Tea & Your Heart #3: Relax Already!

Last week we spoke about how tea is a great excuse to get together with friends and how socializing is important for reducing stress and maintaining a healthy heart.  Sometimes though, it is really nice to just unwind on your own!  Making an effort to sit, relax and meditate can do wonders to quiet your mind, sweep away all the distractions of the day and let your mind expand a bit.  Meditative practices, be it yoga, breathing exercises, etc. has consistently been shown time and time again to lower stress – and lower stress means a healthier heart.

            So where does tea come in?  It is a great way of deliberately relaxing; it provides the focal point!  Taking the time to make a pot of your favorite hot tea, pouring it into your favorite cup or mug and sipping it slowly in a quiet peaceful corner of your home is just wonderful.  Since it’s hot, it can’t be downed quickly, the aromas from the steam fill the air around you, and sipping it fills you with a warm feeling.  Does that sound relaxing or what?

So this week, do just that: make a pot of tea…let it simmer on the stove…slowly pour it into your favorite cup…find a quiet, sunny corner of your home without TV, internet, phone, etc….hold the cup up to your face…let the aroma fill the air around you…and slowly sip away…think about family, friends, vacations, dreams…let the little things go…and RELAX!

Traditional English Tea

Brambles Alley Way

On a recent visit to Naples Florida we stumbled upon a lovely English Tea Room named Brambles tucked away in a flower- covered passageway just steps off Naples’ upscale Fifth Avenue.

Scone

We started our afternoon of Bliss with the recommendation of our lovely waitress Jasmine from Romania. She recommended the Peach Brandy for Deanie and the Blue Lady for me. Deanie thoroughly enjoyed her Peach Brandy as it had a little bit of afternoon toddy feel to it. The Blue Lady was a much different choice from most Afternoon Tea menus. It consisted of China black tea flavored with coconut crème, strawberry, kiwi and blue exotic flowers - a sheer delight. To eat, we both ordered “Brambles’ Delight” consisting of assorted finger sandwiches (including egg, baked ham, cucumber and salmon), English scones with fresh berries, real Devon cream, strawberry preserves and small tea pastries.

Just as we finished our last drop of tea, the Florida skies opened up and we were able to visit a while longer,  meet the owner and browse the gift shoppe. The owner’s mother had the privilege of Afternoon Tea with Princess Diana.  We listened to her story and could only imagine how simply wonderful that would have been. April 29^th marks the wedding of her son Prince William. I am sure Brambles’ owner and both Deanie and I will be glued to the TV to view such an exciting event enjoying Traditional English Tea with a few of our girlfriends.

Brambles Tea Room and Gift Shoppe offers an oasis of tranquility in a busy world as well as a taste of true British hospitality.  Brambles Tea Room & Gift Shoppe is located at 340 5^th Avenue South, Ste. 102, Naples, Florida.

Inside Brambles

In Bliss

Amy
www.blissteacompany.com
P.O. Box 442, Candia, NH 03034
855-BLISSTE (254-7783)

Culinary Tea Review

Do you love tea and cooking?  Not enough people appreciate the unique flavors that tea can add to a recipe.  From Spicy Chai to Rooibos to mild herbals, tea can help you take your cooking expertise up a notch.  Culinary Tea by Cynthia Gold and Lisë Stern is an artful exploration of the blend between tea and food and really should be a part of any tea lover’s library.  Filled with amazing photography, sumptuous recipes and incredible detail, this book is more a culinary journey than a simple recipe book – taking you on a trip around the world as you explore teas and tea-influence cuisine.
I had the pleasure of having Afternoon Tea with Cynthia a few months ago.  Cynthia’s knowledge of tea and food is incredible and her enthusiasm for tea’s influence in recipes is infectious.  After meeting her and reading this book, I couldn’t wait to go home and cook with tea!
See first hand the true passion of Culinary Tea; meet Lisë Stern February 24th at the Water Street Bookstore in Exeter, NH. The book signing and talk will start at 7:00 pm. 

Tea & Your Heart 2: Tea as a Social Activity

February is American Heart Month!  All month we will be talking about ways tea is an important part of maintaining a healthy heart.  Last week we spoke briefly about the physiological benefits of tea, today let’s take a look at all the how tea is an important social activity and how that relates to your heart health.
        Earlier this week we talked about a great trip we had to Upstairs on the Square in Cambridge, MA.  Much more than simply a trip to a tea room, it was a chance to spend time with old and new friends.  Even more than the tea and treats, it is that time with friends that will stay with me afterwards.
        I started Bliss Tea out of the joy and comfort I always got from sharing a pot of tea with my mother and discussing EVERYTHING.  That time has always been precious to me as a chance to relax and share all my cares and concerns with someone I love.  It was the tea that helped to always bring us together - I or she would get a new tea variety and we would immediately find an excuse to get together “for tea”!
        So what does all this have to do with a healthy heart?  Well, there is ample scientific evidence that having an active social life is important for staying healthy.  Getting together with loved ones and spending time with friends is an important component to lowering stress levels and feeling connected.  .  Stress causes the body to release all kinds of nasty chemicals, raise cholesterol levels, blood pressure, unhealthy behavior, etc. all of which relate back to a healthy heart!
        For me, sharing a cup of tea has always been an important part of my life, mostly because it was a chance to sit quietly with someone, share something calming, relaxing and healthy and talk about life.  It has always helped me stay grounded.  So if I could share any piece of healthy advice this month, it would be this: brew some tea, invite over a friend or loved one and just spend some quality time.

