How tea can help with your resolutions

Research into New Year’s resolutions has shown common items that appear on most people’s lists, some of which include: Losing weight, improving overall health, reading more and spending more time with friends and family. Given its complex existence and long history, it may not surprise you that tea can be infused into many of your resolutions (pun intended).

LOSING WEIGHT

There is evidence that regularly drinking green tea may help with weight loss. Clinical studies have shown it can increase metabolism and decrease weight and waist size. In one study, those who were consuming green tea regularly had about a 4% greater decreases in both, than a control group. Caffeine and high rates of EGCG are believed to be the major contributors to these effects.

OVERALL HEALTH

Additional research has shown positive effects of consuming all types of tea (green, black, white, oolong, pu-erh and GABA) on diabetes, aging, cancer prevention, blood pressure and more. Pu-erh tea is particularly good for improving your gut bacteria and white tea has antibacterial effects that can retard the growth of staphylococcus and streptococcus, as well as a strong anti-fungal effect. The research on health and tea continues to grow all the time. A lot of it is still introductory, but data showing benefits is becoming consistent.

Tea can also be good for mental health.

As part of a daily routine, it can provide a respite from and calming influence on your day. Taking a moment to slowly sip tea can be quite soothing in the middle of a stressful or busy day. Tea can lend itself to meditative practices for stress and anxiety relief. There is a clear Zen quality to making and drinking tea, which helps explain its effect on, and development in, Chinese and Japanese cultures. However, if you are particularly sensitive to caffeine, you should avoid black tea (and possibly green and some oolongs) or it can have the opposite effect.

READ MORE

In previous columns, I’ve listed tea

books to buy, so I won’t make yet more specific recommendations (I’m a librarian, it’s in my nature). I’ll just say that if you want to read more and have an interest in tea, you can find books on any and all aspects of tea. Books about the history of tea, how it has affected history and how history has affected tea, are some of my favorites. Most of the information I presented above came from books about tea and health — another plentiful category. There are books on types of tea, brewing tea and types and history of tea ware and pottery. If you like to cook, there are books about tea and cooking, most with recipes.

Tea books also come in significant variations. There are expensive books worth hundreds of dollars and cheap ones for less than $10. There are very short books less than 40 pages, very large books with hundreds of pages and large format books filled with photos. I recommend visiting a used book store to find tea books. I have about 60 books in my personal collection and most have been purchased in used books stores around California. Go to the food/beverages area to find them, although one of my favorites about Catherine of Braganza bringing tea and tea culture to England, was found by accident browsing the history section.

SPEND TIME WITH FRIENDS/FAMILY

This is hard to pull off these days, but still possible. Consider a virtual tea party using Skype, FaceTime or Zoom. Everyone agrees ahead on a tea and food items, meets at the pre-determined time and sips tea and talks. You can explore new teas with two or more people reviewing them together, virtually. You could also form a socially-distanced book club, starting with a book on tea. Tea has historically been a social drink in Asia and Europe, with an assortment of techniques and procedures for its display and consumption. Even during times of social distancing, tea as a shared practice, can help create a sense of community and togetherness.

I wish us all a good — and better — 2021. A positive outlook can accomplish great things and maybe tea can help you get there.