Hot Green Tea in the Summer? - 4 Reasons Why
During the hot summer months, most of us automatically reach for a cold beverage to cool us down, however, you may be surprised to learn that a cup of hot green tea may prove more refreshing. Don’t believe us? Here are 4 amazing reasons why you should reach for the green tea this Summer.
Drinking Green Tea Cools You Down… Even Hot Tea!
Drinking hot green tea during the summer really can help you cool down more than a cold drink will, and this is due to a number of different factors. Green tea is unfermented and rarely oxidised, two things that have been shown to have a cooling effect on the body. What’s more, having a hot drink such as green tea stimulates the body's response to heat which causes it to take measures to cool itself more rapidly. The opposite of what you might expect.
Drinking Green Tea Protects Your Skin
We all know how important it is to protect our skin from harmful UV rays, and we should all be especially vigilant if we’re going to start seeing long, hot summers like this one more regularly. Fortunately, green tea contains catechins, a powerful antioxidant, that can absorb UV light and help improve the skin’s resistance to it. Another welcome benefit of drinking green tea during the summer is that it can improve the elasticity and density of skin, which in turn can help reduce the risk of sun damage.
You would need to drink green tea on a regular basis to truly experience these benefits, but can you think of a more compelling reason to trade in your morning coffee for a refreshing cup of Sugimoto Sencha or Hojicha?
Since the skin reviving nutrients are present in both hot and cold tea, it really doesn't matter how you consume it. For this benefit it is important to consume green tea or matcha regularly.
Drinking Green Tea Boosts Your Immune System
Summer is usually a time when we enjoy being active more, however, sometimes the hot weather can cause disturbed sleep, loss of appetite, and even a weakened immune system. The high content of vitamins and minerals found in various green teas can help give your immune system a much-needed boost, while promoting healthy circulation.
Drinking Green Tea Aids Weight Loss
Many of us wish to look our best for summer and it just so happens that green tea is a well-known natural slimming aid. When consumed in conjunction with regular exercise, the flavonoids and caffeine in green tea help to promote healthy weight loss by encouraging the body to burn more fat during a workout.
While all varieties of green tea would provide this benefit, we could not recommend anything more highly than Japanese matcha green tea to get the most out of your time at the gym. This is because when you drink matcha, you actually consume the whole tea leaf and maximise your intake of all the vitamins, minerals and nutrients that it has to offer.
Another reason why drinking hot green tea and matcha before exercising may help you to lose weight is simply that it is a hot drink. This may go against what some people may have heard, as even we have heard it said that cool drinks such as iced water can help speed up metabolism. Unfortunately, the research per Medical News Today shows that a cool drink has the opposite effect. It is warm drinks such as green tea that ensure your fat stores are used for energy.
Cold Brew Still Reigns Supreme
Sure, we've harped on hot tea for a bit but we just couldn't help it. When we stumbled on the research about hot tea and summer benefits we had to share. Let’s be honest… Nothing beats a nice cold brew tea on a hot summer day! If you are simply looking for an icy refresher, Sugimoto has you covered! Load up a hario bottle with your favorite iced tea and hit the trail, beach, or front porch. Nothing says summertime quite like Sugimoto!
Though drinking green tea brings many benefits, it is important to remember to consume it in moderation. The ideal amount of green tea is 2 – 3 cups a day, within two hours after a meal to enhance your body’s ability to absorb iron. With that being said, hopefully you now see why we recommend drinking hot green tea as well as iced/ cold brew tea during the summer!
Sources:
https://observer.com/2016/02/doctors-orders-drink-three-cups-of-green-tea-today/
https://academic.oup.com/ajcn/article/106/6/1413/4823172
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/319673
https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD008650.pub2/full