Beverages – Information on Beverages good and bad.

petals, herbs and aromatizes. Among those basic plants, there is hibiscus,

dog rose, mate, roybush, and each of them has its own “specialization.”

So, hibiscus is known as an herb, which stimulates purging the body

of impurities, it has a strongly marked R-vitamin activity; it strengthens

vascular walls, protects liver from all unfavorable effects and improves

bile formation. It also normalizes pressure. (When you have it hot, it

heightens pressure, when you have it cold it lowers it). Hibiscus tea

does not contain oxalic acid, which makes this tea safe for people suffering

from kidney diseases. It refreshes you wonderfully on a hot day and when

a person has a high fever.

Dog rose is an excellent vitamin source, which is highly competitive

with vitamin medication of commercial production: apart from a high content

of vitamin C, rosehips are rich in provitamin A, essential oils, calcium,

magnesium, iron, potassium, copper and phosphorus. It is useful for such

diseases as atherosclerosis, bronchitis, gastritis with lower acidity,

kidney diseases and bladder infections, rheumatism and other illnesses.

The famous “ethnic” tea mate, which has been a national

beverage of the residents of Brazil, Argentine and Paraguay for many centuries,

contains some acid which maintains the necessary, adrenaline level in

blood, participates in cell restoration, has a favorable effect on digestion

recovery (when the disorder is of nervous origin), and contributes to

memory regeneration. It is recommended to have this phytotea to stimulate

mental performance, to strengthen nervous and endocrine systems, and to

lose weight. This phytotea lowers blood pressure and widens vessels; and

also has some antiseptic qualities. Cold mate is considered to be an ideal

summer beverage because it quenches thirst perfectly.

And finally, we come to roybush. The roybush phytotea is of African

origin, and they call it the beverage of health and eternal youth. The

antioxidants it contains contribute to cell metabolism and prevent their

decline. At the same time, the refreshing effect is achieved with the

complete absence of caffeine! Even pregnant women and children can have

the tonic roybush tea.

Aromatic teas.

Aromatic teas are often considered to be herbal. We have already learned

that there are few or no tea leaves in phytoteas, but with aromatic teas

it is quite the opposite: there are a lot of tea leaves and very few herbs.

Moreover, almost every kind of tea nowadays is exposed to being aromatized:

black and green. That’s why the only thing that unites them with

tisanes are the refreshing taste and aroma diversity. This is why we value

them.

There are several variations of tea aromatization – a simple,

mechanical one when tea is mixed with ground leaves or pieces of fruit;

and an exotic and exquisite method, when they plant tea bushes on a plantation

together with wild orchids or peach trees, which in their turn give their

aroma to the future beverage in such a natural way. To explain, we must

point out that tea has a high hydroscopicity quality, which means that

it absorbs and holds aromas perfectly.

One of the main methods of aromatizing tea is called contact. This is

the method when several layers of tea are alternated with aromatizing

plant layers. After that they are kept in hermetic tanks for five hours,

aromas are removed, and the tea itself is dried, though sometimes, when

the drying process is finished, the same dry plants are added into tea

again. In this way, the beverage gets the aroma which is richer and more

saturated, and even more importantly, the raw material is saturated with

aroma more evenly compared to a cheaper method of aromatization when aromatizing

plants are just added to tea leaves before packaging.

Sometimes tea is aromatized by different essences of both natural and

artificial origin (the later is called “aromatizers” identical

to natural). On the whole, there is nothing harmful in them being artificial,

and in spite of the chemical method of their production, their formula

is absolutely identical to their natural analogue’s formula.

The famous “Earl Grey” should be mentioned separately. Bergamot

ether oil, which makes this composition so successful, is gained from

the bitter Citrus bergamia (skin, flowers, leaves and sprouts), which

is planted in the neighborhood of Bergamo in the Italian province Calabria.

By the way, it was selected out of the Chinese bitter orange Citrus aurautium.

Bergamot tea has a wonderful tonic activity and it stimulates mental

performance. Generally, apart from presenting a lot of pleasure, all aromatized

tea has a noticeable effect on people’s health. The tea with raspberry

berries or leaves, or the one that has been soaked in raspberry juice,

helps to get over a cold. Menthol oil, that all “mint” teas

contain, is a wonderful antiseptic. Even small amounts of ginseng and

magnolia-vine make a usual beverage exotic, giving them some new properties.

Coffee: To have or not to have?

We all have heard about the contradictory influence on the body of such