It's true, drinking black tea at the right time will help you enjoy it more. But that's not all, by timing the consumption, you'll also enjoy more of the health benefits that black tea can offer. In this post, we'll discuss everything you need to know about the best times to drink.
Black tea was the very first tea introduced to the West, when the Portuguese fleet was the first to brought this beverage to Europe (read more about: tea history). Tea drinkers today are becoming more and more familiar with other types such as green, white and oolong tea, but black tea remains the champion when it comes to popularity.
Its robust flavor has become a classic and easily accepted taste. And given that it's made from the same Camellia Sinenses tea plant, its health benefits aren't necessarily inferior to that of the other types.
When to Drink Black Tea?
Whether you're drinking black tea for weight loss, simple enjoyment or general health, below we will give you some tips on when to drink black tea.
- Time of day: drink black tea during daytime, especially if you're sensitive to caffeine. While it contains less caffeine than coffee, it may still hurt your sleep. Research shows that quality sleep is important for general health and achieving a weight balance.
- After meals: as black tea is one of the best tea types to help you digest food, we recommend to drink a cup of black tea 30 minutes after breakfast and lunch. This will definitely also help to achieve your weight loss goals. In the evening, if you want to drink tea as well, better switch to a caffeine free herbal tea such as chrysanthemum flower tea. If you do want to drink black tea before meals, add some milk. This will make the tea less harsh on the stomach, and help you avoid potential side effects.
- In cold seasons: Autumn and Winter are great seasons to drink black tea. The intensively processed and oxidized leaves make black tea a great beverage to keep you warm during the cold seasons. What about Spring and Summer? Consider switching to cooling teas such as fresh green tea or white tea! If you want to know more about this difference between green and black tea.
- Age: Related to the previous point. Older people will feel cold faster. As people age, it's better to switch to more oxidized teas to keep one warm. Black tea, ripe pu erh tea, and dark oolongs are the best choices.
- Pregnancy: When pregnant, any caffeine containing beverage (including tea) can have an effect on the health of the pregnant mom and baby. We recommend to switch to other suitable herbal teas that do not contain caffeine.
Why Fresh Black Tea?
Black tea in tea bags are generally not great quality. The leaves are broken, mass-produced, and often times lack flavor as they're overly exposed to air during the production process and transportation. We highly recommend to stock up on artisan black tea. These teas are whole leaf and whole bud teas, which contain more antioxidants. At Teasenz, we also source direct from reputable farms and seal the teas directly into aluminium pouches to preserve freshness. Feel free to browse our selection of Chinese black teas!