i don’t want sugar in my tea

Roses are red,
Teabags are brown.
I need 2 tons of Splenda
To drink MY tea down!
;-)

LOVED your poem!
Now we need a Tea Limerick!
…There once was a brew from Nantucket….

Fabulous poem. We need to encourage everyone to drink tea WITHOUT sugar – love the clever way you’ve approached the subject.

Michelle,
just out of curiosity, why “without sugar”? Is it for the same reason I use Splenda – to eliminate the empty calories – or is there a Deeper Meaning to this Mission?
This is truly the first time I had heard of this…

Yes Jane, the primary issue is indeed calories. Our children, our most precious resource, are becoming obese at an alarming rate. This is due to 2 issues; A decrease in physical activity – our kids aren’t going out after school and playing stick ball or other physical activities AND an increase in high sugar beverages. I think unsweetened tea can be a substitute to high sugar beverages. Children consume a considerable amount of their daily calories through the beverages they drink.

The other issue is that as long as one is adding a sweetener, they’ll never learn to enjoy and appreciate the delicious and sweet taste of green and white teas. Yes, if they’re improperly brewed, they will be bitter, but when brewed correctly, they’re absolutely delicious. (Remember my formula – W + 3 = the perfect cup of tea.) We need to catch our kids early before their palettes become accustomed to highly sweetened beverages and foods. This applies to flavored blends as well – no chance to actually taste the tea I’m afraid. I must confess it was how I actually first learned to drink green tea – it was Golden Green Tea by Traditional Medicinal. Fortunately, once I learned that green tea can actually taste good, I became interested in learning more about this most healthy beverage and the rest is history……………

This is such an important issues – so glad you asked. If you don’t mind my asking, why do you use Splenda?

Jane, it’s more than just calories. Sugar, as much as I love it and am addicted to it, creates an insidious assault on our bodies. At the amounts that the average American consumes, it is a major contributor to Metabolic Syndrome which is the configuration of obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol and triglycerides, chronic inflammation and a host of other problems such as heart disease.

I see the multitude of delicious and savory varieties of whole leaf tea, not solely as a gastronomical delight, but as an opportunity to regularly consume a tasty, healthy beverage without requiring any form of sugar to make it enjoyable. If we Americans would consume as much tea as they do in Asia, replacing many of the vast quantities of sugar laden beverages we regularly consume, we would be much healthier and our health care system would be healthier as well.

On the matter of sugar in tea, I have always taken as very sensible George Orwell’s advice on the subject in a newspaper column on “A Nice Cup of Tea”:
“Lastly, tea — unless one is drinking it in the Russian style — should be drunk without sugar. I know very well that I am in a minority here. But still, how can you call yourself a true tealover if you destroy the flavour of your tea by putting sugar in it? It would be equally reasonable to put in pepper or salt. Tea is meant to be bitter, just as beer is meant to be bitter. If you sweeten it, you are no longer tasting the tea, you are merely tasting the sugar; you could make a very similar drink by dissolving sugar in plain hot water.”

Splenda can have serious effects on the body as it is not a chemical that our cells recognize. If you -must- use a sweetner, there are some made of long gan fruit or stevia that are naturally sweet. Cinnamon and licorice have similar properties. Or you can grow Aztec sweet herb and put a dry leaf to steep into your tea.

But even the sweet taste tells your body that food is coming. Taste is not merely an aesthetic experience- the sweet taste triggers your body to produce insulin (which is the real culprit in insulin resistance as it is quite caustic.) When your insulin levels are high you cannot burn fat or build muscle.

Find a tea that you enjoy by itself. There are so many different kinds. This morning I had a roobios chai, yesterday a mixture of mimosa bark, astragalus, rose buds and black tea.

6 months ago I drank cheap black coffee with 2-3 sugars 10-20 times a day. Occasionally I would have a cheap tea-bag black English tea with 2-3 sugars and gallons of milk.

Since then I have quit smoking (5 months next week), given up coffee and started to wean myself away from all that sugar. The sugar in some ways is the hardest because it’s so taste oriented and not just a habit or pick-me-up. I also enjoy really sweet (non sugar) sodas. Again, I am weaning myself away from those too.

I have been drinking loads of green tea. Loads. It was a little weird at first, but I am moving away from black now because I am starting to dislike the taste. I then am living proof that it can take months and months to wean away from sugary sweetness and onto a new, healthier palette. The good news is that it can be done.

WOW.
I had no idea I was raising Such An Issue. I do agree that some teas do not need sweetening to taste good: typically these have cinnamon and/or ginger in them (in my limited experience).

In answer to Michelle, I use Splenda merely to achieve sweetness in my black tea – sans calories.

In response to Karen, I would have to reply that although I live a very healthy lifestyle, I do not live my life JUST to be healthy and would hate to give up my sweetened black tea w/milk. Some things in life are for PLEASURE, not for being a Science Experiment – although I imagine you think I have already joined the Dr. Frankenstein Club since I irresponsibly bombard my body with unnatural non-nutrative sweeteners. I suppose I could try one of the “natural” ones, like stevia, but I hope it fits into my post-layoff budget.

At the risk of brewing up more trouble, I would like to Take A Stand for Enjoying Tea and Enjoying Life. And my soapbox would be plastered with “Live and Let Live” stickers. I drink tea for the same reason I eat ice cream (although ice cream WAY less frequently): comfort, enjoyment and pleasure. It is fine that you folks like yours a different way, but why does MY way have to be vilified? Has tea only become a medicine to you? And I wonder: is sugar stored under the sink in your homes – next to the Rat Poison?
;-)

My, my Jane. With all due respect, I honestly don’t see any comments I would consider “vilifying”. I think, like you, people are just voicing their opinions of what makes sense to them in their lives.

