Every serious tea drinker has black tea as his or her strongest drink. Black tea benefits are similar to green tea because its longer processing method creates unique chemical compounds.
They affect your body in positive ways, although there are some cautions about excessive drinking.
What is black tea? Should you consume it for your health? Read this guide before you decide your first black tea brand to consume.
Definition of Black Tea
Black tea comes from the same Camellia sinensis plants like green, white, and oolong tea. However, black tea leaves go through longer preparation steps.
The farmers fry, roll or crush, and ferment the tea before drying it until the leaves turn black.
The long process causes black tea to acquire distinctive flavors. Depending on the type, a cup of black tea can taste like mild coffee beverage because of its strength.
High-quality black tea may carry notes of subtle flavors, such as fruity, earthy, or malty.
Is black tea caffeinated? Yes, and it has the highest caffeine level of all tea types. A cup of black tea has half the caffeine level of black coffee.
Drinking it too much can cause problems like insomnia, indigestion, and irregular heartbeats. Limit your consumption to one or two cups per day.
Popular Types of Black Tea
Black tea is grown and enjoyed in many countries around the world. Here are some of the most popular black tea types you can find:
Assam
Assam is a popular tea from the region of Assam in India. It is famous in Britain as “English Breakfast,” thanks to its full body and strong flavor.
Assam is the strongest-flavored black tea in the world, with a slightly bitter flavor. Indians and British love drinking with milk.
Darjeeling
Another popular Indian black tea, Darjeeling has a lighter and slightly sweeter flavor than Assam. It is refreshing and even having a little natural sweetness.
Earl Gray
The name Earl Gray describes the specific way to make a tea blend. The leaves are mixed with bergamot orange peel extract, resulting in citrusy flavor.
Ceylon
Ceylon is a Sri Lankan tea with strong, bold, but refreshing flavor. It has a very high caffeine level, but with a fruity and aromatic flavor.
Keemun
Keemun is a popular black tea from China. It has a mild body and subtle flavor, but with a touch of fruity and floral tones.
Strong black tea is a great base for milky beverages because the ingredients will not dilute the tea flavor. However, you should enjoy mild, refreshing black tea just like that.
Black Tea Benefits for Health
Is black tea healthy?
Yes. High-quality black tea contains high levels of antioxidants, such as polyphenols and catechins. They offer various health benefits, from protecting the heart to reducing the blood sugar level.
Here are the famous health benefits of black tea:
Improving Metabolism
Black tea benefits for weight loss come from its caffeine, which increases your metabolism.
This means your body can burn fat faster, resulting in more energy level for exercising. While further studies are necessary, you can include black tea in your daily diet.
Reducing Diabetes Risk
Polyphenols in black tea can reduce the body’s ability to break down carbohydrates into sugar. They help to reduce the level of blood sugar, ideal for people with Type II diabetes.
Keeping the Heart Healthy
The polyphenols in black tea may reduce the triglycerides and LDL/HDL plasma ratio. This is important to keep the heart in healthy conditions. Black tea can also lower the risk of experiencing coronary heart attacks.
Reducing the Bad Bacteria
Black tea contains an antibacterial effect, which keeps your digestive system healthy by reducing the bad bacteria (without killing the good ones).
Drinking unsweetened black tea may also keep your mouth from developing bacterial infections, although the tea can stain the teeth.
Lowering the Blood Pressure
Black tea may lower the level of blood pressure, reducing the risks of hypertension and stroke. However, this effect still requires further studies.
You only get these benefits if you have a healthy lifestyle. Black tea helps you with gaining faster results.
Black Tea Benefits for Beauty
The high antioxidant levels in black tea offer great benefits for hair and skin. Black tea benefits for skin include reducing the signs of UV ray exposures (fine lines, spots) and removing post-acne blemishes.
You can get the effects by drinking the tea regularly. In some severe cases, you can brew black tea and use it to dab the problematic skin area.
There are also black tea benefits for hair. The high antioxidant levels reduce the risk of hair damage from stress.
You can also return the shine to dull hair by applying room-temperature black tea to your scalp after shampoo and conditioner. Women can also mix black tea with some henna to get natural hair coloring.
What Are the Best Black Tea Brands?
Black tea is available under various name brands, but the year 2019 sees the rising popularity of several brands. Some are classics, while others are newer but proven delicious.
Here are some of the most recommended brands for black tea:
Lipton Black Tea
Choosing Lipton is never the wrong decision if you are a casual shopper. Lipton Black Tea offers a subtle black tea flavor, without artificial coloring. Lipton tea is famous for getting dark quickly when you steep it too long.
Twinings English Breakfast
The English Breakfast tea from Twinings is a classic example. The flavor is strong and prominent. The caffeine level is quite high. It is ideal for making milk tea or chai.
Harney and Sons Hot Cinnamon
This black tea variant by Harney and Sons has a unique blend with a lot of flavors. The black tea is processed with cloves, cinnamon, and orange peel. The flavor is thick and rich.
Yorkshire Gold Tea
Yorkshire Gold Tea is a perfect black tea product for drinking with milk. The tea consists of East African and Assam leaves. The tea has a strong, floral flavor.
If you cannot consume strong black tea, try finding any brands with “decaffeinated” or “decaf” on their packages.
Black tea presents a strong beverage with rich flavor and high antioxidant levels. The high caffeine content requires you to have self-control when drinking. However, the black tea benefits balance the cautions.
