tea party.

yipee for tea!

a.) green tea is full of goodies your body will like

b.) although not caffeine free, green tea is lovely on these rainy days for those of you who have given up coffee for lent

{take a nice good look at where this delicious tea is from}

c.) surprise... I'm going to kenyaaa!

(so when you all decide you love green tea, I'll be able to get you some more when I fly through nairobi this summer!)

the goodies:
- green tea bag/loose leaf green tea
- water

the fun part:
1.) boil water
2.) add to green tea
3.) boil more water, add to same tea bag (I'll tell you why!)

what your body will like:
catechins: (cat-uh-kins) are a class of flavonoids which means they deserve a big fat A+: anticancer, antiatherogenic, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory.  these antioxidants love to protect your body from the nasty free radicals that roam our systems and like to destroy good guys like vitamins E and A. secondly, they enhance your immune system and can contribute to weight loss.

the bad news is we often don't get the benefits of catechins because we don't steep our tea long enough.  we generally don't steep it for a long time because:

a.) the tea gets too strong (astringent)
b.) we are impatient

there are no problems, only solutions:
keep your kettle simmering while you enjoy your tea. continue to add hot water to the same tea bag as you sip away. the more times you do this, the less astringent your tea will be, and the more catechins you will be able to leech out. problem solved, body happy.