Why drink tea in the boiling summertime?

Imagining the heatwave in August, you would probably crave an appealing cup of ice-cold coca-cola rather than anything hot.

However, disfavoring drinking tea in the summer is a common misconception.

Regardless of how high the temperature is, tea stands as one of the top choice drinks, for it actually cools one down to normal homeostatic temperature, quenches thirst, and offers numerous benefits on health: helping to digest, strengthening the immune system, and avoiding reproductive issues, etc.

Besides, if the hot beverage is just not your cup of tea, there’s always the cold brew tea, in which the flavor is released through long periods of time rather than high temperature.

Though there is no restriction on drinking which type of tea in which season–you could simply pick the one you like, different properties and functions of types of teas correspond to respective seasons.

To be specific, to refresh, detoxify, and cool down yourself in spring and summer, less oxidized teas like green tea, white tea, and Tieguanyin (if you are an oolong-lover) are the best panaceas; to warm your inner body up in autumn and winter, on the other hand, more oxidized teas such as black tea and ripe pu-erh serve as great alternatives.

After making this clarification on the way season impacts our drinking preferences and why there are specific tea recommended to drink in summer, let’s take a peak at three most popular tea beverages to accompany in summer:

White Tea

A slightly fermented tea, white tea’s manufacturing process is especially simple and natural. Thus, just like green tea, white tea’s nutrients are mostly retained.

Besides clearing away heat, white tea extracts prevent bacterial growth such as staphylococcal infection, streptococcal infection, and pneumonia.

White tea is also beneficial to lower blood sugar. Here’s a good way to brew white tea: grab a handful of white tea, put it in the water at 104 ° F ~ 122 ° F, and soak for 4 to 5 hours. Afterward, wait for half an hour after lunch or dinner to enjoy.

Tea polysaccharides are easily decomposed at high temperatures, so the water cannot be too hot.

The magic of white tea is that you don’t have to worry about being sleepless after drinking, and this is why white tea is a reassuring choice for elders.

Oolong Tea

When the spring and summer are handed over, a cup of strong-flavored Oolong, or Tieguanyin, well quenches thirst.

This is mainly because the tea soup contains tea polyphenols, sugars, amino acids, pectin, and vitamins, which react with saliva to moisturize the mouth.

At the same time, the caffeine in Tieguanyin urges a large amount of energy to be released through skin pores of the human body.

Scientific research indicates that after drinking a cup of hot tea, the energy released through sweating is equivalent to 50 times that of this cup of tea, so tea indeed cools people down and relieves the excessive heat in summer.

Green Tea

Green Tea is the most popular type of tea to drink in summer.

Slightly bitter-tasted green tea offers functions of eliminating heat, detoxifying, reducing dryness, quenching thirst as well as strengthening the heart.

Without the process of fermentation, green tea also retains most natural substances of fresh leaves, containing abundant tea polyphenols, catechins, chlorophyll, caffeine, amino acids, vitamins, and other nutrients, all of which furnish anti-aging, anti-cancer, sterilizing, and anti-inflammatory effects.

Many people are used to taking a noon nap in summer. To give yourself a lift after the nap, brew a cup of green tea. The caffeine contained in green tea can stimulate your central nervous system, enhancing thinking and refreshing the mind.

Nevertheless, note not to drink green tea on an empty stomach, drink overnight tea, or take medicine accompanying the tea, since the tea can be an antidote.