It’s Friday the 13th, and ironically, I am sick. Luckily, I don’t have a high fever but my throat is itchy and my nose is clogged. I’m coughing up a storm and wrapped in blankets. So in my pursuit to get better by Valentine’s Day, only a few hours away, I go to my local liquor store in L.A. looking for soup to last me through the week and anything else that could make a difference. That’s when I saw it, parallel with my eyes, “Contains Antioxidants.” I automatically reach out, grab the box and read on. It was a box of green tea. Once I read contains antioxidants, I was sold. I bought five packs of top ramen, and the box of green tea.
While waiting for the water to boil for my soup, I microwave a cup of water. I know, why don’t I just boil the water for the tea too? Plainly, because it’s easier. Anyway, I open the box and there were the packets. I transfer my soup from the pot to a bowl and throw one of the packets into the cup. I take a sip and wonder, would it taste as good as the other green tea drinks that I have drank? But almost immediately, I burn my tongue. I take another sip and my first reaction was ewww, far from the Sobe Green Tea. So I put in two cubes of sugar and the taste went from ewww to ehhhh. So I continue to drink it just because of the “Antioxidants.”
A few minutes after finishing my soup, I look into the cup. There was no sign of sugar but there was only a floating pack of what looked like crushed leaves. So I think to myself, what are antioxidants? I’ve been drinking this burning hot cup of tea without really knowing what antioxidants are. So I look it up. With hesitation, I go to Wikipedia. My Comm 130 professor told us not to go to Wikipedia because it’s not a credible source, but it was the first thing I could think of. So I click English and type “Green Tea” in the search bar. All over the page I saw, “health effects” but in front of it were the words, “potential” or “unproven.” But I scrolled down and saw the title, “Scientific Studies.” There was hope, for me and anyone else who drinks green tea to get better. I learned that there was more than just antioxidants in the tea, there was polyphenols. Now, there were two things that I had no idea of what they were and what they did. So I read on. After reading the whole section, I have come to learn that antioxidants and polyphenols do help. They help lower the chances of heart disease, cancers, tumors, cholesterol, stress, arthritis, and more. My first thought was WOW, it helps with so many things but not the one I wanted it to help with the most, my cold. But as I think about it now, it’s ok because it will help in the long run.
