How To Drink Black Tea ☕

People all over the world drink tea. It has two to four percent caffeine which affects a person’s level of alertness and thinking capabilities. Most times black tea is taken as is, but sometimes, you just want to break tradition and change it up.

You can make a hot cup of black tea taste tastier with various options. You can add other flavors, like milk, spices, fruit or have iced tea, to enhance the taste and make your drink more enjoyable.

So, how should you drink black tea? This article tells the top four ways of drinking black tea and its health benefits.

How Should One Drink Black Tea?

Black tea has a rich and deep flavor and is a stronger tea than green tea or oolong tea. Its taste may vary for each plantation site. It may be smoky, fruity, earthy, citrusy, malty, spicy, or sweet.

If you want to change up the taste of your black tea, here are four ways to do it:

• Adding Sugar and Milk

Sugar and milk are common ingredients in every kitchen. Adding sugar to black tea mellows out its strong earthy flavor. Whole milk also enhances the flavor of black tea, but don’t use too much milk as it will overpower the tea itself. Avoid adding cream since it will make your drink very heavy.

A breakfast black tea is ideal for adding milk and sugar. It is a purer black tea made with many blends, like Assam.

• Adding Fruit

You can also enhance the taste of black tea with fruit. You can add bits of dried strawberry, mango, pineapple, or any of your favorite fruit. You can find packs of small, dehydrated fruit cubes in any supermarket and add them to your tea. Fruit cubes are great for when you are brewing your tea from tea leaves.

You can also add fresh fruit to a cup of black tea. A slice of orange or lemon goes great with black tea and makes a great winter drink, but don’t add lemon juice. Add a cinnamon stick for a Christmas feeling. Milk won’t go with such tea, but you can try plant-based milk like rice or almond.

You can also go for a pre-made tea blend of a fruity flavor. There are also tea bags with plenty of flavors you can choose from according to your black tea taste preference.

• Adding Flower Petals

Flower petals add a great scent and flavor to black teas. Rosebuds are very popular for adding black tea since they complement the malty flavor of black tea. Jasmine also works well with black tea. Cherry blossoms or lavender are good options too. If you like earl grey tea, add bergamot buds or petals if you have them in your pantry. Otherwise, orange blossoms are a great alternative to bergamot.

All these flowers are available at tea houses or spice shops, and you can buy your favorite flower petals or buds to add to your black tea. Add them to hot water with the loose tea leaves as you are brewing them, and they’ll add a great flavor and scent to your drink.

• Adding Spices

Spices instantly boost your drink and increase its flavor, especially if you are into spicy or flavorful drinks. It will turn it into chai, the Hindi word for ‘tea’, although chai consists of many tea types like green and black tea mixed with spices.

Add cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, star anise, chili seeds, cloves, black pepper, cumin, or any other spices you like. This spiced black tea might seem too potent, so start with fewer spices. You can even add dairy milk since it will balance out the strong flavor of spices.

Brewing Black Tea

The way you brew your cup of black tea affects its flavor and determines whether you should add something to it.

For example, some people like adding milk to strong black tea, while others prefer a deep, earthy taste. The strength of the black tea depends on how strong you brew it.

Boil water in an electric kettle or pour hot water into a stovetop kettle. Then add tea leaves to the boiling water. Brew the tea leaves in boiling water for three to five minutes, depending on how strong you want your cup of tea. How long you steep the tea leaves determines how strong your black tea will be. Its flavor may get bitter and overwhelming if you brew it too long. You can use a strainer for straining the brew into a cup or empty tea bags. Remove any loose leaves from your teacup with a spoon.

Assam black tea has a deeper, maltier taste, so let the whole tea bag steep for less time than other black teas. Remove the tea bag once the tea has steeped, or use a strainer to pour the tea into a cup.

You’ll get dark red tea. Its intensity and flavor depend on the brewing time of the tea. Darker color tea is stronger and more intense. Different black teas tend to have different colors after brewing. Some are redder, while some are more amber. Dark brown tea is too strong and not ideal for drinking.

• Add Milk to Strong Black Tea

If your black tea is too strong, add milk and sugar to mellow the tea. A classic British thing is adding a dash of milk with a little bit of sugar to reduce the strength of the black tea.

• Add Lemon to Light Black Tea

Citrus flavors work well with light-colored black tea. Add a lemon slice to your drink and add sugar if needed. Light black tea has a delicate flavor profile and is easy to drink since it is not very strong. If you don’t like plain black tea, add citrus fruit to compliment the light flavor. It will also bring out a nice aroma. Don’t add milk to light black tea since you’ll lose all flavor, and the milk will overpower it.

What Are the Health Benefits of Black Tea?

Here are the top ten benefits of drinking black tea:

1. Reduce the Risk of Stroke

A stroke occurs when a blood vessel gets ruptured or blocked in the brain and is one of the main causes of death. The majority of strokes are avoidable by consuming a good diet, exercising regularly, maintaining blood pressure, and not smoking. Studies show that black tea helps in reducing the chances of stroke.

One significant study involving more than 360,000 people explored the relationship between the risk of dementia or stroke and drinking coffee or tea. After 11 years of monitoring the participants, the study concluded that the risk of developing ischemic stroke lowered by 16% in people who drank at least two cups of tea compared to those who did not.

