3 WFPB Beverages
Home made with no added sugar, no dates, and using science-backed healthy ingredients
In This Issue
I’m excited to share a selection of my favorite whole food plant-based, no-added-sugar beverages for toasting and spreading holiday cheer! More warming options will follow in the coming weeks.
I’ll also share simple, science-backed hacks to maximize the benefits of both hot and cold tea brewing methods while minimizing preparation time, ensuring you get the most out of every sip.
I have also included a quick PDF for December produce for a quick reference while shopping.
The Menu
I decided to avoid dates, again, for this sweet recipe since there seems to be a lot of hate on for date recipes even, in the whole food plant-based community. I used raisins since they are a healthy high fiber low GI food. I’ll have a dedicated ingredient section for them soon so you can learn more.
Classic Cola: A bubbly delight crafted with aromatic spices and simple homemade raisin syrup for a sweet cola flavor without added sugars.
Green Fizz Arnold Palmer: A revitalizing blend of green iced tea and zesty lemonade, sweetened naturally for a refreshing lift. I love this one! 💚
Pink Tea Fruit Punch: A vibrant hibiscus tea infused with mint and sweetened with a hint of apple sauce, perfect for celebrating the season as a cold or warm drink.
Read more below…
Teabags & Microplastics
Do your teabags contain microplastics? Many popular teabags use plastic to help keep them sealed or as a coating to make them stronger. Potentially releasing billions of microplastics into every cup.
Read more below as I explain more and offer safe hacks and alternatives to teabags…
Bonus: Seasonal Produce PDF - December
I wanted something that I could put on my phone so when I’m shopping for groceries I can quickly, at a glance, see all the seasonal foods for each section: fruit, veggies, herbs, mushrooms, and nuts & seeds.
So I made this PDF to do just that. Hopefully, you’ll find it useful too.
Alright, let’s get to it!
🍲The Recipe: 3 WFPB Beverages
🔪 The Recipe: 3 WFPB Beverages
⏲️ Estimated Time: About 5-10 minutes.
🍽️ Servings: Around 3-4 servings (~$0.34 USD ea.)
💵 Cost to make: Around $1.02 USD / $1.45 CAD / € 0.97
🕹️ Difficulty: Very Easy
Nutrition Facts
1 of the 3 drinks (roughly)
🔥 325.7 Calories (16.3% DV, based on 2,000 calories)
🧈 2.1g Fat (3.2% DV of 65g)
- 🥓 Saturated Fat: 0.3g
- 🚫 Trans Fat: 0.0g
- 🌰 Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.9g
- 🥑 Monounsaturated Fat: 0.3g
🥚 Cholesterol: 0.0mg (0.0% DV of 200mg)
🧂 253.1mg Sodium (11.0% DV of 2,300mg)
🌾 63.2g Carbs (4.9% DV of 400g)
🥬 17.2g Fiber (61.5% DV of 28g)
- 🍬 Sugars: 13.9g (27.7% DV of 50g)
💪 19.5g Protein (38.9% DV of 50g)
🍌 1582.0mg Potassium (33.7% DV of 4,700mg)
🦴 123.0mg Calcium (9.5% DV of 1,300mg)
🔩 7.4mg Iron (40.9% DV of 18mg)
🌤️ 0.0mcg Vitamin D (0.0% DV of 50mcg/2000IU) Teabags: A Cozy Cup or Toxic Microplastic Marinade?
As the colder weather sets in and more studies—like the new Universal Health Guide—advocate for water or tea as the healthiest beverage options, it’s the perfect time to enjoy a warm cup of tea.
However, many tea bags are made with plastic materials to either seal them shut or reinforce the fabric, which can pose serious health risks.
This study titled Plastic Teabags Release Billions of Microparticles and Nanoparticles into Tea shows that a single teabag can release “approximately 11.6 billion microplastics and 3.1 billion nanoplastics” into your drink!
Recommendations
Switch to Loose Leaf Tea: Use a tea ball, mesh strainer, or reusable cotton tea bags, which are widely available online.
Repurpose Old Tea Bags: If you have existing tea bags, consider cutting them open and using the loose tea or a strainer as I show below and in the recipe video for the 3 WFPB Drinks.
This short video from the BBC on plastic in teabags shows the results of testing 6 popular brands of teabags and found that all of the teabags that they tested contained some amount of non-biodegradable plastics, but 4 of them contained “significant amounts of non-biodegradable plastic.”
A tea ball and loose-leaf tea is a safer and more convenient way to drink tea than ripping open tea bags and putting them in strainers, but it still works in a pinch.
Regardless, trying to reduce your exposure to microplastics and other non-biodegradable or forever chemicals is the best solution since we are bombarded with toxins daily.
The Best Tea Preparation Methods
According to science. This study says “cold water steeping is reported to maximize tea health benefits, but requires long infusion time.” So they tested the antioxidant and composition of teas and found the following steeping methods produced the best results, including a hack that get’s the best of both hot and cold infusion in 5 minutes or less! Unfortunately, they didn’t test hibiscus tea.
Hot Infusion:
Amount of Tea: 12 g per liter of water
Temperature:
Green: 75 °C
Oolong: 85 °C
Black: 90 °C
Time:
Green: 4 minutes
Oolong: 4 minutes
Black: 3 minutes
Water Volume: 1 L
Cold Infusion:
Amount of Tea:
Green: 8 g per liter
Oolong: 7 g per liter
Black: 7 g per liter
Temperature: 4 °C (refrigeration temperature)
Time: 12 hours
Water Volume: 1 L
Hot Infusion followed by Ice Hack (Hot + Ice):
Amount of Tea: 30 g per 600 mL of water
Temperature: 80 °C
Time:
Green: 5 minutes
Oolong: 4 minutes
Black: 3 minutes
Water Volume: 600 mL
Ice Addition: 400 g of ice after infusion and removal of tea leaves.
What’s your favorite way to drink tea? I’d love to know what you think or if you tried the hot+cold hack and the cold infused alone and which you like more?
🔜 Coming This Week
I’ve been working on an easy one-pan not-chicken parmesan and I think you’ll enjoy it as much as I do!
It’s really yummy with a crispy, but healthy, breading slathered in a delightfully simple marinara sauce and topped with a chewy mozza. So tasty and so easy. I’m addicted!
🔗 PbP Resources
The 5-question reader survey is still open and I’d love to know what you want more of.
The Science-Backed Research Links
Ingredients that Fight Disease - latest addition: Button Mushrooms / White Mushrooms
The Research on Diet and Disease- latest update: Genetics / Epigenetics
Substack Exclusive Mini Health Posts
Cooking Articles & Guides
If you think others might find this newsletter useful then please share it!
If you have any questions, concerns, complaints, or just want to chat then please feel free to contact me by hitting reply to this email, tapping the button below, or let’s connect on Instagram—I also just joined BlueSky!
That’s all for today.
Stay healthy and nourished! Happy cooking!
-Chef Robert Leigh
plantbasedproof.com
contact@plantbasedproof.com