Replacing Tea and Coffee with Herbal Infusions

[Food4thought]

I used to be a coffee drinker but I had to give it up because of the health affects of too much caffeine. I never liked tea much so I don't mind not drinking it and I drink herbal teas instead.

I have tried many of the herbal teabags available but I prefer to make my own and to experiment with different herbs and spices.

Mint tea is a lovely summer drink, hot or cold. In winter I warm up with ginger tea. Best of all I enjoy fennel tea. There is plenty of wild fennel growing near to where I live. I start in late spring using the leaves and later in the year I can also use the flowers. Then I start to harvest the seeds. All parts of the plant produce that sweet aniseed taste, which makes it so nice to drink.

 

[firelily99]

I rarely drink caffeine anymore, also due to health reasons. If I do drink coffee it is decaf and any tea is decaf or herbal. It was hard at first but now I am glad I made the switch, my health is the better because of it. I used to grow a chocolate mint that makes a wonderful tea.

 

[Chris_A]

I think a good replacement for coffee, is ginger tea. It gives you a lot of energy, just like caffeine does, only without any side effects. Also, ginger tea is not really made out of tea leaves, just by boiling shredded ginger in hot water.

 

[megshoe]

Have the definitive answers come in about health and caffeine consumption? I'm a huge coffee and tea drinker and though I try to limit myself to two cups a day, I often wonder if this is still too much. If I don't have to replace these things in my diet, that would be great, but is caffeine really that damaging?

 

[Chris_A]

Caffeine definitely raises blood pressure, and too much caffeine will most assuredly make you very anxious, nervous and restless. But the question here is, how much is too much. I think that depends on body weight, age and caffeine tolerance. A general rule, I think, is that 3 cups per day is fine and should not affect you too much. Some nutritional experts even recommend 3 cups a day as coffee is a very powerful anti-oxidant and helps your body get rid of damaging substances.

 

[ReadmeByAmy]

Actually I am not a coffee drinker. And now that I value much my health I just always drink green tea, ginger tea, garlic tea and barely tea. I drink this four teas alternately and it really do wonders for my body and health and I am always fit and active everyday.

 

[Chris_A]

Actually I am not a coffee drinker. And now that I value much my health I just always drink green tea, ginger tea, garlic tea and barely tea. I drink this four teas alternately and it really do wonders for my body and health and I am always fit and active everyday.

I`ve never tried garlic tea before, but it sounds very interesting to try. I have to agree with you about the health benefits of tea in general. I was doing a green tea diet for a couple of weeks, and I never felt more hydrated then in those weeks where I basically replaced water with green tea and was drinking it all day long.