Tea Drinkers?

Less calories (so, less directly correlated weight gain concerns) and tooth decay. The purported health 'risks' of artificial sweeteners are subject to intense debate, largely concerning how much you have to consume to get the negative consequences sometimes seen in, for example, lab rats.

 

Triggers migraines in my wife.

 

So aspartame didn't cause you to become obsessed with shaving gear and scents?

 

I'm not sure it's really equivalent to Sweet Maria's but coffeeam.com does have a fairly large tea selection and some paraphernalia. Their tea and coffee is very good, although unfortunately getting a little pricey.

 

There is a lot of negatives around artificial sweeteners. Since I'm new I'll keep it short and hopefully less provocative but there are a lot of human studies that show that despite the 0 calories in artificial sweeteners they don't help people lose or stop gaining weight very well. There are two sides of them that get overlooked in most conversation. One is that when you eat them your brain still believes it's eating sugar because they're sweet so you get a lot of the same hormone reactions as you do with sugar, the main one being an insulin release. Since you don't actually need insulin at the time your body (assuming you aren't diabetic) will react so you basically get fluctuating insulin levels which can lead to inflammation and eventually insulin resistance. The other is that psychologically you are perpetuating the need and craving for sweet which means you are more likely to reach for sweeter foods throughout the day and those foods are generally not always the best ones for you. These are both true of any artificial sweetener be it completely man made or a so called natural one like stevia. I'm not a militant regarding artificial sweeteners but I do think there is a lot that gets published about them that goes unnoticed by the general public.

 

I'll just say that I've yet to read any of those studies that were both peer-reviewed and not shilling the author's particular diet plan. In other words, I'll agree to disagree.

 

My remedy for a cold.

 

Always loose tea. For the family mostly black, for me mostly green. Gunpowder, Japanese and such.

 

Ooh, loose leaf tea either in an infuser or (as I've been favoring lately being on the road) seal your own teabags. Black tea with spearmint for mornings and earl grey with orange peel at night.

 

I mainly drink loose tea, though I will drink bagged tea if I have to. Preferences are for blacks, greens, oolongs and pu erh. I don't are for flavored teas, herbals or tisanes.

Some favorites

Black: Keemun Hao Ya A, Golden Yunnan, and a certain Assam/Yunnan blend
Green: Dragonwell, Sincha, Sencha
Oolong: Tung Ting

At home I use the IngenuiTEA from Adagio.com, and at work I use a single cup infuser.

My favorite place to buy tea is at Indigo Tea. Great quality, great prices.

 

I was considering investing in that. How is the cleanup?

 

Not too bad. I only rinse it out normally, but once a week I take it apart and run it through the dishwasher. If you buy one, get a couple extra filters. Over time they clog up. I've found I can extend the life of the filters by letting it dry, then gently scratching the filter, on both sides, with the tip of a round toothpick. This loosens the tea particles and lets the tea flow better. I'll do this once or twice then replace it. It doesn't have to be done very often, maybe once every 4 or 5 months with heavy use.

Over time the plastic will start to get etched and scratched, particularly if you're using a dishwasher. This doesn't bother me a bit, but it might bother others.

 

I drink tea mostly on winter and mosty bags. Sometimes I drink Linden tea, I buy loose leaves in the marketplace

 

Im UK based so yes I drink tea, for a normal brew it has to be PG Tips with milk no sugar, and Twinings Earl Grey, either loose tea or tea bag,

 

I read PG Tips is the #1 tea in the UK. Is it a straight tea like a breakfast tea, or flavored?

I'm really liking the Twinings offerings: Earl Grey, Lady Grey, Lapsang Souchong, Pure Mint.

 

I'm going to be giving Taylor's of Harrogate Scottish Breakfast a try today, for variety.

 

Yeah PG is just a regular Tea, I just prefer the taste of it to any of the other brands.

With Twinings Ive had the Earl/Lady Grey's as well as the Everyday Tea, as well as most of there fruit flavor offerings which are very good. but Ive not had the Lapsang Souchong, Pure Mint, yet

 

The Lapsang Souchong is smoked over a pine fire. It smells and tastes like you're sitting around a campfire. I really like it, not so much my wife.