If you love the health benefits of broccoli but dislike the taste of those chewy green stalks, you may now have another alternative. You can get the cancer fighting power of broccoli by sipping a hot cup of tea. This isn't just any tea but a special tea that's enhanced with sulforaphane or SGS, the powerful antioxidant found in fresh broccoli thought to be responsible for many of its health enhancing properties. SGS has the ability to activate the body's natural ability to fight free radicals, those rogue molecules that when left unchecked can increase the risk of chronic diseases such as cancer and heart disease. This is precisely why you've been told to eat your vegetables, particularly cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli which are rich in SGS. The name of this super healthy tea? Brassica tea, of course.

Is brassica the healthiest tea of all?

It just may be. To make brassica tea, the healthy SGS component is extracted from broccoli and added to a variety of natural teas including white, red, black, and black teas. According to the makers of brassica tea, the addition of the SGS doesn't alter the taste although some people note a slight "vegetative” taste to this type of tea, but the majority of people claim it tastes like regular tea. Even broccoli haters seem to find this tea to be a tolerable alternative to the “green stuff”. You can find brassica tea in a variety of flavors including green tea with lemon or orange, red tea varieties, black tea, and even decaffeinated brassica teas.

How did this “healthiest tea” come into being?

The development of brassica tea was made possible by scientists at Johns Hopkins medical school who initially identified and isolated the SGS compound from broccoli. These are the same scientists who discovered that three day old broccoli sprouts have more SGS than the more mature broccoli plant. Thus, the broccosprout was born as an alternative way to provide high levels of SGS without eating pounds of fresh broccoli. These clever scientists must have realized that most people don"t have strong cravings for bowls of steamed broccoli.

Where can you buy this tea?

Brassica tea may be available at some health food stores and natural food markets. If not, there are a variety of online sites that sell it. For maximal health benefits, choose a brassica tea with a white or green tea base since these have the highest polyphenol levels. One cup of brassica tea is the equivalent of eating about three ounces of fresh broccoli. Plus, you get the benefits of the tea polyphenols for a double nutritional boost.

Brassica tea offers an easy and pleasant way to get some of the health benefits of broccoli. Eating broccoli has never been so painless!