Another study focused on using genetic predictors to explore the relationship between tea consumption and stroke risk. This study revealed that if you are genetically prone to consuming more tea daily, you will have a lower chance of getting a stroke.

2. Boosts Heart Health

Black tea contains antioxidants called flavonoids that protect you from heart disease. Other sources of flavonoids are dark chocolate, vegetables, red wine, and fruits. Drinking black tea reduces many risk factors that lead to heart diseases, such as high blood pressure, cholesterol, and obesity.

One review of studies shows that daily black tea consumption lowers the risk of death from heart disease by 4%, the risk of other cardiovascular problems and heart attacks by 2%, the risk of stroke by 4%, and other causes by 1.5%.

The study found that drinking tea reduces the risk of heart disease by 8% and cardiac problems, like heart attack, by 10%, compared to people who did not drink black tea in the last twelve months.

You can easily incorporate antioxidants into your diet, improve heart health, and potentially reduce your risk of future health complications with your cup of black tea. So, turn this into a habit.

3. Boosts Focus

Black tea contains L-theanine and caffeine content. Both work together to help you focus better and stay alert. The alpha activity in your brain increases with L-theanine, helping you relax and improve focus.

Studies show that drinks with caffeine content and L-theanine affect focus because of the effects on the brain. That’s why many people feel more alert after drinking tea instead of coffee.

Another study focused on exploring the effects of tea on mental performance. Participants could drink either water or 250ml of black tea and were asked to perform a series of tests related to memory, mathematical calculations, and attention. Black tea drinkers solved the tasks quicker, made fewer errors, and had improved memory. The authors concluded the study with the results that drinking black tea in small amounts can improve cognitive functions and capabilities.

Black tea is great for improving focus, alertness, and mental processing without consuming a drink with lots of caffeine.

4. Improves Gut Health

Gut bacteria are crucial for keeping the gut healthy. Some gut bacteria are beneficial, while some are not. Studies show that gut bacteria reduce the risk of health diseases like obesity, type 2 diabetes, inflammatory bowel disease, cardiovascular problems, and cancer.

The polyphenols in black tea promote good bacteria and, therefore, ensure a healthy gut. Additionally, black tea has antimicrobial properties that kill harmful substances and improve immunity by repairing the digestive tract’s lining.

5. Reduces Blood Pressure

People with high blood pressure are prone to health complications like stroke, heart attacks, loss of vision, and kidney and heart failure. A healthy diet and lifestyle change can effectively lower your blood pressure.

There has been a review of studies on the effects of drinking black tea on blood pressure. The review concludes that regularly drinking black tea lowers diastolic blood pressure by 1.98 mm Hg and systolic blood pressure by 4.81 mm Hg in hypertensive people. Those who consumed black tea for more than three months saw a decrease in blood pressure.

People who drink black tea daily have a higher chance of lowering and maintaining low blood pressure.

6. Lowers Blood Sugar Levels

High levels of blood sugar increase the risk of health diseases such as obesity, depression, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and kidney failure. The high sugar content in desserts and sweet beverages elevates blood sugar levels, increasing the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

The pancreas produces insulin when you consume sugar or take a sugary drink. It helps the sugar enter the muscle cells and gets stored as energy, or glycogen, for later use. The body uses this energy reservoir with the help of glucagon by breaking down glycogen to release energy. The excess amount of sugar gets stored as fat.

Research shows that consuming black tea after a meal helps reduce blood sugar levels. A study with twenty-four people showed the effects of black tea on blood sugar levels after drinking a sugary beverage. The group consisted of people with and without pre-diabetes asked to drink a sugary beverage with either a high or low dose of placebo or black tea. Those who opted for a low or a high dosage of black tea had lower blood sugar levels after eating than those taking a placebo.

7. Reduce the Risk of Cancer

Black tea leaves contain bioactive chemicals, including polyphenols, that may help prevent cancer. The polyphenols in black tea help slow the growth of certain cancer types and kill cancer-causing cells.

One review of studies looks at the effects of drinking tea on cancer and concludes that it helps lower the risk of oral cancer. The study reveals that regular tea consumption may help lower the risk of other cancers like breast, lungs, gastrointestinal tract, ovaries, and thyroid, but further studies are needed.

Another study focuses on the effects of drinking green tea and black tea and how it helps defeat endometrial cancer. People drinking more green tea have a 22% less chance of endometrial cancer. You also reduce the risk of endometrial cancer by 11% if you take green tea daily. But there was no major relation between endometrial cancer and black tea.

Black tea is not an alternative for treating cancer, but research has shown that it may help reduce the risk of developing some types of cancer, so a daily intake of black tea is beneficial.

What’s the Best Way of Drinking Black Tea?

There is no single way to drink black tea that tops the list. Indians have their way of drinking ‘chai’ with various spices. The Chinese like a natural drink with no sugar or milk, while the brits add a little sugar and milk. It depends on how you like your black tea, and you can use any variation of flavors as per your preference.

Final Thoughts

Black tea has a potent, bold flavor. There are many ways of making it tastier if you don’t want to drink it plain. Add your favorite fresh or dried fruits, spices, flower petals or buds, milk, sugar, and more. Keep trying out flavors till you find what’s best for you and enjoy a good cup of black tea.