Tête à tête: battle of the brews

It’s the battle of the traditional tea against herbal tea, which side will you be on?

                                                                                      Black tea

                                                                                 Jodie Marsden

There is nothing wrong with a good old cuppa. Black tea is our English trademark – why ditch it for herbal? There is the obvious argument that green tea and herbal teas are a lot better for you, but black tea is not unhealthy. Any article or study claiming traditional black tea will give you brittle bones or make you more likely to develop certain cancers comes with the catch that these arguments are based on you drinking 15-20+ cups a day. Since the average number in Britain is four per day, these health scares seem wholly irrelevant. Black tea is naturally full of antioxidants which come with a host of health benefits, and there are countless studies about the positive impacts of drinking traditional black tea – it can help oral health and even reduce the risk of Diabetes. Black tea has an equal share of good press which outweighs the bad, so don’t be too quick to dismiss it.

There are many myths associated with black tea that need to be set straight. Information provided by the Tea Advisory Panel tells us that black tea in fact has no calories. So if you are worried about tea being unhealthy, cut out sugar and use no milk or skimmed (which will only add around 13 calories).

Tea also has at least half the amount of caffeine as coffee, so is a much healthier alternative that will still give you that much needed kick in the morning!

There is nothing more comforting than a traditional brew. So, like any food and drink, as long as it is drunk in moderation there is no reason to stop having it.

Finally, forgetting the health debate, the most important thing you need to remember is that you can’t dunk biscuits in herbal tea, so what on earth is the point? A good English breakfast tea is all you need.

                                                                                      Herbal tea

                                                                                    Andrew King

I start my argument by stating that I don’t like black tea. It’s too strong, too dry and (feasibly like anyone against herbal teas) too bitter. Even if you think black tea is okay, let’s face it: so called “real” tea – said as if green tea is actually made with coffee granules – needs milk. This isn’t so much of a problem when you’re sharing food (sharing the content of the fridge, not just the shelves) like a grown up or at your family home, but as a student… well.

There were at least three incidents in my first year of someone leaving milk in the communal fridge so long after its expiration date that the bottle exploded. This left lumps of what can only be thought of as un-churned cheese in anything that wasn’t sealed. I practically held a funeral for a packet of bacon on one of the occasions. This laugh/tear-inducing anecdote may explain the problem. Students do not get through milk fast enough to make it worth buying. This makes your “real” tea, frankly, a rip-off. Not only do you have to buy the tea-bags, and the sugar if you’re so inclined, but you have to buy a milk bottle you’ll only drink half of roughly four times for every box of bags.

Herbal tea, on the other hand, does not require milk. My sister accidently put milk into peppermint tea once and the result was about as nice as black tea. Herbal tea is much cheaper – you only buy the bags – and is easily just as tasty as the proper stuff. If, like me, you have specific tastes, there is bound to be something to suit regardless. You only need to watch Scott Pilgrim vs. the World to know what I mean (the Tea Scene – google it). There are so many flavours that you won’t believe all of them are real – a couple of experiments and you’ll find the perfect cuppa, and these teabags never go off!