NEW YORK - Can imbibing tea affect brain waves - or perhaps more astonishingly, thwart the development of lung cancer?A growing number of scientists, including a team on Long Island, theorize that tea is far more complex than most people might think. As a result, they are exploring new ways to uncover the chemical secrets nature has tucked into the leaves of green and black teas."People have been drinking tea for 5,000 years, and many cultures have used teas for medicinal purposes for just about that long," said John Foxe, a professor of neuroscience and biology at the Nathan Kline Institute in Orangeburg, N.Y. Foxe studies the effects of tea on the brain. He presented data at a tea conference at the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Washington.Foxe has found that an amino acid present in green, black and oolong teas has dramatic physiologic effects.

Tea and chocolate

Chocolate's relationship with coffee has too long been monogamous. Sure, they make for happy mouth companions, but in this tiny little space, I want to tell you that if you've never tried eating a bit of chocolate with your tea, you must. Seriously.

I confess that I did not hit on this idea myself. It was pitched onto my desk by some creative thinker at San Francisco Chocolate Company, makers of all manner of chocolates, including tins of delicate, meltingly rich chips that are just the right size for eating with tea.

My instructions were to boil a pot of water and brew cups of chai, black and green teas, then to enjoy each tea with a specific type of chocolate. I did and I was bowled over by the balance I discovered between the teas and the chocolate.

The white chocolate seemed to smooth out the grassy edges of the green tea.