Then sun has come out - at last!  London has been grey and dull for far too long this year but suddenly summer has arrived, bringing blue skies, gentle breezes, and city streets and grassy parks thronged with chattering groups of us who just love to be outside instead of cooped up in stuffy offices and enclosed living rooms.  When the sun shines, London bursts out into the open, determined to cram as much summer activity as possible into just a few weeks of warmth.  For refreshment, some people of course turn to iced frappés and lattés, chilled lagers and hot weather cocktails, but for some of us (like Amber and I pictured here and like the young mum with her beautiful baby pictured below), the preferred summer refreshment is still a traditional cup of hot tea.  

Unlike in hotter climes where iced tea is consumed by the gallon, we stick to our piping hot tea even on days when temperatures climb higher than most of us can comfortably bear, and you will hear satisfied sippers saying again and again, “You really can’t beat a nice hot cup of tea in this weather!”  And it’s true.  But it’s not just our stubborn British nature that has us reaching for the kettle and teapot.  It is because we know that tea really does refresh and revive, on steamy hot days, on cold winter days, on days when you feel really tired and low, and on days when you just need a quick revitalising burst of energy.

The magic ingredient is of course theanine, tea’s secret weapon that gives it the edge over coffee and other drinks as the perfect refreshing beverage.  Not many people seem to have heard of this rare amino-acid and it’s only very recently that some tea companies have begun mentioning it in their marketing material. It is the crucial component that makes tea the drink we turn to in times of sadness or celebration, that calms us when we are stressed, wakes us up when we are sluggish, refreshes and cools us when we are hot and thirsty and warms us on a chilly winter day. 

It is fascinating that theanine was not discovered until 1949 but that tea drinkers everywhere had noticed tea’s special effects long before that.  In China in the 8^th century BC, Lu Yu wrote “Tea tempers the spirit and harmonizes the mind; dispels lassitude and relieves fatigue; awakens thought and prevents drowsiness; lightens and refreshes the body and clears the perceptive facilities”.  Many many years later in England, 17^th century merchant and advocate of tea, Thomas Garraway, told potential customers that tea “removeth lassitude… easeth the brain ….. overcometh superfluous sleep and prevents sleepiness in general.”  In the 19^th century, William Gladstone, four times British Prime Minister and addicted to tea, wrote the now famous eulogy: “If you are cold, tea will warm you; if you are too heated, it will cool you; if you are depressed, it will cheer you; if you are excited, it will calm you”.   And, because tea creates in us an amazing state of ‘wakeful tranquillity”, it has been drunk for thousands of years by Buddhist monks to help them concentrate and focus with calm serenity throughout their long sessions of prayer and chanting.  They and many others have long recognised tea’s remarkable properties but have had no idea what it was in the leaf that offered such apparently contradictory benefits. 

Today, we know that it is theanine that gives tea this magic power.  But what is theanine?  It is an amino acid which is only found in the tea plant and in one non-edible mushroom.  It is in the plant as it grows so is also in all types of tea - green, white, black and oolong - although levels found in each type may vary.  It is said to promote ‘alpha brain wave activity’ which increases about 20 minutes after we drink tea and brings about a relaxed and calm state of mind.  Alpha waves occur in the brain when we are awake but relaxed - a sensation you may have experienced during or after meditation.  

So, instead of making you so relaxed that you feel drowsy, a cup of tea causes the brain to remain calm but become more alert, more able to concentrate and to stay focused for up to four hours.  At the end of four hours or so, it’s probably time to drink another cup or two of tea!  Theanine is said to also lower mental and physical stress and decrease anxiety, to put us in a more positive and happy mood and create a sense of well-being.  And scientists think that it may also lower blood pressure and boost the body’s ability to fight infection.

No wonder we all find tea so beneficial to our lives, in hot or cool weather, on sleepy days or wide awake days, when we have lots to do or when we choose to simply relax - and perhaps ponder on what Jerome K Jerome said in ‘Three Men in a Boat’ 

‘It is very strange, this domination of our intellect by our digestive organs.  We cannot work, we cannot think, unless our stomach wills so.  It dictates to us our emotions, our passions.  After eggs and bacon it says, “Work!”  After beefsteak and porter, it says, “Sleep!”  After a cup of tea ….. it says to the brain, “Now rise, and show your strength.  Be eloquent, and deep, and tender; see, with a clear eye, into Nature, and into life:  spread your white wings of quivering thought, and soar, a god-like spirit, over the whirling world beneath you, up through long lanes of flaming stars to the gates of eternity!’ 

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