by Fern Shaw | Nov 10, 2020 | water boiler, Water Boilers, water cooler
It is astonishing to consider that wars have been fought over this hot drink. That shipping vessels were redesigned to ensure faster transportation from country of harvest to the British consumer.
If you haven’t guessed it yet, we are referring to tea. Yes, these leaves, which produce the most aromatic, soothing, anti-oxidant rich brew, have held sway over billions of global consumers for centuries.
They say that a cuppa cures all ills and they’re not far wrong – whether you’re using your hot water boiler, combination AquAid chiller/boiler or Instant Taps at home, home office, office or any other workspace, there’s very little that can’t be cured by the brew.
But what is it about tea that makes it such a popular drink? Could it be because the ‘modern’ day office worker invented tea breaks?
According to The UK Tea and Infusions Association, tea breaks are a tradition beginning over two hundred years ago. Initially when workers commenced their day at around 5 or 6am, employers allowed a break in the morning when food and tea were served. Some employers repeated the break in the afternoon.
Between 1741 and 1820 industrialists, landowners and clerics tried to put a stop to the tea break maintaining that tea drinking and rest made working people slothful. Modern thinking could not be further away from this – regular tea breaks play a vital part towards creating a productive workplace – helping us maintain a positive attitude while simultaneously ensuring adequate levels of hydration.
The health benefits (which we many not even be aware of) could also be a factor. Aside from the strong anti-oxidant properties, drinking both black and green teas are believed to help with weight loss, act as a sunscreen and even reduce the risk of blood clot formation and atherosclerosis. It’s worth noting that this applies to drinking your tea without milk or sugar.
The other positive is tea doesn’t go off. Take note though, if you leave your tea for a time, those little leaves will not be as fresh after six months. The flavour may not suffer, but the brew will lose its antioxidants – refer to tea’s health benefits above. The best way to preserve the efficacy of the antioxidants is by storing your tea in a sealed container in a dark, cool place.
If you’d like know more about AquAid water, water cooler and water boiler products to help you brew your tea or hot drink; our promotions and our life-saving charity partnerships, please * e-mail or ☏ us on 0800 772 3003.
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by Fern Shaw | Mar 10, 2020 | water boiler, water cooler
Now that March has arrived, it would be nice to believe that spring isn’t too far off (and it isn’t that far as the new season arrives officially on the 20th of March).
As we Britons are used to radical weather patterns whatever the season, it’s no surprise that the topic remains at the forefront of our communication. Whether (ha) we’re topping up our water at the water cooler station at work i.e. chatting to colleagues (not the water cooler, although should you wish to, please, feel free – even a water cooler can benefit from some attention) or chatting with family or friends or indeed, speaking to strangers.
Irrespective of our opinion about the topic of the weather, there is no denying it has a huge impact on our behavioural patterns; moods; what we eat; our travel patterns; what we wear and what we drink.
Although we may not think about how different our drinking water patterns are depending on our environment, they very much are. When it’s warmer we tend to exert ourselves more and are always on the lookout for the perfectly chilled water, while come the colder months there’s nothing better than a piping hot drink to stave off the chill. This usually means you are more likely to be on the lookout for a hot water boiler that can dispense a constant supply of hot water throughout the day.
If you’re prone to drink more water when it’s warm and less when it’s cold – a gentle reminder that you’re just as likely to become dehydrated in winter as you are in summer, so remember, whatever the weather, make sure to have AquAid address all your hot & cold water cooler requirements. We are always happy to help.
by Fern Shaw | Nov 20, 2019 | water boiler, water cooler
You may have read a recent blog around how becoming dehydrated when it’s colder is more common than we think.
In order to prevent winter dehydration, our first suggestion was to install a hot and cold water cooler or water boiler from AquAid.
Here we follow up with a few helpful tips to make sure you are hydration happy during the colder months:
Kickstart your day with warm lemon water. The benefits are enormous, boosting both your hydration and health levels. If lemon makes you sour, jeuj up your warm water with ginger and a dollop of honey.
Increase your hot drink intake. You don’t need to be bound to drinking only water (although it is a great base) when it’s chilly. There are loads of warm or hot drinks that will not only keep you warm but that also count towards your being hydrated. Think veggie soup etc.
