More Tea Vicar?

It is about this time of year, early to mid november that we start to clear out one of our kitchen cupboards.

We may be a bit presumptious but regular as clockwork, every Christmas we receive from a great friend of the family, a large gift package containing every type of tea that you could imagine, and more.

It is a very kind thought because over the following months, and after a desperate forage at the very back of the cupboard, even up to the full course of the year we have a fantastic choice of herbal and exotically flavoured hot beverages to suit every mood, medical symptom and state of mind.

Granted, a cup of normal tea is a great occasion, a pause in a busy day, a catalyst to have a bit of a social time with family, friends and colleagues or just a valuable private moment on your own.

There are well documented benefits to wellbeing and metabolism in this drink, with or without milk.

Tea, coffee, hot chocolate and Bovril were mainstay drinks in my childhood and anything else was regarded with suspicion as being a bit too trendy or alternative. There were of course many other forms of beverage available under the broad term of herbals but it is only really in the last couple of decades that we have come to accept and embrace them as a regular part of our daily lives.

There may be a danger to this trend in the dominance of coffee-shop consumption and a seemingly overwhelming lifestyle love affair with lattes, cappucinos and espresso but it appears that about 84% of Britons take a herbal infusion on a daily basis.

This has been made easier by the delivery medium for herbals in those small, string hung and labelled bags, all individually packaged that occupy point of sales positions in cafes, tea shops and as an additional income stream amongst the Costa, Starbucks, Nero and Independents offerings.

A new study has shown that, if taken very regularly, the likes of peppermint tea can improve the memory and camomile can act as a relaxant. These may be the two most popular but we are becoming a bit more adventurous, so much so that between 2012 and 2014 the sales of fruit and herbal based teas increased by 31%.

In our house, red bush or rooibos in bag form is rapidly depleted and appears on the shopping list on a weekly repetition. The more aware in our family, by that I mean an athletic son and health conscious wife, rave on about the caffeine free characteristics and antioxidants in red bush as well as the traces of minerals such as calcium, potassium, iron, zinc and magnesium which, as they regularly enthuse help to boost their immune systems. As for myself, I find the rust coloured liquid a bit bland and uninspiring, but then again most things with benefits for wellbeing are similarly boring.

Green Tea follows closely in popularity. This, like red bush, has constituents to help stave off illness and disease but strangely I find the algae coloured liquid.....well, ditto. The wonder ingredient is, here is the science part, polyphenols which if taken in three cups of green tea a day can prevent diabetes, cardiovascular disease and in aiding weight loss. Some claims that green tea can prevent cancer appear to have been overplayed but who knows, as part of a healthy diet and lifestyle it may have some contribution to make.

Currently bubbling under in national popularity are nettle, turmeric, fennel and matcha teas.

The ancient use of nettle in natural medicine gives it a valuable pedigree although it is only under modern analytical scrutiny that what our ancestors already knew has been given credibility in matters of assuaging glucose levels and in combating hay fever symptons.

Middle Eastern cultures have used natural spices and minerals in their indigenous health care for millenia. We are familiar with turmeric in cooking but when delivered as a beverage it has shown, in clinical trials, to help with irritable bowel, arthritis and certain forms of cancer. Again, regular consumption may help to reduce inflammation of neural tissue which has been linked to the life changing Alzheimers.

Fennel has a similar place in human history with particular benefits for premenstrual tension.

It only takes a celebrity to champion something to propel it into a fad or fashion.

Matcha, promoted by certain Hollywood actresses, a derivative of ground green tea leaves with supposed enhanced polyphenols has emerged as a must have for followers and copy cats of the "A" Listers although its alledged qualities remain a bit vague and more anecdotal than proven.

I have not even touched on the vast range of teas that are generally available but referring to our kitchen cupboard how about fiery ginger and rhubarb, rosehip, mango, lemon, blueberry, organic sleep inducing infusion, blue flower and ginseng.

Personally, I can take them or leave them.

Give me a cup of ordinary tea, a popular brand, a warming and calming influence and that just suits me fine, thank you!