Cream Tea For Two

I dropped into a High Street café to meet a friend the other day and we had the usual debate over which of the cream-filled towering treats to choose from and, pretty much like children in a sweetshop, were so dazed by the options that we ended up plumping for scones.

We didn’t need the usual debate of what goes on first – jam or cream as we both construct them the same way, but rather what tea we’d like to accompany it.

Not that many years ago, if you asked for a pot of tea, that’s exactly what you got. However, we were offered so many different varieties that a tea menu wouldn’t have been out of place.

The Tea Advisory Panel (TAP), has recently been exploring the latest ground-breaking science and studies around the health benefits of tea. They discovered that the health-enhancing flavonoids obtained from just two cups of tea a day reduces the risk of death from all causes of mortality by 40% (according to research published in the “American Journal of Nutrition”).

Storm In A Tea Cup

The health benefits do depend on the brew, however, so you may have to do your own homework.

“Green tea has traditionally been the focus of the most research,” Dr. Tim Bond from TAP explained, “probably because of its medicinal use in China and the weight of epidemiological data associating clear health benefits and reduction of risk for heart disease, cancer, diabetes and many other serious and life-limiting health problems.

“But we now know that black tea — the one consumed most frequently in Britain, is also bursting with health-enhancing polyphenols and recent research confirms it, too, has much to offer.”

In the end, my friend and I opted for a pot of black tea for two and, just to stir up another storm in a teacup, what makes for the best cuppa – milk in first or last?

Tea for two or tea for the Team? Find out which teas the “Friend” team prefers