As finals week draws nearer and nearer I'm finding less time to type. The change in seasons doesn't help either. Anyway, here is a long overdue post.
In the last few weeks, I've been experimenting with using less sugar in my tea. I found it a very difficult thing to drink even my premium oolong tea (which is best w/out a sweetener) without sugar, so I stopped to ask myself why this was. The answer was simple...the tap water was ruining my tea. I know, about now you are shaking your head and wondering why it took me so long to figure out. Well, its because I have been suffocating it with my favorite condiment for as long as I can remember...and I'm wondering how many other people commit this travesty on a daily basis. How many Americans beside myself silently suffer themselves to drink tap water when sink filters are about $20 and a gallon of spring water is about $2. Anyway, I went out and got a gallon of spring water to make my tea with and the results were highly different. So, not so long after I triumphed in drinking delicious sugarless tea, I started to become suspicious of my bleached white sugar as well. My suspicions were confirmed. One of my college friends who works at Teavana told me that processed, white sugar not only ruins the pure taste of tea, but actually cancels out many of the health benefits. What is the alternative? Natural honey or rock sugar. Oh, and as a side not, according to the Heiss's book " The Tea Enthusiast's Handbook," boiling the same water over and over again actually negatively effects its taste. Interesting...
