tea brewing guide to get the most health benefits

Read our tea guide to learn the proper way to brew any kind of tea and get the best flavor, along with the health benefits. Enjoy it iced if you prefer.

Potent potable: Brewed iced tea contains natural health-boosting chemicals.

RODALE NEWS, EMMAUS, PA—Cool off this weekend with a tall glass of iced tea, and you may do more than just quench your thirst. A new study published in the journal Stroke found that long-term consumption of black, green, oolong, or white tea can cut your risk of strokes by as much as 60 percent. It’s the latest addition to a long checklist of tea’s health-boosting properties.

THE DETAILS: Researchers recruited 838 patients from hospitals in southern China, 374 of whom had had strokes. Using questionnaires, they collected information on the types and quantity of tea consumed, how long the patients had been drinking tea, and other diet and lifestyle characteristics. The largest reduction in stroke risk was seen in people who’d drunk one to two cups of green or oolong tea every day, but the researchers also noticed a significant decrease in stroke risk among tea drinkers who had as little as one cup per week (black, green, white, or oolong).

WHAT IT MEANS: Start drinking tea now to save yourself from strokes later in life. You’ll get the greatest benefits from long-term consumption. Stick with freshly brewed black, green, white, and oolong teas if you want to cut your risk of stroke, however. Powdered and bottled teas are more processed and may lose antioxidants. But if you like your tea iced, good news: A test by Prevention magazine found that homemade iced tea contained as many stroke-fighting antioxidants as hot tea. Also, buy tea that’s organic—better for the environment—and Fair Trade Certified, meaning that the workers who grew it were guaranteed fair wages and that no child labor was involved.