Just about everyone knows how important it is to stay hydrated throughout the day. From drinking several cups of water to sprinkling coffee and tea between and with meals, there are many different drinks that you can choose from as well.

However, if you are new to the world of teas, you may not realize just how many different types of tea there are. There are some large, overarching categories of tea, such as green tea, black tea, and white tea. There are also other categories of tea, such as caffeinated teas and decaffeinated teas. Some teas have a specific taste that people want, such as teas that resemble coffee. Other teas are best for particular times of the day, most notably chamomile tea.

In short, different types of teas will have different properties. Some teas will be better for you than others while some may taste like your favorite drink. If you are looking for a brief summary on the healthiest teas, as well as some other unique teas to try, then you should consider setting aside a fair amount of time to research the countless different teas out there. In a sense, tea really has become its own empire that other drinks, such as coffee, compete with.

Finding the Healthiest Teas for You

Tea is generally a healthy drink. After all, at its base, it is simply strained leaf water. There is very little that can go wrong with that, aside from any added sugars or sweeteners. However, there are some types of tea that can be more than strained leaf water. Some types of tea, depending on the leaf it comes from, can have numerous benefits for your body. Sadly, there is no one definite tea that can be crowned the “healthiest” tea of them all.

Instead, you should think about what you consider to be the healthiest factor in tea. For some people, the number of antioxidants in tea is the “healthy” factor. For other people, the “healthy” factor is how pure the tea is. On top of this, people’s bodies will react differently to teas than other people. One person’s healthiest tea may cause stomach problems for the next person. The healthiest tea is truly a subjective tea, although there are a few pointers that you can follow toward the healthiest teas out there.

If you are on the search for antioxidants, which have been proven to have countless health benefits, then you will want to begin looking at white teas first. White teas tend to have the most antioxidants, followed closely by jasmine teas, then green teas, and then black tea. If you are looking for tea that has its health based in history and length of use, then green tea is going to be the best tea to turn to, as it has been used for millennia. If you want something slightly fancier than green tea, you can consider jasmine tea, which uses green tea as a base and adds flowers for aroma and flavor. 

What About Decaf Tea?

Some people enjoy drinking a warm cup of tea before bed or during dinner. Since most tea has caffeine in it, this can often be a problem. If you are looking for a tea that has a comfortable, smooth taste, but you don’t want to energize yourself before going to bed, you may want to consider looking at some of the best decaf tea out there. There are several types of decaf tea to choose from, ranging from high-end, Madagascar vanilla bean teas to very simple black tea that has had the caffeine removed from it. Finding the “best” of these decaffeinated teas is going to be a matter of opinion, as without the caffeine, it becomes a matter of taste.

People who want a flavorful drink before sleeping may want to look at some of the sweetened and herbal teas, as these can have smooth and rich flavors to sip on. For people who enjoy tea for the variety of tastes and the benefits of herbal teas, these are generally considered the best decaf teas to look at. On the other hand, if you enjoy tea for the aroma, the nature of the tea, and the purity of it, you may want to consider looking at more plain teas. These can include basic decaf black tea from well-known companies to English breakfast flavored teas, and so on. Just remember to look for that “decaf” label before you make yourself a pot of tea.

Teas Before Bed

As mentioned earlier, many people enjoy drinking tea before bed. A warm cup of tea can be soothing and it can lead to a comfortable sleep. However, some teas are not actually the best to have before bed. For instance, if you are looking at the common green tea, you may want to think again before drinking it.

Having green tea before bed has been proven to cause some issues for many people out there, and there are a few reasons for this. Green tea has a specific type of amino acid known as L-Theanine. This amino acid functions much like caffeine and helps people stay awake, alert, and concentrated. This is often the last thing that you want before going to bed and it can cause a restless sleep that nobody wants. If you want to have a nightly cup of green tea, make sure that you drink it at least two hours before you sleep to ensure that you do not mess up your sleep cycle.

The Search for Unique Teas

With the plethora of teas that are out there, it should go without saying that there is a tea for just about everyone. For example, if your favorite drink is coffee but coffee tends to be hard on your digestive system, you may turn to tea as an alternative source of caffeine. Here, you may discover that there is a tea that tastes like coffee. Of course, the taste won’t quite be exact, but there is enough similarity for you to potentially satisfy your craving for coffee flavoring. This type of tea is known as “Chicory” tea, and people who truly love coffee might be familiar with this name.

Chicory is a type of plant, and French coffee is traditionally blended with chicory root. Some blends of French coffee contain up to 30% of chicory. Chicory tea uses the same plant that French coffee uses, helping to give that tea a comfortable taste of coffee that you may be looking for, especially if you are familiar with French coffee. What’s better is that chicory has been shown to have several health benefits as well, ranging from improved gut health to countless nutrients.

There are plenty of other unique teas out there for you to try, depending on your tastes and your interests. There are teas that incorporate flowers and floral aromas into their profile for a more refined taste and then there are teas that use rare or hard-to-find plants. Some teas have been known to have a spicy bite to them, which may be the perfect wake-up drink in the mornings. Other types of unique teas may use special plants, such as ginkgo. Some teas have been blended with rice to produce a nutty flavor and add more nutrients to the tea. This is just the beginning of all the different unique teas for you to choose from.