I completely agree with you that it is important to live life fully which, for me at least, includes enjoying the sweet taste. I, however, have to work very hard to keep it under control in my life. Tea provides me with a myriad of wonderful tastes while also being able to keep the beverage sector from being just another source of sugar for me. BTW, the only table sugar we use is for the hummingbird feeders, although I do use maple syrup every once and a while. That’s kept in our refrigerator.

Jane – I’m so sorry you’ve taken offense. I agree with you that we need to live and let live. I too drink tea for comfort, enjoyment, pleasure but I’d have to add health to that equation. I must admit that I make an effort to keep sugar out of my diet. Some days are easier than others. I also try to keep chocolate out of my diet yet I had drinkable chocolate this afternoon at a cafe. As long as I don’t go down that road too often, I can enjoy it periodically………..just not daily. Same with ice cream.

Sorry if I over-reacted. I must admit that I have a chip (chocolate, of course) on my shoulder when it comes to The Food Police.

I also feel that if folks want to Spread The Word about how great tea is to drink, that in the long run, they will have more success if they share the JOY of drinking it: not why it is good for you (SO enticing) or how many months it took them to get used to it… ESPECIALLY if we are talking about Leading Children Down the Path of Good Eating. Never forget the lesson that broccoli has taught us.

Anyway, I did not take offense, I was just surprised at the number of strong responses. I withdraw my “vilify” and just chalk it up to my Splenda “high”…
;-)

No worries Jane. I agree that it is important to help people learn about the joy of tea drinking, however, you may be surprised to learn that the #1 most significant driver of growth in the tea market (worldwide) is the health benefits. England has had well over 100 years of black tea consumption and a steady 40% consumption rate for at least the past 40 to 50 years. About 2 years ago they saw, for the first time in all of those years, a significant increase in tea consumption solely as a result of more people drinking green tea due to the health benefits. With a growing awareness of the importance and need for healthier living, I wouldn’t rule out the allure that the health benefits have to people.

Great poem! Sometimes I put sugar in my tea. Usually only if its black or flavored.

I don’t normally like sweetening in my tea, though I do confess to occasionally enjoying an English Breakfast-style tea with a bit of milk and sugar as a treat.

Like others here have noted, sugar distorts the taste of tea, and a truly good tea has subtlety of flavor that should not be messed with. As folks have also noted, our palates are over-sweetened and are thus skewed to crave added sweeteners when, in fact, a natural sweetness already exists. This is a problem.

OK, Sandy, I bow to your marketing stats, but I’ll stick to promoting the Joy and let others promote the Health – except, ironically enough, my upcoming Monday post (“Spring Broke – Part 1″) deals with one of the few times I have imbibed for Medicinal Purposes… go figure.
;-)

Love the subject, love the responses. We have ‘really good tea’ in our store and one of the great joys is seeing people taste it first and then say ‘I don’t even need sugar in this.’ I don’t suggest not having sugar, it’s a decision they make. And then there is my little ‘human hummingbird’ who puts 6, yes six, Splendas in almost everything. She has recently brought her little bottle of Stevia, however, to get off Splenda. Really good quality does alot of things: It requires less ‘dressing up’, makes recipes need less ingredients. I remember two chefs who were on the radio saying that if you start with really quality ingredients, you can keep your recipes very simple. It’s so true. Rooibos is a great drink because it has no caffeine and so many times the antioxidants of tea, and it is perfect to blend with fruit, which sweetens it naturally. My husband has taken to doing ‘Rooibos shots’ with friends at the store and pumps its’ benefits endlessly.
Personally, I stay away from sugar as much as possible but look forward every Sat. after an 80 hour week to my Baskin Robbins mocha almond fudge on the way home!!!

A little sweetener in the tea has the same effect as a little salt in the food (for some people, like me)…it can enhance the flavor. It doesn’t mean our taste buds are defective or the tea we are drinking is inferior. NO big deal….(note that I said “a little”).

Well well, seems my innocent little poem struck up quite the comment thread. If anyone cares about the relative ‘health’ (in terms of antioxidant properties) of common sweeteners, the recent Better Nutrition magazine rates about 10 different natural sweeteners, from highest to lowest in levels of antioxidants. Of course I don’t have a copy handy to put the list up here, and I can’t find it online either, but it’s available at local natural health stores….

However, I do remember that honey was surprisingly low on the list, and of course things like Splenda & HFCS weren’t included.

I always hated tea until my husband got me to try it without sugar. Usually I am a sugar fanatic, but, somehow, it makes tea taste weird. I guess it just has an earthy taste that the sugar takes away. Chai, however, needs lots of milk and sugar.

I was born and grew up in Asia, we drink any kind of tea and we only add a little sugar and milk into English tea. I lived in England for many years (I went to school there) and one time I had an English friend came to visit me. I served him a cup of Pu-er tea, he then reached in to my kitchen cabinet, took 2 sugar cubes out and added them into the cup. My eye balls almost fell out. I am sorry if you think I am exagerating. I still couldn’t understand even until now I have been married with an American husband for 5 years. Sweet is just like the cocaine and chocolate is like a the ecstacy to him, but he drinks tea without sugar.

i don’t want sugar in my tea

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