Tea

[breakingtime91]

After talking to a family friend who is a doctor, I have decided to take up drinking tea (especially hibiscus) to help combat high blood pressure and other heart issues that run in my family. I come from a family with heart issues on both sides and my father/his father both passed away within a week of each other because of -complications after heart surgery. Does anyone have any teas they recommend or certain things that you do to make it more enjoyable? I have been drinking it three times a day for a week now and while I don't have high blood pressure I have already seen my systolic pressure drop 5 points! Pretty cool.

[orionz06]

Before I got snobby about my coffee I had some really killer tea and had a tea phase after visting a Teavana store. Not sure if it's good or if it's the Starbucks of tea but they did have some really killer teas that were expensive but well worth it. Gyokuro and dragonwell were my favorite greens. Here are a few links to current stuff on their site. Again, no idea if they're a good place or a Starbucks like joint.

http://www.teavana.com/us/en/tea/gre...ll-tea&start=4
http://www.teavana.com/us/en/tea/bla...ll-tea&start=7
http://www.teavana.com/us/en/tea/gre...ll-tea&start=1

To do it right you'll need to be up on the water temps, a thermometer is a must.

[Joe in PNG]

I drink about a liter of hot tea a day. Normally, just plain decaff Lipton black tea. For the most part, the best stuff comes loose, so you'll want some sort of infuser and teapot.
Some of my favorites:
-Earl Grey- way better as a loose leaf then in a bag
-Oolong
-Pu-er- a 'red tea' from China.
-Roobioos- not really a tea, but pretty good. Plus, no caffeine!
I'm not super fond of green tea, but Japanese Genmaicha (brown rice tea- green tea with toasted rice grains) is really good

[breakingtime91]

I drink about a liter of hot tea a day. Normally, just plain decaff Lipton black tea. For the most part, the best stuff comes loose, so you'll want some sort of infuser and teapot.
Some of my favorites:
-Earl Grey- way better as a loose leaf then in a bag
-Oolong
-Pu-er- a 'red tea' from China.
-Roobioos- not really a tea, but pretty good. Plus, no caffeine!
I'm not super fond of green tea, but Japanese Genmaicha (brown rice tea- green tea with toasted rice grains) is really good

I have been trying to give up caffeine for the most part, should of mentioned that in the earlier post. I find that most teas have much less then the coffee I used to drink (switched to decaff this week... its been interesting as far as my energy levels).

[Malamute]

Its just plain black tea, but I like the Twinnings English Breakfast tea. Their Irish Breakfast tea is also good, but I like it for a change of pace more than a regular thing.

Used to alternate back and forth between coffee and tea, but have become more of a coffee addict the past few years.

I'm lazy, when I feel like tea, I just put the water in my coffee maker with no coffee, and drop a couple tea bags in the pot. Its tea in a few minutes.

Had another brand of tea from a Paki guy, it was pretty good. I think it was an English brand. ETA: Tetley

[Nephrology]

re: Blood pressure - what do you usually run and when do you take your blood pressure? It's worth mentioning that caffeine actually doesn't substantially increase your blood pressure long-term or your overall risk for mortality. Caffeine can cause a small but potentially significant short-term increase in your blood pressure (14/10mmHg in the classic 1978 NEJM paper) that is sustained for about 3 hours or so. Unless you are in the pre-hypertensive range (>130/80mmHg), you probably aren't really threatening your health with caffeine. That said, it is always good to cut down on caffeine - will help if you have problems with insomnia or anxiety. Here is some more info below:

http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-c...e/faq-20058543
http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056...iewClass=Print
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21880846

There are other lifestyle modifications that are probably more pressing if you are worried about heart disease - regular cardiovascular exercise, smoking cessation (if you smoke or use other tobacco products), and reducing the amount of red meat & animal fat in your diet all will probably be 'higher yield' than 100% giving up caffeine. However, as I said before, if it is making you feel better to have cut down on caffeine, by all means keep it up.

[TheRoland]

Again, no idea if they're a good place or a Starbucks like joint.

Teavana appears to be despised by tea aficionados, but I don't know enough about tea to know why. It's really only the brick-and-mortar place I can buy loose-leaf tea within driving distance.

[orionz06]

Teavana appears to be despised by tea aficionados, but I don't know enough about tea to know why. It's really only the brick-and-mortar place I can buy loose-leaf tea within driving distance.

It's probably like Starbucks for tea then.

[Nephrology]

It's probably like Starbucks for tea then.

Aka just fine for most people who want something better than whatever McDonalds is selling?

[breakingtime91]

re: Blood pressure - what do you usually run and when do you take your blood pressure? It's worth mentioning that caffeine actually doesn't substantially increase your blood pressure long-term or your overall risk for mortality. Caffeine can cause a small but potentially significant short-term increase in your blood pressure (14/10mmHg in the classic 1978 NEJM paper) that is sustained for about 3 hours or so. Unless you are in the pre-hypertensive range (>130/80mmHg), you probably aren't really threatening your health with caffeine. That said, it is always good to cut down on caffeine - will help if you have problems with insomnia or anxiety. Here is some more info below:

http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-c...e/faq-20058543
http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056...iewClass=Print
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21880846

There are other lifestyle modifications that are probably more pressing if you are worried about heart disease - regular cardiovascular exercise, smoking cessation (if you smoke or use other tobacco products), and reducing the amount of red meat & animal fat in your diet all will probably be 'higher yield' than 100% giving up caffeine. However, as I said before, if it is making you feel better to have cut down on caffeine, by all means keep it up.

see thats the weird thing about my blood pressure. I exercise 6 times a week (cardio and weights), eat healthy, and for a long time never got above a 120. I had a high reading at the Dr's once (130 systolic, my diastolic has always been good) and became concerned. I am usually 115/70 something but I get really nervous now that I have to take it a couple times to get an accurate reading lol. The biggest thing that I think was causing it to be higher then normal was
1)I drank energy drinks a lot, completely stopped after the doctor visit
2)drinking a lot of coffee and said monsters before my appointment
3) I used to "binge" drink quite a bit with a friend of mine.

I have limited those three and got a 120/78 and a 115/76 today.


anyone know how much salt effects blood pressure?