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Too Much Tea Causes Unusual Bone Disease

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Re: Too Much Tea Causes Unusual Bone Disease

#21

Post by dhissami »

cmccabe wrote: post #19
eurleif wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Tea is one area where I go for the expensive stuff. It has to be pure. Drinking green tea with impurities like fluoride may or may not be killing me, but the thought of it sure kills the experience. My Monster cables may or may not provide a better a signal than a coat hanger, but the thought that I might not have the best possible audio sure would kill the experience.

dhissami is actually correct that more expensive teas are lower in fluoride than cheap ones. However, it's because of an accident of biology, not because anyone designed it that way. Higher quality teas tend to be made from younger leaves, and the younger the leaf, the less fluoride.

eurleif, I agree with you, but the exact long-term side effects are unknown. And since I drink tea to relax, it's something I don't want to worry about...else it would defeat the point.

Re: Too Much Tea Causes Unusual Bone Disease

#22

Post by cmccabe »

eurleif wrote: post #20
cmccabe wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

dhissami is actually correct that more expensive teas are lower in fluoride than cheap ones. However, it's because of an accident of biology, not because anyone designed it that way. Higher quality teas tend to be made from younger leaves, and the younger the leaf, the less fluoride.

But most people don't use 100 tea bags a day. Low levels of fluoride aren't going to kill you.

I never said they would. I just said that expensive tea has less fluoride-- a statement of fact. Based on what I've read on this subject, less than ten cups of tea a day should be fine. Also keep in mind that there is usually fluoride in tap water.

And now that we've mentioned tap water and fluoride, I guess we can expect the kooks to come out...

Re: Too Much Tea Causes Unusual Bone Disease

#23

Post by eru »

eksith wrote: post #18
phaus wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I make tea, I find that as little as an extra 3g of tea, or an extra minute of steeping can ruin an entire pot. I can't imagine dumping several ounces of dried tea leaves into a single pot of tea, which is pretty much what this lady was doing.

Agreed. At the most, tea should be left to infuse for 1 minute (loose tea less than that), especially for Black tea blends. Any more and it just kills the flavor. I'm willing to bet she was doing it for some sort of DIY health thing. People do silly things like over-doing something if they think it's good for you. Well, that then makes it bad for you. There's a great book on all this called The Book of Tea by Okakura…

> Agreed. At the most, tea should be left to infuse for 1 minute (loose tea less than that), especially for Black tea blends. Any more and it just kills the flavor.

Depends. I can leave my Pu-Erh in overnight, and the flavour is still fine. (But Pu-Erh is well known for that.)

Re: Too Much Tea Causes Unusual Bone Disease

#24

Post by eru »

dhissami wrote: post #14
to3m wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They must have been some pretty nasty tea bags for that to be affordable. 100 half decent teabags each day would be barely cheaper than smoking.

Tea is one area where I go for the expensive stuff. It has to be pure. Drinking green tea with impurities like fluoride may or may not be killing me, but the thought of it kills the experience. Sadly, the woman likely believed she was gaining super health benefits from her daily ritual. That or she really loved her tea.

> Drinking green tea with impurities like fluoride [...]

That's not an impurity. Camellia sinensis picks up fluorides naturally.

Re: Too Much Tea Causes Unusual Bone Disease

#26

Post by dhissami »

eru wrote: post #24
dhissami wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tea is one area where I go for the expensive stuff. It has to be pure. Drinking green tea with impurities like fluoride may or may not be killing me, but the thought of it kills the experience. Sadly, the woman likely believed she was gaining super health benefits from her daily ritual. That or she really loved her tea.

> Drinking green tea with impurities like fluoride [...] That's not an impurity. Camellia sinensis picks up fluorides naturally.

If what you want is pure Camellia sinensis, wouldn't that make fluoride an impurity? Generally, if an added component is undesirable, isn't it automatically an impurity, regardless of whether it was added naturally or not? You got me scratching my head over a word. :)

Re: Too Much Tea Causes Unusual Bone Disease

#28

Post by barrkel »

eksith wrote: post #18
phaus wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I make tea, I find that as little as an extra 3g of tea, or an extra minute of steeping can ruin an entire pot. I can't imagine dumping several ounces of dried tea leaves into a single pot of tea, which is pretty much what this lady was doing.

Agreed. At the most, tea should be left to infuse for 1 minute (loose tea less than that), especially for Black tea blends. Any more and it just kills the flavor. I'm willing to bet she was doing it for some sort of DIY health thing. People do silly things like over-doing something if they think it's good for you. Well, that then makes it bad for you. There's a great book on all this called The Book of Tea by Okakura…

Strongly disagree; I like tea primarily for the tannins, the almost dry taste on the tongue, moderated by the milk. Such a short steep will make a very weak mug.

If you're drinking the tea without milk, I can see preferring something weak.

Re: Too Much Tea Causes Unusual Bone Disease

#29

Post by barrkel »

dhissami wrote: post #26
eru wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Drinking green tea with impurities like fluoride [...] That's not an impurity. Camellia sinensis picks up fluorides naturally.

If what you want is pure Camellia sinensis, wouldn't that make fluoride an impurity? Generally, if an added component is undesirable, isn't it automatically an impurity, regardless of whether it was added naturally or not? You got me scratching my head over a word. :)

Category error? Plants are made of elements; fluoride is an element. If the plant, in its natural environment, binds to a particular element and includes it in its makeup, that does not make it an impurity.

Re: Too Much Tea Causes Unusual Bone Disease

#30

Post by eksith »

barrkel wrote: post #28
eksith wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. At the most, tea should be left to infuse for 1 minute (loose tea less than that), especially for Black tea blends. Any more and it just kills the flavor. I'm willing to bet she was doing it for some sort of DIY health thing. People do silly things like over-doing something if they think it's good for you. Well, that then makes it bad for you. There's a great book on all this called The Book of Tea by Okakura…

Strongly disagree; I like tea primarily for the tannins, the almost dry taste on the tongue, moderated by the milk. Such a short steep will make a very weak mug. If you're drinking the tea without milk, I can see preferring something weak.

Adding milk is more of a Western thing ;)

There are some Sri Lankans who do that due to the British influence and I imagine in India as well, but that's not the case with most of the tea cultures.

Also, if you're doing this for health reasons, I strongly recommend avoiding milk and switching to green tea instead: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2012/09/27/161895873/health...

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