It’s Tea Week here on Sprudge, which means we’re turning our attention to the wide world of Camellia sinensis and beyond for a weeklong deep-steep of coffee’s leafy counterpart. This includes News Wire, Sprudge’s daily hard-hitting coverage of coffee news from around the world, which will spending the next five days scouring the internet for the best tea stories going.
But we’re going to ease into Tea Week here on Wire, with a story oh so familiar to coffee news readers, but with some of the names changed.
TEA! It’s the key to long life! Specifically green tea. In a recent article in the New York Post, red wine, salty snacks, and none other than green tea are espoused by The Longevity Solution authors Dr. Jason Fung and James DiNicolantonio as a recipe for living to an advanced age.
To reach these conclusions, Fung—a nephrologist—and DiNicolantonio—a doctor of pharmacology—look to blue zones, “areas of the world with the longest living populations,” for clues, one of them being Okinawa, Japan. Their research yielded some fairly standard “longevity cures:” don’t eat a lot of meat, animal products like eggs and cheese, or processed foods; eat vegetables and whole grains; and get your protein from plant-based options like nuts and legumes. But they also had a few suggestions that amount to more than simply, “eat right, dummy.”
One such suggestion was green tea, which Fung says “suppresses the appetite and boosts the metabolism a bit.” The article also notes that “some research suggests that the drink can help ward off cancer,” and the positive health benefits of caffeine have been widely reported here on Sprudge. Fung goes on to suggest drinking it without cream and sugar, because no duh. If your goal is to be healthy, adding milk fat and sweet, sweet empty calories ain’t it. Instead, opt for—and this is Sprudge speaking here, not Fung—any of these lovely green teas from Japan sourced by Kettl of Brooklyn (we especially like the Ogura Gyokuro) or this beautiful White Dragonwell from San Francisco’s Song Tea. Head on over to Sprudge’s tea buying guide for more tips and suggestions.
The doctors also suggest one to two glasses a wine a day (we have a website for that too!) as well as salty foods for added longevity, and a generally happy life anyway. Because what’s the point of living a long time if you’re eating flavorless food?
As you’ll probably see suggested across Sprudge this week, maybe consider adding a little tea to your daily drinking ritual. Not only is it a whole world of flavor worth exploring with the same passion and rigor as you would coffee, it may also help you live longer. And the longer you live, the more coffee you can drink. Think about it. It’s simple math.
Zac Cadwalader is the managing editor at Sprudge Media Network and a staff writer based in Dallas. Read more Zac Cadwalader on Sprudge.
Sprudge Tea Week is presented by Breville USA.
