Are you known around the office for being a big coffee drinker? Do you own a huge honking coffee cup that can practically fit an entire pot of coffee in it? Well if you answered yes, try this cup of Joe on for size! Mauricio Cadavid set the Guinness Record for the largest cup of coffee back in 2007. His giant Styrofoam mug equaled over 16,000 cups of coffee!

While Cadavid's cup is certainly cool, some of us are looking to lessen your caffeine intake. If you're in the same boat I am, try starting out with baby steps. Consider ordering half-caf when you get your favorite frappe...Half the caffeine, but the same amazing taste.

If you brew at home consider brewing a shot of Illy Café Espresso Whole Bean Decaf. Try making a double-shot beverage, using one shot of decaf and one shot of regular espresso.

If you are looking for a coffee alternative, try exploring the wonderful world of tea. Teaposy is one the best kept tea secrets. Having known nothing about it, I tried a blossom the other night. Not only is the tea flavorful and low in caffeine, it's a visual spectacle as the tea blossoms and bursts into different colors in the teapot.

Regardless of whether you go with coffee or tea, switching to decaf doesn't mean sacrificing great taste. With a little bit coffee and tea savvy, you taste buds won't ever notice switch!

Lori
Customer Service Department

Let's face it, ours is a society obsessed with youth. Looking and feeling young can occasionally feel like a full-time job; from gym memberships to creams and cosmetics, some people will go to great lengths in search of that illusive fountain of youth. Heck, I've even heard of women using face lotions made with placenta to ward off those pesky wrinkles! To them and the rest of us who sometimes like to indulge in our vanities, I'd like to humbly suggest a more appealing alternative....

According to London professor Declan Naughton, from Kingston University's School of Life Sciences, white/silver needle teas, such as those used to make our whimsical line of Teaposies, showed tremendous anti-aging potential in laboratory tests. In fact, white tea outperformed all 21 herbs and plant extracts tested by researchers; besting them by a significant margins. Remarkably, white tea can stop enzymes from breaking down collagen and elastin--proteins which help repair body tissue as well as stop skin from sagging. Even more surprising, according to professor Naughton, it doesn't take very much white tea to make a noticeable difference, "We were testing very small amounts, far less than you would find in a drink. The early indicators are that white tea reduces the risk of inflammation, which is characteristic of rheumatoid arthritis and some cancers, as well as wrinkles."

So, next time you're in a mood for tea, why not do your body a big favor and pick up a posy?

Tho
Writing Department

Since my second child was born almost 2 years ago, I have been a relentless health and fitness junkie. Not that I lived a terribly unhealthy lifestyle prior to becoming a mother, but having two little ones around made me realize that I wanted to set the best example of health. I modified my diet, starting exercising more (a lot more ? I put in 2 hours a day, 6 days a week in our basement home gym) and started looking for supplements and health aides that would have a positive effect on my health.

In the past year I have lost 45 pounds and feel amazing. Part of my health transformation is attributed to a swap in beverages I made about 6 months ago. I would drink a cup or two of plain old herbal tea almost every night. At the suggestion of my mother, I switched to green, tea but didn't care for the taste. After much research, I discovered white tea and now I'm an addict!

If you set a New Year's resolution to drop a few pounds and get healthier, take it from me, white tea might be just the thing you need.

White tea is the first tea that is harvested every spring, from the best tea plants. It is hand picked during just a few days in very early spring, when the buds are still covered with the fine, white down that gives the tea its name. It can be a wonderful and pleasant aid if you're trying to lose weight. It will make it easier to follow a diet, it will make you healthier, it will burn calories for you, and it may even boost your mental strength.

White tea burns calories. White tea contains caffeine, which speeds up the metabolism. That means that the body burns energy faster, and since the tea contains no calories itself, it is sometimes called a calorie-negative drink. This is the most important way white tea boosts weight loss. Other teas have the same property, not to mention coffee, which contains much more caffeine. So why drink white tea for weight loss, specifically?

White tea contains the least caffeine of all teas. If you drink too much black tea or coffee, you will experience some of the negative effects of caffeine, like trembling, anxiety, headaches, and so on. Getting too much caffeine is also an excellent way to make sure you will not be able to sleep at night. White tea contains just the right amount of caffeine-- enough to burn calories at maximum efficiency, but not so much that you will feel any of the ill effects. That way, you can drink white tea all day, keeping the caffeine level in your body right where it burns calories without experiencing any ill effects.

White tea tastes good. It has a fresh, flowery smell and a mild, delicate, and subtle taste with a hint of jasmine. Its natural sweetness eliminates the need to sweeten it with sugar, artificial sweeteners or milk.

When you're drinking white tea, you're not eating or drinking something unhealthy. The very simple act of drinking white tea instead of unhealthy stuff like sugared sodas and juice can do wonders for the waistline. The trick is switching unhealthy stuff (including snacks that aren't liquid) for white The effect is actually stronger than you'd think.

Not everyone knows about it. While most people have heard of green tea, white tea is still unknown to many. Start to drink white tea now, before everyone is doing it, and you'll be ahead of the rush and can teach your friends how to actually enjoy their diets with white tea. Weight loss isn't always a fun process, but when we feel like we're pioneering a new approach for dieting, it may boost the mental strength we need to keep losing that excess fat. Not to mention that new research is finding tea to be beneficial to our overall health, including our teeth!For more information on that, click here Brush, Floss, and Drink Brewed Tea

So where do I go from here?

The first thing to do is to get first hand experience with white tea. The Teaposy Dream Gift Setis a great place to start.

If herbal is more your cup of tea, try our Teaposy Concert Series Symphony

For more, visit Teaposy

Health and Happiness to You All!!!

Amber

Teaposy as a centerpiece?

If everyone hasn't already guessed, I'm a big fan of Teaposy. Not only is it fun to watch the flower open and bloom, it also tastes great! When we first tried the Teaposy, we were all amazed at how they individually tied each tealeaf with a real flower into a little ball and then it exploded in the teapot. But after the flower appeared and the tea was all gone, it was kind of sad to think all this work was going to now go to the waste basket. But Alas, another thing you can do with your teaposy, is as a beautiful centerpiece--and it lasts for up to 7 days. How is that for a Tea that keeps on giving? Check out some more helpful hints to using your teaposy as a display.

How to display Teaposy as a centerpiece:
1. We will be using cold water during this procedure because warm or hot water will continue to steep the tea instead of displaying it in clear water. Always be gentle with your Teaposy, as they are very delicate.
2. Once you're done brewing your 50 ounces worth from your Teaposy, let it come down to room temperature, then gently place your teaposy on paper towel.
3. Wash out your teapot, and rinse it with cold water.
4. Rinse off your Teaposy with slow running cold water until you no longer see the tan color from the brewed tea washing out.
5. Fill up your Teapot with cold water and gently release your teaposy into the water.
6. Continue to change the cold water every morning for the next 5-7 days.
7. Set the teapot in the center of your dinner or coffee table and enjoy as a center piece.

Visit our Teaposy collection at Teaposy
Til next time!
Tracy