Coffee

I have things to do. I don’t have time to sit around stargazing, snared in an afghan on the sofa.

I need liquid that works like a bullwhip, not an inchworm giggle.

My grandparents don’t sip chamomile, either. Our family get-togethers are fueled by dual drip coffee makers spitting coal-black Folgers.

It’s foolish to argue we aren’t coffee-drinkers. Coffee swung Paul Bunyan’s pickaxe and cocked Daniel Boone’s bear traps.

The sailor bracing against a nor’easter doesn’t reach for monkey-picked hibiscus chai. The bourgeois banker in a barrister’s wig does.

But our country is careening down a dangerous path.

By bulk, Americans now drink 20 percent more tea than they did in 2000. More than half of Americans drink tea on a daily basis, and 80 percent have tea mouldering somewhere in their kitchens, according to the Tea Association of the U.S.A.

Meanwhile, the American obesity rate has risen from 30.5 percent in 1999-2000 to 35.7 percent, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Let’s re-cap: a spike in tea-consumption coincides with higher rates of obesity — coincidence?

Are foreign powers conspiring to turn us into a nation of needle-nosed paunch-packers? Probably.

Keep in mind, we became a nation of coffee-drinkers before we became a nation. Tea-drinkers may not remember this — because tea ravages brain cells — but we drowned a British shipment of the stuff in the Boston Harbor three years before we declared independence.

We shunned that imperial liquid once. Let’s do it again.

— Nate Beck, News Editor

Tea

Anyone in Eau Claire the past few weeks knows this negative-degree weather is brutal. For many college students who have to walk to class, you know by the time you reach the indoors, your body is frozen from the bitter kisses of the winter air.

On such walks home from campus, the one thing I think about that keeps me chugging along is the nice, hot cup of savory tea I am going to indulge in when I get home.

I know that once I take that first sip, my body will start to feel as if it is a tea bag itself, warmed from the inside out as the hot liquid takes over. There are few things better than this feeling.

I give myself fifteen minutes when drinking tea to relax and not think about my busy life. It is my time to be with my thoughts and at peace for a few minutes every day.

Along with mental wellness benefits, the antioxidants from each cup helps fight against many types of cancers.

Different teas have benefits as well. Green tea can help you lose weight and boost your immune system, while black tea can help fight against addictions like smoking.

Drink it hot, drink it cold; tea is good any time of the year. Drink it sweet, drink it straight; its flavors are able to accommodate to your liking. Drink it to unwind or drink it to get motivated for your day; a cup of tea can do great things to your mind.

The huge selection available means you will never get bored because you can switch it up and keep things interesting and new. This just proves that tea is a simple way to spice up your life. So brew up a batch of your favorite and drink away!

— Lauren Kritter, Staff Writer