Fit To a Tea

Boil a kettle of water. Pour the freshly-boiled water into a teapot with your favourite tea mix and let it steep for about five minutes. Tea, the making of it, even when not as ritualistic as the Japanese tea ceremony, is a stress-relieving exercise.

Just the process of making tea - the boiling, steeping and waiting - is earthy and calls for the full attention of all our senses. Tea-drinking also gives people a sense of culture and is a departure from our increasingly sterile and regimented lives.

Despite the popularity of beverages like coffee and wine, tea is holding its own as a popular beverage because it is part of our culture. But instead of just tea made from parts of the camellia sinensis tea bush, increasingly teas brewed from other plants are growing in popularity.

Known as herbal teas, they include mind-soothing chamomile tea and stomach-settling peppermint tea. If you want to drink for your health, you should look at herbal teas instead of alcoholic and sugary beverages.