Guest blog: A Cuppa Joe

By Anneke van Essen, guest blogger

I'm a true tea lover. Or no, a coffee wimp. It just depends on how you look at it. I actually love coffee, but unfortunately, I can't tolerate it very well. Coffee has a laxative effect on my digestive system. If I even smell coffee, my intestines get stressed and send me straight to the toilet. Even decaf coffee has that effect. And that's a shame. Because the smell and taste of coffee equate to 'coziness', 'delicious', 'tasty', and 'home' for me. After all, it's not for nothing that real estate agents, for example, advise making fresh coffee when people come to view your house for sale. The smell of coffee is said to promote sales. I believe in that. Add a delicious fresh apple pie, and I'm sold. But anyway, I'm more of a tea person.

Green tea, that is. I guzzle liters of it a day. At home, at work, when visiting. It doesn't matter where I am. And if the supply at my work unexpectedly runs out, or the person I'm visiting doesn't have green tea at home, no worries, because I always have a few tea bags at the bottom of my bag just in case. It just occurred to me now that I won't settle for any other type of tea. Which is quite strange, considering the many variations of (delicious) flavors currently on the market. I feel a challenge brewing there. Maybe it's time to put aside that ingrained habit of mine and try something other than the eternal green. Another strange thing, by the way, the color of my green tea is anything but green…

Anyway, green tea is often attributed with beneficial effects, but often there is no scientific evidence for these claims. Nevertheless, there are a number of (possible) effects that can (probably) be attributed to green tea:

• The caffeine in green tea has a stimulating effect on mental alertness
• Prevents dizziness when standing up in the elderly
• Prevention of bladder, esophageal, ovarian, and pancreatic cancer
• Reduces the risk of, or slows the effect of Parkinson's disease
• Positive effect on low blood pressure after meals (in the elderly)
• Lowers the fat content (including cholesterol) of the blood
• Reduces the growth of abnormal cells in the cervix after infection with the human papillomavirus

… just to slip some medical facts to the unsuspecting tea or coffee addict. Okay, it's all unproven, and I must admit, I had no idea that the above was related to green tea because I mainly drink green tea because I like it. Such a lovely large mug (sorry, I'm not a glass drinker) full of boiled water with a bag of green tea dipped in for a moment.

That dipping process doesn't last long for me, by the way, because if there's one thing I find really disgusting, it's tea that has 'steeped' for too long. So, a large mug of tea with, to complete the picture, a pleasant cookie or a nice piece of chocolate (or 2) with it. How great is it then to read above that green tea lowers fat content. Look, give me a good excuse to snack, and those 2 chocolates easily become a whole bar. Oh, and if the green tea doesn't work as well to lower fat content as thought, I'll still have a cup of coffee. The aforementioned reaction it has on me will then automatically ensure that that bar of chocolate is also gone just as quickly…