How to make your coffee and tea healthy
Who doesn’t love a good cup of coffee or tea to wake us up with each morning? A lot of us keep on sipping our favourite brewed beverage throughout the day, too, for the pick-me-up as well as for the comfort of enjoying a warming mug (or a refreshing iced drink in the summer!).
When you drink healthy coffee and tea, your caffeine fix becomes an even better experience. There are lots of ways to make your coffee and tea consumption healthy. From deciding what you add to your coffee drinks, to selecting the best tea for energy, you have a world of options to explore when it comes to enhancing the enjoyment and benefit of your daily coffee and tea.
3 ways to make coffee drinking healthy
Drink coffee in moderation
Drinking coffee in moderation can offer your body a few wellness advantages. Researchers have found that drinking coffee can help with everything from reducing your risk of death from cancer, to lowering your chances of developing Alzheimer’s disease. To get the health benefits of coffee, they recommend no more than three cups a day. Going overboard with your caffeine intake, on the other hand, is linked with restlessness, dehydration, and trouble sleeping.
Skip the sugar
What you decide to put in your coffee can impact how healthy or unhealthy it is. One of the best ways to keep your coffee healthy is not to add any unhealthy extras, such as flavoured syrup or sugar. If you want to sweeten your coffee drinks, consider healthier alternatives like raw, organic honey, which can give you a boost of vitamins and minerals with your morning cuppa.
Enhance your coffee with superfoods
Another way to turn your coffee into a healthy drink is to add the right ingredients. You can add energising coconut oil or high-quality MCT oil and enjoy a Bulletproof coffee instead of a normal coffee. Add a little mushroom powder to your ground coffee before brewing to boost your coffee with the adaptogen power of super mushrooms like maitake and reishi. You can also make a caffeine-free coffee alternative by mixing a tablespoon of mushroom powder with 250mL of boiling water. In the warmer months, blend your coffee with bananas, fresh almond milk, and your favourite superfoods like malty maca powder or a little mushroom powder for a healthy coffee smoothie.
3 ways to make tea drinking healthy
Enjoy healthy tea with caffeine
Black, oolong, green, and white tea or a cup of rich, complex pu-erh tea – which is made from tea leaves that have gone through a special fermentation process – all of these teas contain caffeine and are loaded with compounds known to promote well-being. Tea comes from the plant Camellia sinensis. The tea leaves are processed a little differently with each type of tea but you’ll still get some of the catechins and other antioxidants with every cup. Research shows that drinking tea may help with promoting a healthy immune system, reducing your risk of cardiovascular disease, and slowing dental decay, although more studies are needed to verify these health benefits.
If you want to reduce your caffeine intake, you can opt for oolong, green, or white tea, all of which contain less caffeine than a cup of black tea.
Drink herbal tea with no caffeine
If you like to drink tea, you’ll find a wealth of nutrients in herbal teas. Plant-derived ingredients like peppermint, nettles, and liquorice contain a wide spectrum of antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals that can help to keep your body energised without the caffeine. You’ll also find an array of tastes to enjoy with herbal teas, from the refreshing flavour of peppermint and spearmint to the tartness of hibiscus, the warmth of ginger, and the earthy tones of dandelion root. If you’re looking for the best tea for energy while aiming to remain caffeine-free, there are plenty of herbal teas that are known to keep energy levels high and even to boost mental clarity. Yerba mate is one of the best options if you want an energising herbal tea.
Combine your healthy tea with superfoods
Like coffee, you can add almost any superfoods to your tea to provide even more nutrition for your daily tea ritual. Blend your herbal teas with fresh fruit, acai berry powder, and ice for a refreshing, revitalising summer smoothie. Add a little reishi powder to your drink, along with lemon and a dash of cinnamon, for a soothing healthy tea.
The best coffee and tea to drink for your health
When it comes to healthy coffee and tea, there are endless options. Try different types of coffee drinks and healthy teas to discover the ones you enjoy the most. Switch up your drinks with the seasons and try adding different superfoods to see which you prefer. You’ll always have a tasty cup of coffee or tea to look forward to when you take a healthy approach to your energising beverage.