Take the chill off. When it’s cold, our bodies do what they can to preserve our core heat. This includes withdrawing blood from our extremities. With less blood circulating, our kidneys expel more water, which again, can lead to dehydration. To avoid excessive urination, keep active instead of becoming sedentary. The less active you are, the easier it is to become cold.
Watch your breath! When the temperature lowers, you lose more fluid as you breathe. Those puffs of breath are water vapour you’re exhaling. Water being expelled with each exhalation. If you breath is constantly fogging up your glasses or your surrounds, it’s highly likely you need to quench your thirst, post haste, before you become dehydrated. So use your breath as a reminder that you need to keep up your water intake.
However you choose to keep warm these colder months, remember to keep up with drinking water: hydration is equally as important irrespective of the temperatures outside.
by Fern Shaw | Nov 20, 2019 | water boiler, water cooler
Summertime in the UK is a warm and hopefully fond memory, but it’s now time for us to face the incoming chill – and by chill, we’re not referring to the refreshing drinking water dispensed from your AquAid water cooler (more on this later).
From ancient times, humans are wired to seek warmth when the temperatures drop – blame it on our rather thin body cover i.e. skin, unlike that of many of our fellow mammals who cleverly grow thick coats when it’s cold.
It’s therefore no surprise that we easily tend to eschew maintaining our warmer weather hydration habits, as our natural instinct is to associate drinking water more with keeping cool than with keeping adequately hydrated.
This is a mistake though as a survey conducted by the RNLI shows that a staggering 89% of Britons are inadequately hydrated.
It isn’t hard to dehydrate when it’s cold: we tend not to exert ourselves as much in our day-to-day activities (unless we’re exercising) so it’s easy to miss the usual indicators of dehydration. We also may not realise that there are other indicators of water loss that don’t occur when it’s warm.
As we’re wearing more clothing, we’re heavier. This means that our bodies work harder (this can be by as much as between 10% and up to 40%) producing sweat. We often don’t realise we’re sweating as this is absorbed by the additional clothing.
Exhaling water. Another indicator of water loss we may miss is in in the vapour we see when we exhale. That vapour being expelled is yet more water we’re losing.
We tend to urinate more often. Although the mechanism isn’t fully understood, it’s believed that blood is drawn from the extremities when we’re cold. This means reduced blood circulation, consequently our kidneys excrete more water.
But how to combat cold weather dehydration? It’s simpler and easier than one might think. If cool water doesn’t appeal, you can always increase your liquid intake by drinking hot drinks.
The first step is to install a hot and cold water cooler or water boiler from AquAid. This will set you up in an instant, and you’ll be able to maintain your daily water consumption, whatever the weather.
by Fern Shaw | Mar 7, 2019 | Water Boilers, Water Coolers
I always find it fascinating how certain words have certain connotations.
Take the word ‘ginger’. Go on, say it aloud – “Ginger!” What’s the first thing that comes to mind? The hair colour of a much-maligned set of people (with a rather amazing DNA sequence I might add)? Freckles sunburn and Children of the Corn type movies? Or does that word conjure up the spice and *horror for me* glacé ginger pieces and similar undeserving of the title of a Sweet?
Ginger in itself is a rather miraculous spice. Its health-giving benefits are myriad. It contains nearly a dozen antiviral compounds. Ginger is pain-relieving, antiseptic and antioxidant. It is valuable for preventing and treating colds, sore throats and inflammation of mucus membranes.
Ginger reduces pain and fever and has a mild sedative effect that will encourage rest. Drink a tea, or soak fresh ginger in hot water, take as a tincture and include it in your food. Ginger is also delicious in a fruit smoothie or in a healthy water drink combo.
The ginger plant itself: Zingiber officinale is a perennial which can grow to about 3 or 4 feet and produces clusters of pink and white flowers. Although the leaves are sometimes eaten, it is the rhizome or underground stem that is of medicinal and culinary interest. This stem is a chunky root-like thing with a thin brown skin and hard light flesh inside. It is often erroneously called ginger root since the rhizome resembles a root but this is actually not the root of the plant at all but an underground ‘stem’.
Despite it not being a favourite, I can attest to ginger’s stomach calming and settling effects, as well as its ability to both cleanse and invigorate the palate.
The versatility of ginger is such that you can steep it in hot water from your water boiler or let it infuse in cool water drawn from your water cooler and sip on it throughout the day – it’ll help to keep you shored up and resistant to all the workplace chills and summer and winter colds.
*updated from a 2014 blog