“Au Chocolat” Valentine’s Tea

 

Afternoon Tea at Upstairs on the Square in Cambridge, MA is sure to take away the mid- winter blues. The delightful, whimsically decorated restaurant almost makes you feel as if you are Alice in Wonderland! You can curl up by the fire, watch snowy Harvard Square from the windows of the Zebra Room or relax high in the trees of the Soiree Room as you enjoy the civilized respite of a cup of tea with artisanal sandwiches and sweet treats.

Upstairs on the Square

Our Tea consisted of the following along with a choice of 15 premium loose leaf teas to choose from:

Savory Brioche

Savory:   

        

Chicken salad on house made Brioche

Egg salad on profiterole

Smoked salmon with caper cream cheese on wheat 

Ham salad on James Beard chive biscuit

Pastries

 Pastries:   

    

Chocolate chip scone

Date nut bread with citrus spread

Mini gruyere cheese quiche

Blue cheese cracker

                                                                                                            

Sweets

 Sweets:             

Chocolate filled éclair

Chocolate dipped strawberry                                           

Chocolate mouse cupcake

Chocolate truffle

Mini turtle

Chocolate heart filled with Grand Marnier

Our server from France named Gael added much character to our day and made sure we were enjoying every bit of our time, at Upstairs on the Square. We were able to relax and visit with our girlfriends in the true spirit of Afternoon Tea. But then again tea and chocolate…need we say more!

In Bliss,

Amy

Gael (our server)

Holly, Maureen, Ashley & Mary

Tier

Tea & Your Heart: The Chemistry

February is American Heart Month!  All month we will be talking about ways tea is an important part of maintaining a healthy heart. This start off this week, we will look at some of the beneficial ingredients in tea that contribute to good cardiovascular health:

Polyphenols, Catechins, and Flavonoids…the power of Antioxidants!

Polyphenols, catechins and flavonoids are all antioxidants that protect cells from damage caused by free-radicals.  For example, in your cardiovascular system, when low-density lipoproteins (LDL or “bad” cholesterol) are oxidized by free-radicals they glue themselves to the walls of blood vessels, creating a plaque that eventually leads to coronary heart disease.  Since the above chemicals are antioxidants (i.e. they prevent oxidation), they help keep LDL cholesterol from sticking to vascular walls and act as a vasodilator, keeping your blood vessels wide and flexible, for blood to flow freely.

Since all tea, be it Green, Oolong, or Black, come from the Camellia sinesis plant, all teas contain these beneficial chemicals.  In fact, they contain 8-10 times the concentration found in fruit and vegetables!  If that is not a reason to have a cup of tea every day I am not sure what is!  Green tea, since it is not allowed to dry and ferment, has the largest concentration of antioxidants, with other tea varieties very close behind.

  

The Results of A Few Studies…

 

• A total of 3,430 men and women aged 30-70 years from the Saudi Coronary Artery Disease Study were examined and those who drank more than six cups of tea per day (>480 mg) had significantly lower prevalence of CHD than non-tea drinkers, even after adjustment for risk factors like age and smoking. The researchers also found that drinking six or more cups of Black Tea per day was associated with decreased serum cholesterol and triglyceride concentrations. 

•  A Harvard study examined 340 men and women who had suffered heart attacks and compared them to matched control subjects. They found that those who drank a cup or more of Black Tea daily had a 44 percent reduction in the risk of heart attack compared to non-tea drinkers.

• Another recent Harvard study of 1,900 people found that those who consumed tea during the year prior to a heart attack were up to 44 percent more likely to survive over the three to four years following the event. Those who consumed fewer than 14 cups of tea per week experienced a 28 percent reduced death rate and those who consumed more than 14 cups of tea per week were found to have a 44 percent reduced death rate, as compared to non-tea drinkers.

Useful Websites on Heart Benefits of Tea:

There is an abundance of information on the internet about the cardiovascular benefits of tea:

 A WebMD article on health benefits of Green Tea :

a good synopsis of green teas benefits on everything

from heart health to cancer. 

Tea Linked to Heart Health:

A Senior Health article on how tea can help those

who already have cardiovascular issues.

An Overview of Research on the 

Potential Health Benefits of Tea

A great overview on the research studies 

associated with tea’s heart healthy benefits.

            As you can see, there are tremendous heart healthy benefits to drinking a glass or two of tea each day, with ample long-term research to back up those benefits.  While you spend this month thinking about all the ways to improve your cardiovascular health, from diet to adequate exercise, don’t forget about the important role tea can serve.

Coming next week – it’s not just the chemistry – the important role a cup of tea can serve in helping you relax and how relaxation is important to your heart!

    

♥Valentine's Cupcake Recipe Made With Tea

These delicious cupcakes are perfect for celebrating your special occasions. We started with a package of Bob’s Red Mill Chocolate Cake Mix and prepared it as directed on the package. We then added to the batter 1 tablespoon of Bliss Tea Company Organic Earl Grey Tea as well as 2 teaspoons of cinnamon. We pulsed Bliss Tea Company Organic Earl Grey Tea in our mini Cuisinart to achieve a fine consistency before adding it to the batter. If you are a true Earl Grey lover you can certainly add more tea to this recipe for added flavor. The end result is an incredibly moist cupcake with a rich chocolaty taste not to mention Gluten Free and simple to prepare!

                                                                                                           

Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe:

1 Stick of Butter, room temperature

1 8oz block of Cream Cheese, room temperature

2-3 Cups Gluten Free Powdered Sugar

1 tsp Vanilla extract

1.   With an electric mixer, mix the butter and cream cheese together, about 3 minutes on medium speed until very smooth. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl to ensure even mixing.

2.   Add the vanilla extract and mix. Slowly add the powdered sugar. Keep adding until you get to desired sweetness and thickness.

3.   Either spread on with a blunt knife or spatula, or spoon into a piping bag to decorate your cupcakes. Enjoy!