Organic vs. Non-Organic

I know you all purchase organic products when you can (right?), if not for yourself, then for the environment. However, sometimes organic can equate to expensive, and right now high price tags can be as hard to swallow as pesticide-laden foods. Dr. Weil recently posted these twelve foods to buy organic regardless of the price tag. He also posted twelve non-organic foods with minimal pesticide residue (a.k.a. "items you don't have to buy organic"). You may notice that tea isn't on either list. The truth of the matter is that conventional tea is still relatively low in pesticide residue... but that doesn't mean it's better for the planet, the plants or the producers. You may be glad to know that I recently heard a pound of tea has less pesticide residue than a single apple. Wow! Lemme know if you'd like to see a full story on pesticides in tea and I'll pitch it this month.

Tea & Stress

While eustress (the "good stress" that motivates us) can be invigorating, distress can be very draining. WebMD recently posted methods for reducing stress through diet, and for keeping your energy levels steady in times of stress. One of their top suggestions: drinking tea! From their article:

"A recent report found that pairing caffeine and the amino acid L-theanine, both present in tea, decreased mental fatigue and improved alertness, reaction time, and memory. What's more, black varieties can help you recover from stress, according to researchers at University College London. In their study, adults who drank tea four times a day for 6 weeks had lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol after a tense moment, compared with those who drank a tealike placebo."

I'm not sure how a "tealike" placebo could ever compare (I'm reminded of The Hitchhiker's Guide), but I do feel that tea is excellent at moderating and reducing stress. If I am remembering my biochemistry properly, high cortisol levels can encourage weight gain/retention and cortisol levels are raised when sleep levels are too low. According to Wikipedia (I know, I know), they are highest in the morning. No wonder a cup of tea makes us feel prepared to go out and face the day!

You can read more on stress reduction through diet on WebMD.

Tea for Longevity

Prevention recently listed 14 surprising reasons you'll live a long life. Number two on the list? You're a tea lover. More:

Both green and black teas contain a concentrated dose of catechins, substances that help blood vessels relax and protect your heart. In a study of more than 40,500 Japanese men and women, those who drank 5 or more cups of green tea every day had the lowest risk of dying from heart disease and stroke. Other studies involving black tea showed similar results.

You really need only 1 or 2 cups of tea daily to start doing your heart some good—just make sure it’s a fresh brew. Ready-to-drink teas (the kind you find in the supermarket beverage section) don’t offer the same health benefits. "Once water is added to tea leaves, their catechins degrade within a few days," says Jeffrey Blumberg, PhD, a professor of nutrition science and policy at Tufts University. Also, some studies show that adding milk may eliminate tea’s protective effects on the cardiovascular system, so stick to just lemon or honey.

Mental Abilities and Tea

I've always found that tea produces a calm sense of alertness, a wakefulness without jitters, that I can't get elsewhere. (Blame it on the unique blend of caffeine, l-theophylline, and polyphenols.) According to several new studies, it does more that just that. Apparently, it tea helps older women avoid the decline in verbal skills associated with aging. From the NY Times:

"After controlling for other variables, the scientists found that women at age 65 who drank three or more cups of coffee or tea a day were about one-third less likely to have a significant decline in verbal skills than those who drank a cup less. By age 85, they were 70 percent less likely to suffer those deficits compared with women who drank less than a cup of coffee or tea."

It may also help people who suffer from sleep apnea reduce concentration problems. According to Dr. Andrew Weil (who got his info from the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine):

"Six to 10 cups of green tea per day may help reduce memory and concentration problems ... among people suffering from obstructive sleep apnea.... Drinking green tea won’t help you overcome sleep apnea (you’ll still need to use your breathing device) but may lessen any memory or concentration problems associated with the disorder."

Very interesting. I was glad to see both coffee and tea included in the first study. It was conducted by the French National Institute for Health and Medical Research. Tea's popularity is quickly rising in France right now. It's good to see researchers stay atop the trends in their studies--I hope it catches on in the US!

Caffeine and Diabetes

A new study from Duke University has linked caffeine with a rise in blood sugar levels for those with type 2 diabetes. Dr. James Lane, who lead the study, says that there are two possible reasons for this:

1. Caffeine interferes with the mpovement of glucose from blood to other tissue

2. Caffeine triggers the release of adrenaline, which boosts sugar levels

From personal experience and from discussions with many people who have diabetes, I am inclined to agree with the latter possibility. It explains why so many people with diabetes can drink loose-leaf tea without feeling shaky, but have trouble with coffee and bag tea. As I explained in my article on Caffeine and Tea:


Caffeine is a stimulant that is quickly absorbed into the bloodstream and assimilated into the system. It causes an increase in alertness and energy levels for a short period of time. Its chemical structure is similar to adenosine, which triggers a decrease in cell activity, or a feeing of tiredness. It blocks the brain�s adenosine receptors, tricking them into speeding up activity rather than slowing it down. (They don't recognize the caffeine itself, but react to the LACK of adenosine.) Also, where adenosine would dilate blood vessels, caffeine causes them to constrict. When cell activity speeds up rapidly, the pituitary gland interprets the neural firings as an emergency and releases epinephrine (a.k.a. adrenaline). Adrenaline, in turn, increases your heart rate, blood pressure, and blood sugar levels while dilating your pupils and breathing tubes and tensing your muscles. The result? You feel excited, alert, and ready to go . . . but not for long. Your body responds to the increase in blood sugar by releasing insulin. If your blood sugar levels were rising rapidly (as they tend to do with the rapid absorption of caffeine), then the body tends to overreact. It sends out too much insulin, resulting in LOWER blood sugar levels than BEFORE you consumed the caffeine, as well as the craving for MORE caffeine.

