Drink Tea & Be Healthy! Creative Ways with Bigelow Tea

It’s back to school time and as part of a sponsored post for Collective Bias® I’m sharing 3 easy and creative ways to implement more tea into your diet using Bigelow Teas!

I’m a HUGE tea fan. I religiously drink 2 cups every morning (doctored up with some almond or coconut milk) and many times as a little pick-me-up throughout the day. It’s much more calming on my stomach than coffee, and I feel like the “caffeine crash” is no where near that of a cup of joe. Perfect for sustaining energy without the desperate urge to take a mid-afternoon nap. My favorite type of teas? I’m really into green and black teas, which both happen to be high in antioxidants. Bigelow Teas offers an awesome variety of flavors of my favorite teas, and I’m excited to share 3 ways on how to drink more tea to stay healthy!

My morning ritual…oatmeal with almond butter, a small serving of fruit and two cups of tea! I normally make a tea latte which satisfies my Starbucks craving. No need to spend $4.50 every day on a latte when you can make it at home for a fraction of the cost AND have it be healthier

I love the strong, spicey taste of chai tea, and drinking it in the morning is the perfect wake-me-up.

Here comes the fun part…whip up a little vanilla flavored almond milk with a small frothing wand. It’s so small and so much more convenient than a huge cappuccino machine with built-in frother. Why almond milk? Non-dairy milks are such better alternatives. No animal cruelty is involved and you aren’t putting all those hormones that are fed to cows into your body. YUCK!

Add to the chai tea and sprinkle a little cinnamon…

And you have the most perfect chai tea latte! Easy peasy. Literally less than 5 minutes from start to finish. You might want to try the vanilla flavored Bigelow chai tea…one of my favorites. Note that there are a handful of Bigelow Teas that have a flavor that contains trace amount of butter fatty acids (butter esters) as a sub-ingredient. Vanilla Chai is one of those teas. While it does not contain milk protein, it has a flavor that is categorized as Kosher Dairy. Read more here to find out which teas are not vegan!

Mid-day caffeine craving? Try making some green tea ice cubes and using it to cool down your favorite flavor of iced green tea. I’m loving the pomegranate flavor. But there’s so many other great Bigelow green tea flavors to choose from…green tea with lemon, mango, blueberry, mint–the list goes on. Making a large pitcher of tea to stick in the fridge is a great way to ward of any soda cravings. Why chose tea over soda? Soooo many reasons. I’ll start with the month that I stopped drinking soda–it was 10 years ago and I quit cold turkey. I lost 5 pounds in one month just from cutting soda, I kid you not. There’s no calories, chemicals, carbs (well maybe 2 grams of carbs but that’s NOTHING) or unnatural ingredients involved in tea. That alone should make you want to switch.
Then there’s the antioxidant factor. These antioxidants protect cells from free radicals. This lowers your risk of blood clots, heart disease and cancer. Green and black teas also help boost metabolism, block allergic responses, improve skin and fight bad breath! Is that enough convincing to make the switch? Read more from a source I found here.

And $2.24 for 20 bags of the healthiest caffeine drink alternative at Walmart…I don’t think you can find a better deal!

What about a night time tea treat? Make some coconut-mango-green tea ice cream! So easy to make…and this is coming from the girl who aims to make dinner in 10 minutes or less:)

I picked up all of my ingredients at Walmart. Here’s what you’ll need for the ice cream:

• 1 can of coconut milk (approximately 13.5 oz)
• 1 mango peeled and sliced
• 2 Bigelow green tea bags (any flavor will work, I used regular green tea)
• 6 oz. of water
• 1 tsp of maple syrup (optional)

Steep the two tea bags in the 6 oz of hot water (you need the flavor to be concentrated). Cool the tea and add it in a blender with all of the other ingredients. Put it in a tupperware container in the freezer overnight, and you’ve got some tasty coconut green tea ice cream! If you own an ice cream maker, make use of it! If not, I found that after it freezes once, take it out of the freezer, re-blend it and then stick it back in. That way you’re whipping more air into the mixture to give it a good ice cream texture.

Bowie almost got a taste!

What’s your favorite way to enjoy Bigelow Teas?