The rule of black and green looks done and dusted, a new king has arrived! Well, not arrived recently, to be precise. The amazingness of oolong tea has been mesmerizing the world for some centuries now. But because it is the age of the internet, the number of oolong fans has increased remarkably in the last few years or so. Made from the leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant, oolong tea assumes the position of step-sibling of green and black tea. In terms of numbers, this tea doesn’t even account for two percent of the world’s total tea. But the health benefits that are associated with oolong tea are probably more than ones reported with any other type of tea. But can this tea be drunk at any moment in a day? Or should you be careful about the timings of your drink? We discuss oolong tea with major emphasis on this angle in today’s discussion. Plenty to learn from this discussion, we can tell you that much!
A quick nutritional recap
Now before we delve into the details of the decorum that must be observed while enjoying this extremely beneficial tea for the human body, we want to bring to your attention, the nutritional profile of oolong tea. Which ingredients make it a number one choice for millions all around the globe? Because we are cramped for space and time, we will be brief in this section. So, the first ingredient in our list is fluoride, which is good news for your teeth, right? Fluoride can be anywhere from five to twenty percent in an average serving of oolong tea. Surpassing even fluoride in terms of percentage is magnesium, which can account for as much as 26 percent of a normal cup of oolong tea. Other key minerals found in a well-brewed cup of oolong tea include sodium, niacin, magnesium, and caffeine, all reflected by the factor of 1%. The presence of niacin is significant since it is essentially vitamin B3 by nature.
Why does drinking oolong tea make sense?
We keep saying oolong tea has wondrous health benefits, but we haven’t shared any of these wondrous effects with you yet. We apologize, we were going to this section! Anyhow, we thought it would be best to outline the key health effects that are associated with this tea. That way, there won’t be any ambiguities while assessing the true potential of this wonderful tea! Here are our top five reasons why drinking oolong tea makes all the sense in the world:
1- It has fat-burning properties, which is why this tea is an important constituent of many fitness routines. This is also the key reason for oolong tea’s popularity among the masses.
2- The leaves of oolong tea are enriched with antioxidants. While the role of antioxidants in establishing the immune system is not within the scope of this discussion, it still adds gold value to the oolong tea.
3- Oolong tea is believed to be an excellent averting tool for countering diabetes, especially type 2 diabetes.
4- Because oolong tea is enriched with fluoride, it is great for protecting your tooth enamel, and for averting any dental damage that might be on the way.
5- Polyphenols found in oolong tea can offer a lot of benefits to your skin, as well as protection against conditions like eczema.
What is the best time to drink oolong tea for weight loss?
Enough with the reasons, now let us focus on the central point around which this discussion has been orchestrated. The best time to drink a warm steaming cup of oolong tea is thirty minutes after a meal! And there is a reason behind it. After half an hour of having a meal, your digestive system is in a position to assimilate all of the major macromolecules e.g. protein. If you sip the tea before your system uptakes these proteins, then the process of this uptake will be impeded big time. And as for drinking the tea during a meal is concerned, mate, do you want to go through with that thought? Drinking something so sophisticated while having pizza fries that are full of nothing but fat? Even scribbling these words made us shiver, you will need a lot of courage going through with this plan.
What happens if you drink it in the odd hours?
Now as opposed to drinking the tea in the time we have just mentioned, what if you have a craving for oolong tea say early or late in the day? Fulfilling your heart’s desire once or twice is ok, but doing it on a repeated basis will simply harm your body in more ways than you can imagine. Briefly speaking, when you are drinking oolong tea early in the morning on an empty stomach, you are just making the environment inside your stomach more acidic than it is already. On the other hand, drinking oolong tea regularly late at night is not a good approach either, since it interferes with your sleep patterns big time, and can render you insomniac. Don’t want that happening lads, do we?
Different ways of drinking the oolong tea
Just a word on how people whip up their oolong teas in this section. Now, we know that the majority of you love chucking the tea leaves in boiling water. But that is the only way of drinking these tea leaves. You can jazz up things a little bit and have a lot of fun! For example, how about adding a dash of lemon juice to your cup of oolong tea? Or better still, cinnamon, which has a lot of beneficial properties for human health itself. You don’t have to go through with these ideas, we are just saying in case things get boring!
Final thoughts
We are scribbling the concluding remarks of this discussion, but we would like to remind you that drinking anything too much is never good, and oolong tea is certainly no exception to this rule. Respect the limitations of the human body, and you will see magic unfolding before your eyes!
