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Your Ultimate Guide to Tea

Want to swap your morning coffee for something new? Look no further! Tea is a wonderful alternative to coffee. This warm beverage is packed with nutrients and health benefits. Check out this guide to learn about each variety and what it has to offer. 

White Tea
White tea is the least processed of all the tea varieties. It is harvested before the leaves fully open giving it a sweeter, more delicate flavor. White tea has a lower caffeine content than both green and balck tea. This antioxidant rich beverage offers a refreshing fruity flavor that can easily be enjoyed at any time of the day. 

Herbal Tea
Herbal tea, unlike its counterparts, incorporates herbs, spices and other plants. This tea variety is uncaffeinated and offers many health-benefits based on the type. 

  • Chamomile tea offers a mellow, honey-sweet flavor. It is said to reduce stress and improve sleep quality. It also helps to reduce menstrual pains and aid with muscle spasms. 
  • Rooibos tea is smoky, sweet and nutty in flavor. It helps to improve blood pressure and circulation while also monitoring good and bad cholesterol levels. 
  • Peppermint tea is perfect for soothing an upset stomach. It also helps in improving constipation, motion sickness and irritable bowel syndrome symptoms. Peppermint tea can also help reduce headaches. 
  • Ginger tea is fantastic for fighting morning sickness and indigestion. This spicy beverage can also aid in relieving joint pain. 
  • Hibiscus tea offers a sweet, fruity flavor. It helps decrease blood pressure and improve liver health. 

Green Tea 
Green tea is made by steaming and pan-frying tea leaves then drying them. Green tea offers a unique grass-like, earthy flavor. This variety has more caffeine than white tea, but less caffeine than black tea. Green tea is rich in antioxidants and has been shown to help reduce inflammation.

Black Tea 
Black tea is the most consumed of all the varieties. Along with its high caffeine content and strong, earthy flavor, black tea offers a variety of health benefits. Its high antioxidant content has been shown to reduce risk of disease. Black tea has also been shown to reduce inflammation and support healthy immune function.

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The Ultimate Kitchen Design Guide

Even if you’re working closely with an interior designer or a kitchen design firm, understanding what goes into a kitchen design is an integral part of the process. Before working with a design professional, it’s helpful for you to understand the different components that go into the planning stages of designing a kitchen to ensure the process is as seamless as possible. If you have a kitchen redesign planned soon, read on to learn more about everything that goes into a kitchen design project.

Make a List of What You Want
Assess your current kitchen, and make a list of all the missing features and functions. For example, if you entertain often, perhaps you need an additional prep sink or a second dishwasher. Or, if you love getting the newest kitchen appliance, you may need extra storage to conceal these larger appliances. If you have a busy household, maybe you need warming drawers built-in to the cabinetry to keep everyone’s meals warm. Or, if your family tends to gather around the island, perhaps you need more creative seating options. Whatever you feel like your kitchen is missing, write it down. It’s easier to scale back than add to your list once the design process begins.

Set the Budget
No matter how high-end your kitchen is, every project has a budget. This will make the project easier to design and implement, giving your designer better insight into selecting materials. Plumbing, electric, appliances, materials and labor all go into the kitchen design budget. To cover any unexpected costs, it’s wise to build in an extra 10-20% into your overall budget.

Visualize the Layout
While your design professional will create the layout for you, it’s your job to thoroughly think through how you use your kitchen. For example, if you and your partner like to cook together, you’ll need ample space for two cooks. If you have younger children who like to be in the kitchen with you, you’ll require plenty of room to move around. The working triangle is a long-standing guide to laying out the kitchen. This means the sink, refrigerator and oven range are in a triangular shape and help create a more seamless cooking experience. 

Factor in Lighting
Don’t let lighting become an afterthought. As you plan the layout and cabinetry design, consider where you want light sources. For example, you’ll likely want recessed lighting in the ceiling in addition to pendants over the island. You may also want to include sconces and picture lights into your design to add a visual element.

Think Through the Creative
Gathering as many inspirational photos as possible is the best first step to take so you can start to shape your kitchen’s design vision. Whether you prefer white, colored or natural wood cabinetry, selecting the cabinet color is the best place to begin to determine your kitchen’s design aesthetic. The cabinet color will help guide your decisions on the wall color, flooring, the countertop material and shade, the backsplash material, the hardware finish and the lighting options. 


 
 
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