This delicious tea mix blends green tea and orange pekoe with cardamom seed, lemon peel and hibiscus for an uplifting and tasty treat. Its ingredients include maltodextrin, fructose, orange pekoe extract, green tea extract, lemon peel extract, cardamom seed extract, malva sylvestris extract and hibiscus flower powder.

Maltodextrin is a relatively complex carbohydrate, which is more easily digested than some other forms of carbohydrate, leaving behind less of the potential health issues, which is used as food additive. It is produced by cooking down from starch, usually from rice, corn or potato. During the cooking process, natural enzymes and acids help to break down the starch even further and the end result is a simple white powder that contains roughly four calories per gram, and extremely small amounts of fiber, fat and protein. Good for people who is watching their calorie and sugar intake, especially those with Diabetes Type II. Something to caution though, as some people may experience food allergy and it may be causing MSG reaction.

Fructose is, well, simply sugar.

At first, I thought Orange pekoe is some sort of orange or something, but it so happen that Orange pekoe is tea, people. HA-HA. What an unlikely name for tea. It does not describe a kind of tea, instead just the grade of the tea. You can read about the bizarre orange pekoe form Wikipedia here.

As we have already known, green tea has gazillion benefits to our health, and I don’t have to further elaborate more, do I? :wink: Oh by the way, I also read that green tea is helpful for rheumatoid arthritis, so a bottle of tea mix, Aini hmm?

About lemon, ah I just drink my tea mix drink with a squeeze of fresh lemon. Very refreshing! Lemon is good for gang of dieters as it is said that lemon helps to stimulate metabolism. Other than that fresh squeezed lemon in a glass of ample water is said to cleanse the liver.

The name cardamom is used for herbs within two genera of the ginger family, green and black cardamon. Both forms of cardamom are used as flavorings in both food and drink, as cooking spices and as a medicine. Black cardamom is a common ingredient in Indian cooking, and is often used in baking in Nordic countries. Green cardamom powder in other hand, is used as a spice for sweet dishes as well as traditional flavouring in coffee and tea. Generally cardamom is used as medicine to treat infections in teeth and gums, to prevent and treat throat troubles, congestion of the lungs and pulmonary tuberculosis, inflammation of eyelids and also digestive disorders.

Green and Black Cardamom. Picture from Wikipedia.
Malva sylvestris, fancy name, but it is basically a flower. It is a vigorously healthy plant with showy flowers of bright mauve-purple, with dark veins; a handsome plant, often standing 3 or 4 feet (1 m) high and growing freely in fields, hedgerows and in fallow fields. I am still figuring out the relevance of this ingredient in the tea mix, but from my reading in Wikipedia, malva sylvestris is generally used as food and medicine for some sort of soothing effect.

Malva sylvestris. Picture from Wikipedia.
Hibiscus is not only pretty and our national flower; it is also full of health benefit, especially to your heart. Hibiscus can effectively lower high blood pressure and reduce high cholesterol levels, and caffeine free.

All in all, the tea mix does not seem to have any potential health hazards, as the ingredients are basically natural food, and we may have been consuming in our food all this while without us knowing. The only thing to be considered though, is the caffeine from tea extract in the tea mix. But if you are the kind of person who drink teh tarik, kopi O kapal api or nescafe kow every now and then, the caffeine in the tea mix is nothing to shout for :-)

Like everything else in the world, it has to be taken in moderation. Tea mix stimulates your metabolism, but if your metabolism is running too high, it may put a strain on your heart. If you feel your heart is beating too fast, stop drinking tea mix for a while, or drink your tea mix lesser. Don't drink it late in the evening due to its caffeine content, unless if you do want to stay up late.

But don’t just simply take my word. For pregnant ladies, lactating mothers and those with health deficiency and on medication, I would recommend you to consult your doctor for second opinion.