One thing I’ve been working on this semester is to decrease the amount of coffee I drink and substitute it with tea instead.
If you get to know me, one thing that you’ll notice right away is the amount of coffee I drink and how much I depend on caffeine.
On an average day, I would drink one cup of coffee, normally cold brew, in the morning and one in the afternoon – normally from Starbucks.
However, when it’s near midterm season or I have an important paper due you can find me drinking a caramel macchiato with, at the most, 5 shots of espresso.
Though I knew how bad this was for me, I never really took it seriously until one day I started noticing how shaky my hands would get after the excessive amount of caffeine I’ve been consuming.
Over the past semester, I’ve slowly been depending less on coffee and been drinking more tea – which I’m glad I decided to do.
When I try to go to sleep, it’s definitely easier and I don’t have to take my melatonin anymore. I’m never in a caffeine shock where my hands are shaky, my skin is THRIVING, and though it’s definitely harder to stay up as late as I used to with the coffee, there are so many more benefits I’m receiving from switching out from coffee to tea.
Here is a list of tea brands I’ve been trying out lately!
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The Republic of Tea – Honey Ginseng Green Tea
The tea I’ve been obsessed with lately! I normally don’t like green tea because of it’s bitter aftertaste, however, I love the Republic of Tea’s Honey Ginseng Green Tea! It has a clean aftertaste and is slightly sweet from the honey! I like my tea sweet, so I add a bit more honey to it along with a small slice of lime, but it’s great even without it! Definitely, a must try!
2. Teavana – Youthberry
A combination of white tea, hibiscus, orange, rose petals, and mango! I like drinking this one with cold water and a bit of ice, and as you can assume from the ingredients, it’s very sweet so you don’t have to add any honey or sugar! A good tip for this tea is not to brew it for too long, cause the longer you do you’ll notice a bitter aftertaste!
3. Honey Jujube Tea
I don’t have a picture for this one because I bought it at my local Korean grocery store, but I’m sure you could find plenty on Amazon and online! If you want to, you can even make some homemade Honey Jujube tea, it’s pretty easy.
Honey Jujube tea is very very sweet, so when I make it with hot water I try not to use more than a spoonful. Instead of being in a tea bag with tea leaves, honey jujube tea is more of a jelly-like texture with jujubes that you mix into your water – I personally like adding a bit of ginger to it, but I know not everyone likes ginger!
4. Hydrangea Leaf Tea
Another very naturally sweet tea! This tea is like SUPER SUPER sweet, so unless you want something EXTREMELY sweet, don’t add any sugar or honey to it!
I remember when I was young, my dad used to brew a cup of this tea for me so I could sleep well – if you like tea that has a sweet and clean, I really recommend this Hydrangea Leaf Tea!