Nov 9, 2011

Raspberry Tea


I've been drinking a lot of tea since I quit coffee last spring. (And haven't looked back!) I love green tea and thought it was completely fine to drink during pregnancy but, as it turns out, green tea blocks the absorption of folic acid. It should be avoided before and especially during the first trimester. How ironic that I learned this at the start of my second trimester. Anyways, this is a recent finding and who knows, they may find out in a year or so that it is 'safe' to drink during the 1st trimester. (Ironically, the nurse that told me this gave me the 'okay' to drink coffee in moderation...) Here's a little factoid: did you know that, although green tea contains caffeine, it also contains a protein called thianine which doesn't allow your body to absorb the caffeine?
Anyways, I recently switched to raspberry tea which is very good to drink during pregnancy and while nursing. (It's good for anyone but particularly beneficial for those two groups.) I buy it in loose leaf form from our natural foods store. I have yet to buy a tea ball so in the meantime, I've been making my own tea bags. I first saw this idea on A Beautiful Mess. Hers are much prettier than mine but hey, they work. I was able to get 2 tea bags out of 1 coffee filter since I wasn't concerned about the ridges. The only problem is, coffee filters are much thicker than tea bags so you may need to allow extra steeping time. This isn't a big deal with raspberry tea because I keep the bag in the entire time.
Now go drink some tea and gaze out the window at the falling snow. (Wait, what? It's not snowing in your area? Hm...we have a few inches on the ground already. Happy November!)

5 comments:

Yvonne said...

l.o.v.e. this angle and shot Heidi! and interesting about the tea. i bought plain old green tea bags cuz i read somewhere you should drink 5 cups a day. i drink one but could easily up the amount if i gave up coffee. not ready for that yet. for some odd reason tho cold green tea bothers my stomach.

Jo - Lost in the Haze said...

I'm not a giant tea fan, but I love love love the smell! <3


x
Lost in the Haze

Kaitlin said...

ah! I LOVE raspberry tea, that sounds so good. I should really quit coffee(for real, I've tried so many times but I never last more than a few days) and drink more tea!

Heidi Lassila said...

Keeks, this raspberry tea doesn't taste like raspberry. It just tastes like...tea. Like that herbal leaf taste, slightly similar to plain green tea. I've have raspberry tea flavored with the berries themselves (or artificial flavoring?) and that's really good too.

Sara said...

never would have thought to make my own tea bags! brilliant!