Behind water, tea is the second most consumed beverage in the world.
Coffee continues to be more popular in our country, however, Canadians still drink about 10 billion cups of tea every year, which evens out to about 300 cups per person.
Ben Harrison has been a tea drinker almost his entire life. As a tea slinger in a downtown Fredericton shop, Harrison says more and more people are warming up to the beverage.
“Tea is a really nice drink throughout the day, that is perfect for those times when you’re trying to quiet down before going to bed, but also a pick-me-up in the morning, a nice afternoon drink,” says Harrison.
Specialty teas are helping bring in even more fans. In Harrison’s shop, there are more than 50 different tea flavours at any given time and they are always changing.
“There really is a tea for everyone,” says Harrison. “The most popular ones are actually the ones that sound a little strange and unique. So, our chocolate chilli chi is probably popular in summer of winter and our strawberry kiwi, which is our fruit blend, is probably our second.”
The health benefits of drinking tea are seemingly endless and differ depending what kind of tea you drink, but most teas are high in antioxidants.
However, tea can also contain caffeine.
“Your standard cup of coffee has about 100mg of caffeine, tea has about 40 to 50,” says dietician Catherine McCain.
If you are drinking tea all day, the caffeine can really add up. Choosing to drink caffeine free tea may be at the cost of stripping away the healthy antioxidants. If caffeine is a concern and you want to keep the health benefits, try a water decaffeinated tea.
“Or, just buy your regular green tea and reuse your teabag, that first infusion of water will actually get rid of a lot of the caffeine, but you’re left with the antioxidants,” says McCain.
