Tea is not just a beverage in India, it is emotion in itself. We Indians cannot do without our regular masala chai. But drinking hot tea with heavy milk and loads of sugar during the unforgiving Indian summers doesn’t sound too good, does it?
It may cause your body temperature to rise, making you feel even hotter in the summer heat. And drinking excess of tea may cause dehydration which can give rise to other health issues during summers.
But this doesn’t mean you have to give up on drinking tea altogether. Here we have a few types of teas which will quench your chai thirst and give you health benefits as well.
Classic Black Tea
Want the easiest and classical way to make tea? Here you can do it by simply making black tea.
- Boil water and let it then sit and cool down for 3-4 minutes.
- Then pour in about half a teaspoon of black tea leaves or put in a tea bag and let it steep for about 3 minutes, and your classic black tea is ready.
- Drink this without milk or sugar to make the most of its amazing strong earthy flavour and health benefits.
Black tea is known to improve your heart health and and reduce high blood pressure.
Healthy Green Tea
This is the most trending tea now. For a quick boost of activeness, put a green tea bag in a mug and pour some hot water (make sure it’s not boiling hot) over it and let it sit for 3-4 minutes. You can add honey for some sweetness and enjoy your cup of health.
Other than just aiding in weight loss green tea helps in delaying the deterioration of brain cells caused by Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.
The Cooling Iced Tea
This is the perfect beverage to cool you down during the sweltering summers.
To make the classical lemon iced tea, add one tablespoon of fresh lemon juice in a glass and some sugar syrup, 2 ice cubes and then pour over it some cooled down black tea and mix well. Want to have iced tea but with a twist? You can make peach iced tea by adding peach concentrate instead of lemon juice.
Peach flavour works really well the earthy flavour of black tea giving you a glass of perfection in summers.
Drinking lemon and peach iced tea refreshes you on a hot day. Also, these teas act as a great detoxifier for you body leaving you feeling energised and fresh.
Raspberry Leaf Tea
Some studies show that raspberry leaf tea boosts women health as it is rich in minerals like zinc, magnesium and iron. It is also useful during labour. Raspberry leaf tea bags are available easily and you can prepare them just like green tea. For sweetness, you can add natural sweeteners like honey or agave nectar.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)