Essencha -- fine teas, and good food, too

Metro area tea-lovers know that there's no better selection of fresh, loose-leaf tea than at Essencha Tea House in Oakley. You might find a greater variety elsewhere, but you can be sure that Essencha owner Tracy Monson (a real "tea person") selects only teas available in the season that they were harvested and processed. Nothing sits on the shelf there for months, losing flavor. You can choose from over 100 teas -- black, white, green, red and herbal -- either online or in person. I'm a black tea fan, drink a pot of it every morning with breakfast. One of my favorite varieties is Keemun, which you can get all around town, but which Essencha did not carry for months as they awaited the new season's crop. Happily, it's in now (Keemun breakfast, organic). I bought some of that as well as the hearty Irish breakfast blend.

Soup and Matcha Goddess Salad @ Essencha

My friends and I also enjoy the lunch menu at the Tea House. There's a homemade soup or two each day, a small but delicious selection of sandwiches, and two or three excellently composed salads. They also serve savory or sweet crepes and a few indulgent dessert treats. If you let them know in advance, you can try a more elaborate Afternoon Tea (sweet and savory snacks with your choice of tea), either European or Asian style.
Like many businesses in Oakley, Essencha has seen a drop in traffic over the past year or so due to the extreme disruption of street, sidewalk and road work along Madison Road. Thankfully, all that seems to be complete. One word of warning: the parking lot behind Essencha is hard pressed to handle the traffic for the Tea House and other shops in that block, but you can park across the street in the larger lot in front of Hugo's. Just be careful crossing busy Madison Road.
In short, Essencha is a healthy-foodie star among Cincinnati dining and shopping destinations!

Essencha is open seven days a week. Look for a special Chinese tea tasting on November 13th.  513-533-4832 for reservations or more info. Check out the website to order tea, too.

The Wonders of Tea: Home-Brewed, and a Bottled Tea I Like

I've been a tea drinker all my life, and couldn't appreciate coffee at all until I reached my 30s. To this day, I brew a pot of loose-leaf black tea every morning -- there are no tea bags in my pantry, but many tins of various black tea leaves. I love to buy tea on my travels, especially at famous teahouses such as those in Paris or Boulder CO. But the main sources for my breakfast teas are Essencha Teahouse and Tea Shop in Oakley (Cincinnati) or the terrific mail-order tea supplier, Upton Tea. 

Being such a purist, I haven't tried bottled teas very often, and those that did pass my lips were nothing special.
Recently, however, I learned about Ohio-based Tradewinds bottled tea, operating out of Carlisle, just south of Dayton. They make eight flavors of iced tea, from sweet tea to lemonade tea, raspberry tea, unsweetened tea and green tea with honey. To my surprise, my favorite so far has been the green tea (which also comes in diet). It tastes like honey, not green tea -- which I don't care for, as a rule.
Most of the sweetened teas have 70 calories per serving; however, as is often the case with bottled drinks, the fine print on the bottle confesses that it contains 2.5 servings, so I wouldn't drink the whole thing at once. 

Here's some information about the health benefits of tea (source: Tea Association of the U.S.)

Tea contains flavonoids, naturally occurring compounds that are believed to have antioxidant properties. Antioxidants work to neutralize free radicals, which scientists believe, over time, damage elements in the body, such as genetic material and lipids, and contribute to chronic disease.

Recent research has explored the potential health attributes of tea through studies in humans and animal models, and through in vitro laboratory research. For the most part, studies conducted on Green and Black Tea, which are both from the Camellia sinensis plant, have yielded similar results. Recent research suggests that tea and tea flavonoids may play important roles in various areas of health and may operate through a number of different mechanisms still being explored. Recent findings include:

• The antioxidant properties of tea flavonoids may play a role in reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease by decreasing lipid oxidation¹ , reducing the instances of heart attacks and stroke^2,3, and may beneficially impact blood vessel function , an important indicator of cardiovascular health.
• Tea flavonoids may lower the risk of certain cancers by inhibiting the oxidative changes in DNA from free radicals and some carcinogens¹. Tea may also promote programmed cell death, or apoptosis⁵, and inhibit the rate of cell division, thereby decreasing the growth of abnormal cells¹.
• Tea-drinking has been associated with oral health⁶ and bone health⁷.
• Compounds in tea other than flavonoids have been shown to support the human immune system⁸.