Tea

[rawjoy]

Is tea okay for the raw diet?
If so, what kind do you recommend?

Thanks in advance!

[sueko]

Since no one has answered this I will just give you my opinion. It does depend on the tea. If you are drinking black tea, it has been heat processed and fermented. Adding boiling water to it further contributes to it not being raw. If you are making sun tea with mint you picked from your garden, then for sure it's raw. This is a matter of personal choice. I have a friend who has been 100% raw for a year except for her daily pot of tea (she's Irish and her husband's English, it's just a part of her culture she feels too deprived without). She does buy organic tea, when she can find it, though and uses raw sesame milk in her tea (as any real tea drinker knows, milk in your tea is the only way to have a proper cup!) instead of cow's milk. Also, any time you buy commercially packaged herbal tea, the chances are the herbs were dried at high temperatures, killing any life that was there. That is not to say you can't get some of the benefits from the herbs, it's just not raw. Hope this helps!

Suzy

[sport]

I went 100% raw over 2 years ago but continued to have tea until about 6 months ago. I gave it up gradually by replacing it first with a dash of lime or lemon in hot water and then lost the need completly.
I do not regret holding on to my tea habit for so long as it helped me to stay raw and warmed me up during that first winter when I was really really cold.

[diali36]

I live in a cold damp rainy climate for most of the year and would not ever think of going a day without my green tea, pots of it some days. If that is what I need to warm up and feel good I do it. It also keeps me from wanting hot food like soups so I still manage to stay raw.

[veganman]

I was just thinking about this topic after reading this post http://www.rawfoodtalk.com/showthread.php?t=32197.

Part of the benefit of a raw diet is that the body does not create additional white blood cells. According to the article the above post references, hot water has the same affect. Don't know if I agree with that theory....just thinking about it.