I love milk tea in autumn. How can I drink it healthily and deliciously?

The first cup of milk tea in autumn has become popular on the Internet. Many people are posting pictures of the finished milk tea from milk tea shops. In fact, even if you choose not to add extra sugar, it will still taste sweet when you drink it. So how much sugar does the commercially available milk tea contain?

Most of the milk tea sold in the market is made from milk tea powder. Usually, 30g of milk tea powder can be mixed with 400ml of milk tea. According to the ingredient list and nutritional composition table of milk tea powder, the main ingredients of milk tea powder are non-dairy creamer, non-dairy creamer, white sugar, maltodextrin, skimmed milk powder, instant tea powder, etc. 30g of milk tea powder contains 18g of carbohydrates, which is about the amount of sugar in 2 sugar cubes. This does not include the pearls, pudding, and candied red beans added to the milk tea. So, even if there is no extra sugar in the milk tea, the sugar content is not low at all. In addition, from a nutritional point of view, the energy of commercial milk tea is high but the nutritional value is low, and the ratio of protein and fat is unreasonable. For women who love beauty, the biggest problem is that it is easy to let fat come to the door. Not to mention the problem of dyslipidemia and increased risk of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases caused by excessive intake of non-dairy creamer.

So, is there a milk tea that is both healthy and delicious? In fact, there is. The earliest milk tea was a healthy drink made from milk and black tea. It has been consumed for a long time in the West and in the Mongolian and Tibetan areas of my country.

So if you want to drink milk tea this autumn, it is recommended to make your own milk tea. Making your own milk tea is very simple. First, boil the tea, then add milk and cook it on low heat, and finally add sugar or honey. Generally speaking, 250ml of milk plus 3~5g of tea leaves, plus 250ml of water, can make a cup of nearly 500ml of milk tea. If you want to season it, add a small amount of sugar or honey, then the nutritional value provided by this cup of milk tea is almost the same as that of 250ml of milk. So if you have the time and energy, it is best to make your own milk tea, which is both nutritious and economical and delicious. And another advantage of homemade milk tea is that you can add foods such as ginger, brown sugar, and jujube to it according to your personal preferences to match a more colorful taste.

The ginger, sugar and perilla leaf drink recorded in "Bencao Huiyan" can be paired with milk tea to help us resist the external cold evil, dispel wind and cold, warm the stomach and relieve symptoms in the increasingly cold autumn.

Ginger Sugar Perilla Leaf Milk Tea

Ingredients: 3g ginger, 3g perilla leaf, 3g black tea, 250ml milk, 15g brown sugar

Preparation method: Wash and shred the ginger and perilla leaves, put them into a teacup together with the black tea, add boiling water and brew for 5-10 minutes, remove the ginger, perilla leaves and black tea, pour in milk and brown sugar to season.

Note: The ginger and perilla leaves in this milk tea can dispel wind and cold, while milk and black tea can strengthen the spleen and warm the stomach. Adding brown sugar can not only alleviate the spicy and bitter taste of ginger and perilla leaves, but also help milk and black tea warm the stomach and drive away the cold. Therefore, it is more suitable as a health drink after autumn. However, it should be noted that it is not suitable for people with yin deficiency or internal dampness and heat.

In addition, if you want to drink milk tea but are afraid of the trouble, you may need to pay special attention to the food you pair with commercial milk tea. First of all, high-energy snacks and cakes should be excluded. Although black tea has a slightly bitter taste, it is best paired with sweet snacks. However, commercial milk tea itself is a high-oil and high-energy drink. If you don't want to sigh when you stand on the scale, it is best to pair milk tea with some foods with high protein and dietary fiber content to balance your diet. For example: a piece of bread, a boiled egg, and a plate of vegetable salad will be a good partner for a cup of milk tea.

As for the time to drink milk tea, drinking a cup of milk tea for breakfast is definitely better for health than drinking a cup of milk tea during afternoon tea break. Finally, I would like to remind everyone that although milk tea tastes good, it is best not to drink more than 2 cups a day. And the energy of milk tea should be calculated in the daily dietary energy. If it exceeds the limit, remember to increase exercise to consume the excess energy in order to maintain a healthy state.

(Wei Guo, a nutritionist at Beijing University of Chinese Medicine Oriental Hospital)