Health tip: Try your tea with lemon!

Over steep your tea again? Well don’t throw it away! Next time this happens add a little lemon. Not only does lemon cut down the bitterness of overstepped black and green teas, but it boosts your bodies ability to sustain a tea’s catechisms by 80%.

A study funded by the National Institutes of Health (article) showed catechins from the green tea plant, Camellia sinensis, are able to detoxify toxic chemicals, inhibit cancer cell activity and stimulate production of immune-strengthening enzymes. Finding methods to improve uptake of these catechins may, therefore, be important in improving health, part of the study’s goal.

Mario Ferruzzi, who conducted the study says “If you want more out of your green tea, add some citrus juice to your cup after brewing or pick a ready-to-drink product formulated with ascorbic acid. Ready-to-drink green tea products should optimally contain 100-200 mg of catechins, but oftentimes do not have sufficient levels of tea extract since some people do not like green tea’s flavor”. While this study was only performed on green tea, Ferruzzi believes that some of the results also could apply to black tea. This is great news for the tea world, as many prefer black tea’s flavor over green tea although it contains lower total levels of catechins.

Are you short on time and out of lemons? At Herbal Republic, we have a variety of freshly blended teas that already include lemon peels and lemon extract. For more, take a look through our online store.

Herbal Republic’s Teas with Lemon

Lusty Lemon

Tamed Lemon Decaf

Herbal Republic’s Green Teas that Benefit Best from Lemon

Bancha Special

Kukicha Special

Gyokuro Supreme

Sencha Special

Sencha Supreme

Tamed Lemon Decaf