What Tea to Drink in Winter for the Best Fat-Reducing and Health Benefits

In winter, the best teas to drink are black tea and dark tea, because the cold weather lowers metabolism, weakens physiological functions, and reduces yang energy, increasing the body's demand for energy and nutrition. The key to health preservation lies in keeping warm and improving disease resistance. Therefore, black tea and dark tea are ideal for winter. These teas are warm in nature, help digest greasy foods, and prevent the accumulation of abdominal fat caused by overeating high-protein and high-fat foods in winter.

Besides simple brewing, here are some fancy ways to drink black tea and dark tea:

1. Milk Black Tea

Ingredients: 3 grams black tea, 100 grams milk, 2 grams salt.

Preparation: 1. Put black tea in a pot, add water and boil for 5 minutes.

2. Strain the tea leaves, and boil the milk in another pot.

3. After the milk boils, add the tea liquid and salt, then stir.

Benefits: Drinking once every morning can effectively replenish qi and blood, strengthen the body. Milk is a high-quality protein food that increases satiety, making it an excellent choice for a weight-loss breakfast.

2. Astragalus Black Tea

Ingredients: 15 grams astragalus, 3 grams black tea.

Preparation: 1. Put astragalus in a pot, add water and boil for about 15 minutes.

2. Add black tea and boil together for another 5 minutes, then drink.

Features and Benefits: Astragalus is sweet and neutral in nature, can tonify qi, harmonize the spleen and stomach, moisten the lungs, generate fluids, and dispel phlegm. It is mainly used for spleen and stomach weakness, spontaneous sweating, night sweats, qi deficiency, non-healing sores, and detoxification. It effectively tonifies qi and strengthens the stomach, improving weak body conditions. It benefits the central nervous and cardiovascular systems, lowers blood pressure, and has diuretic, antiviral, anti-aging, and anti-tumor effects.

3. Sugarcane Black Tea

Ingredients: 500 grams sugarcane, 5 grams black tea.

Preparation: Peel and chop the sugarcane, then boil together with black tea.

Benefits: Clears heat and generates fluids, treats dry throat, thirst, cough, and excessive consumption of greasy foods. It is an ideal health tea.

4. Glutinous Rice Black Tea

Ingredients: 50 grams glutinous rice, 5 grams black tea.

Preparation: 1. Wash the glutinous rice and put it in a pot.

2. Add water and cook.

3. Add black tea to the cooked glutinous rice and drink.

Features and Benefits: Can be consumed as breakfast or dinner. Helps tonify qi and nourish blood, improving weak body conditions. Glutinous rice has a lower glycemic index than white rice, which also helps prolong satiety.

5. Chrysanthemum Pu'er Tea

Ingredients: 2.5 grams dried chrysanthemum, 3 grams Pu'er tea.

Preparation: 1. Place chrysanthemum and Pu'er tea in a lidded ceramic cup and pour in boiling water.

2. Discard the first infusion, then pour boiling water again.

3. After about 2 minutes, remove the lid; the chrysanthemum fragrance will be released. Drink while hot.

Benefits: Clears heat, relieves summer heat, detoxifies, aids digestion, removes greasiness, promotes diuresis, relieves constipation, dispels phlegm, expels wind, relieves cough, generates fluids, boosts energy, and prolongs life. (Premium chrysanthemum varieties include Hangzhou White Chrysanthemum and Huangshan Tributary Chrysanthemum.)

6. Rose Pu'er Tea

Ingredients: 15 grams rose petals, 3 grams Pu'er tea, appropriate amount of honey.

Preparation: 1. Place Pu'er tea in a cup or bowl, pour in boiling water.

2. Discard the first infusion. In the second infusion, add rose petals and pour boiling water. After it cools slightly, add honey.

Benefits: The combination of rose and Pu'er tea is aromatic and pleasant, helps relieve chest tightness and irritability, and has a good effect on alleviating tension and depression.

7. Tieguanyin Tea

Ingredients: 3 grams Tieguanyin tea

Preparation: Simply brew directly. Drinking a cup of premium Tieguanyin tea every day is a wonderful experience. Direct brewing is both convenient and simple!

Benefits: Tieguanyin is not only a precious natural beverage but also has excellent beauty and health functions. It is rich in amino acids, vitamins, minerals, tea polyphenols, and alkaloids, and has various nutritional and medicinal effects such as clearing the mind and improving eyesight, sterilizing and anti-inflammatory, reducing weight and delaying aging, preventing cancer, lowering blood lipids and cholesterol, and reducing cardiovascular diseases and diabetes.

Tip: Dark tea varieties include Hunan Xiangjian, Hubei Old Green Tea, Sichuan Border Tea, Yunnan Pu'er tea, and Guangxi Liubao tea. It is best to use a purple clay pot for brewing dark tea, followed by glass. Since dark tea is fermented, the first infusion should always be discarded.