Hopefully, you checked out my post about the amazing benefits of drinking tea every day. Now, I’d like to help you find the best teas. A daily tea habit is an easy-to-incorporate, low-cal, inexpensive, and accessible way to boost your health and well-being.
It’s easy enough for me to tell you this, but where do you start? First I’ll start you out with a quick overview of the most commonly found teas, and then I’ll introduce you to some of my favorites!
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Green, Black, Herbal, Oh My!
Did you know there are thousands of different varieties of tea in the world? Below I will cover the most commonly found types and their main characteristics.
Black Tea
Black tea has a stronger flavor and is darker in color. Breakfast teas, Earl Grey, and chai teas are all made from black tea. Keep in mind that black tea has about 47 mg of caffeine, or half as much as a cup of coffee.
Green Tea
This is my favorite type of tea. It brews up lighter in color with a milder taste than black tea. Green tea has somewhat of an “earthy” taste, so it’s often blended with other natural flavors. Green tea has about half as much caffeine as black tea, which makes it great for morning or an afternoon pick-me-up.
Matcha
Matcha gets its rich green color from the way it is harvested. The leaves are ground into a powder, which is what goes into your cup and gets fully ingested, giving you an extra shot of antioxidants. It has about as much caffeine as black tea.
Matcha has a distinct, grassy flavor. Because of this, people tend to add milk, cream, or sugar to their drink which may negate some of the benefits of drinking matcha.
After doing a lot of research on matcha, I found there is a culinary grade (used in lattes, smoothies, and baking), and a ceremonial grade (smoother tasting matcha for sipping plain). Deciding how you’d like to drink it can help you choose which grade to buy.
White Tea
This tea is made from young, newly budded tea leaves and is minimally processed so it has more of a delicate flavor. Steep it for no more than 60 seconds (make sure not to let the water boil) to keep the taste from going bitter!
White tea is packed with antioxidants and is pretty low in caffeine. It blends beautifully with herb, flower, and fruit flavors.
Herbal Tea
Weirdly enough, herbal tea is not technically a tea. It’s made by steeping herbs, flowers, and roots, which is also why it is caffeine-free.
There are countless flavors of herbal tea and often you’ll find an herbal blend to treat a specific ailment (like sleeplessness or stress relief). I love steeping a huge cup of honey lavender herbal tea on a cold, rainy night!
Picking The Right Tea For You
One of the things I love about tea is that it’s widely available and is pretty affordable. You can find it at a grocery store, specialty food stores, online, and at your favorite local coffee or tea shop.
Still not sure what kind of tea you want to try first? Check out my top picks of the best teas to get you started!
Green Tea
Yogi Blueberry Slim Life – This green tea is light with just the right hint of blueberry flavor. I drink this almost every day and think it’s a great choice for someone looking to start up a daily green tea habit! Find it at the grocery store or big-box retailers!
Jade Leaf Organic Matcha – I drink this matcha every morning. It has a smooth, not-bitter taste, and I love how the company is transparent about where its matcha comes from and how it’s grown. Check out all the delicious recipes on their site too!
Spice & Tea Exchange Sinfully Cherry – If you haven’t tried green tea flavored with a hint of cherry, you are missing out! Don’t know how to brew loose-leaf tea? Try this mesh infuser or biodegradable filter.
Heath & Heather Green Tea With Coconut – This tea is perfect when you want a subtle hint of coconut in your green tea. Brew up a few tea bags, let it cool, add some ice, and you’ve got a refreshing summer drink!
Black Tea
Republic Of Tea Vanilla Almond – Try this tea with a splash of your favorite nut milk on a cold day. Heaven.
Spice And Tea Exchange Hazelnut Cookie – When you’re trying so hard to skip dessert but you need something sweet, close your eyes and try this!
Tazo Skinny Chai Latte Concentrate – This concentrate makes it super easy to make your own (iced or hot) chai latte, plus it keeps the cost down. Use a low-cal milk alternative and make it skinnier!
White Tea
Art Of Tea White Coconut Creme Tea – Creamy coconut taste with a touch of floral. The hundreds of positive reviews point to some quality sippin’.
Numi Organic White Rose Tea – Rosebuds are blended with the subtle taste of white tea to create this summery tea.
Art Of Tea White Peach Tea – The smell of fresh-picked peaches with the health benefits of white tea. Yes, please! Try reusing the same tea bag for a second cup to make your dollar stretch a little further.
Herbal Teas
Yogi Honey Lavender Stress Relief – The flavors in this tea are very subtle but just enough to help you unwind after a long day.
The Republic Of Tea Beauty Sleep – I love that this tea works double-time in the beauty department. Other than relaxing chamomile, it also contains collagen promoting blue butterfly pea flower.
The Republic Of Tea Blueberry Iced Tea – Not only is this the perfect gift for baby Yoda obsessed fans, it actually tastes good! It’s so easy to make since it comes in perfectly proportioned tea bags to make a quart of iced tea.
Skin Te Collagen Sparkling Tea – I am always on the lookout for beauty products that pull double or triple duty. This is one of those products! I love the Hibiscus Vanilla because it’s caffeine-free, tastes amazing, and is packed with 3000mg of collagen peptides. Skin Te is packed with beauty-boosting herbs, has less than 1g of sugar, and is only 20 calories per can. I can’t stop giving this out to my friends to try, it’s that good!
Conclusion
If you can’t tell, I take my tea drinking seriously! My hope is that after reading through this post, you’re excited to become a daily tea drinker. It’s also a great way to swap out a sugary drink habit without feeling completely deprived.
Which tea will you be trying next?