(Added note for blog: Obviously, the wreaks havoc on the blood sugar levels of those with diabetes.)

. . .

In freshly brewed tea, the caffeine binds to the tannins (a.k.a. catechins, a type of polyphenol) and L-theanine when it is brewed. The bond requires more time to metabolize than unbound caffeine, so the absorption of caffeine into the bloodstream is slower and more gradual than it is with coffee and caffeinated sodas. (L-theanine also has some other really cool benefits, like stimulating alpha wave production and GABA formation to induce an alert yet euphoric state.) Meanwhile, the body is absorbing L-theophylline, a naturally occurring substance in tea that produces similar effects to those of caffeine, but with a slower absorption rate. After absorption, caffeine's effects last about 4 hours, L-theophylline, about 8 hours, and the L-theanine, 8-10 hours. This means that you are left with a calm, gentle return to your original energy level. Coffee is different from tea in that its caffeine is quickly absorbed, causing an increase in adrenaline (and stress) levels and resulting in a icky feeling when it wears off (often referred to as a "crash").


Read more on caffeine absorption and tea on Vee Tea.

Anyway, back to the study . . . Dr. Lane also said, "If patients are having trouble controlling their blood glucose and they are coffee drinkers, particularly heavy coffee drinkers, they might want to give it a try to see if it makes a difference to them (to quit drinking coffee)." Read more on the new caffeine and diabetes study on BBC. Have a great weekend!

The Bonus Day

I hadn't planned to stay in Kurseong today. I was supposed to go up to Darjeeling (the city... I'm already in the region). However, I am really glad I stayed, as I got to do some very exciting things.

First on the impromptu agenda was a visit to the Darjeeling Tea Research Centre to talk with Dr. Saha, the head researcher there. We talked about soil science (his forte), the plans for the DTRC's expansion (which include more staff, upgraded facilities, an auditorium for lectures and films, a library, and a museum... I can't wait to see it completed!), ground cover, mulching, composting, organic production, and Pranayama (which seems to be a very popular topic around here). Dr. Saha is very knowledgable and I learned a lot during my visit. I hope to get the chance to meet with him more the next time I come to India.

After the DTRC, I met Rajah for lunch (okra, rice, dal, greens, pumpkin soup, and mangoes) then began my craft education project. I taught several local women a craft technique called "knotting," which I learned from one of the world's top five masters in the field, Ed Bing Lee. He uses the technique to make tiny, richly-colored, sculptural pieces out of individual strands of embroidery floss. I use it to make very textural scarves. It's a technique that allows for an enormous range of styles, so I taught the women the basics, told them some of the ways they could vary the technique, and let them run with it. They pick it up so quickly it was astounding! I've taught seasoned crafters in the States the same technique before, but these women were pros with this stuff! Amazing... My hope is that they can use the technique to make crafts that can be sold locally or on the international market and bring some extra income to their families. The women in the Darjeeling region are very enterprising and motivated. I'm sure they'll do well with it, especially since they seem to enjoy the technique and what it produces.

After the craft session, I went back to Rajah's office (to let him know how it went) and met some documentary videographers from the US. We all talked about organic tea production and such for a while and then I headed back to my hotel for a special treat: a Himalayan stick massage. This type of massage is usually only practiced by Brahmins, but one man outside of the Brahmin class learned it and practices it around Kurseong. It is a unique type of massage that involves the rhythmic rapping of two sticks. (He actually uses the verb "beat" to describe this action.) He explained that the rhythm creates a vibration that aids in aligning one's chakras. I can't vouch for that personally, but I can say that it feels great.

In post-massage bliss, I floated up to the dining room to order my dinner. I was lucky enough to meet the hotel's owner, a lovely woman from Kolkata. She asked me about my day, I mentioned the knotting class, and the next thing I knew, we were bonding over dinner. She offered to carry the women's crafts at the hotel's shop (very exciting!). I gave her chef my tea granita recipes. Her chef made me a concoction for my cold, which was incredibly similar to my Witches' Brew (and exactly what I needed). We talked about politics, the hotel, travel, Indian culture, local legends, and a whole host of other things. What a fantastic conversation!

After dinner and talk, I headed back to my room to call Natalia and Pat. They're off in Agra, having a fabulous time. For a split second I thought, "Maybe I should have planned to spend a few days in the Golden Triangle," and then I remembered that the focus of my trip is tea and realized that I'll probably have much more fun in Darjeeling, despite its relative lack of "must see" architecture. Yes, it is all about the tea this trip.

I've decided that if all bonus days are like this, I should change my plans more often!