Olive Leaf Tea has been consumed by ancient civilisations in Greece and the Middle East for as long as Olives have been cultivated. It is great, at last, to be able to share this health giving drink.
In 2005 an Australian study found olive leaves have five times the antioxidant capacity of vitamin C and almost double that of green tea or grape-seed extract. This is fantastic news as personally however much I try to enjoy green tea because its good for me, I just do not like the taste! Now, instead I can drink olive leaf tea which tastes better and does my body even more good! The study also discovered that extract of olive leaf was more powerful at getting rid of damaging free radicals than such acclaimed antioxidants as grape-seed extract and vitamin E. Plus, the study said olive leaf extract could help to fight some inflammatory conditions too!
Olive leaf extract is available to buy at health food stores but personally I favour a more natural approach. Rather than pay for the processing of leaves and the packaging of extract, I like to steep some sun-dried olive leaves in boiling water. This simple process extracts the goodness from the leaves in a more economical way. Then I get to enjoy a cuppa!
Olive leaf tea is a smooth, golden drink with a very mildly bitter delicious taste. Sometimes I like to add a few slivers of ginger or a slice of lemon to add some variety to my tea drinking experience. Mostly though I just drink it, as is. I feel two cups a day is really giving my body a boost.
The olive leaf is full of anti-fungal, anti-viral and anti-bacterial compounds. This means people use it help fight a huge variety of problems. Some swear by olive leaf tea in the fight against even the common cold! I guess with all that vitamin C it certainly cannot hurt to try it.
In Greece in 2007 there was so much renewed interest in the benefit of drinking olive leaf tea that citizens of Athens began stripping the leaves from that city’s trees! Phew I am glad we do not need to steel olive leaves! They are pretty easy (and cheap) to buy online now which is great.
Drinking olive leaf tea is a great way to get the benefits of the Mediterranean diet especially if you are trying not to consume too much fat for dietary reasons. We all know olive oil is a fantastic health food but it is still oil and therefore is still high in fat. Olive leaves contain the same chemical compounds as olive oil (in differing quantities) but without all the calories!
There are too many olive leaf benefits to mention them all here! Try drinking olive leaf tea for yourself and see how good it can make YOU feel. For more information on the wonderful fruit of the olive tree check out our website.
