-saver

• Cons: Costly compared to homemade iced tea. Many are nutritionally poor, containing loads of added sugar, and artificial colors and flavors. Very low in beneficial antioxidants Some are however better than others so be sure to read the nutritional label to find the best option [5].

Ready-to-Drink: Know what you’re drinking!

Watch for added sugar content information on nutritional labels, it may not be much different than that soda you’re avoiding.

The following is a comparison of commercially available Iced Teas with # of grams of sugar/ 12 ounces of beverage [2].

Homemade iced tea is included for comparison. Inclusion on this list does not constitute an endorsement

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Arizona Green Tea with Ginseng and Honey 27g per 12 oz
• Lipton Brisk Green Iced Tea 34g per 12 oz
• Nestea Sweetened Lemon Iced Tea 35g per 12 oz
• Snapple Iced Tea Peach 35g per 12oz
• Honest Tea Lori’s Lemon Tea 12g per 12 oz
• Homemade Iced Green Tea with 1 Tsp of sugar 4g per 12oz
• Diet Iced teas may not have the sugar but they will contain unwanted artificial sweeteners like aspartame and sucralose.

So if you're craving sweet, don't reach for the ready-to-drink. Instead brew some homemade iced tea and add some beneficial honey or mix in your own simple syrup and add some refreshing lemon slices!

Yay!

You are now armed with the information you need to make a healthy choice about why you should be enjoying a nice frosty glass of iced tea! You also which iced tea is the diva of the group and which you should probably leave on the shelf!

Keep reading if you want to find out how to make great homemade iced tea and what all the hype is about around Cold Brewed Tea and Flash Chilling!

Next step? ……   How to Make Iced Tea at Home

 

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References

[1] Ronald J Maughan, Phillip Watson, Philip AA Cordery, Neil P Walsh, Samuel J Oliver, Alberto Dolci, Nidia Rodriguez-Sanchez, Stuart DR Galloway, A randomized trial to assess the potential of different beverages to affect hydration status: development of a beverage hydration index, The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Volume 103, Issue 3, March 2016, Pages 717–723, https://doi.org/10.3945/ajcn.115.114769.

[2] Hursel, R., Viechtbauer, W. & Westerterp-Plantenga, M. The effects of green tea on weight loss and weight maintenance: a meta-analysis. Int J Obes 33, 956–961 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/ijo.2009.135

[3] Comparison of antioxidant capacities of different types of tea using the spectroscopy methods and semi-empirical mathematical model

[4] Trends of tea in cardiovascular health and disease: A critical review (2019)

[5] Harvard School of Public Health: How Sweet Is It?

 

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