Benefits of Tea – Green Tea Benefits

Archive for the ‘Green Tea’ Category

When it comes to promoting good health and well-being, green tea is mentioned more and more frequently. This shouldn’t be a surprise since herbs have been used for centuries to heal and stay healthy. If you’re trying to choose the best green tea, it’s probably going to be a matter of which one has the best taste and lists the most health benefits.

It’s not safe to say that all manufactured green tea is effective when it comes to cleansing your body of bad toxins. In fact, it may be dangerous to assume all green tea is going to be good for you. You need to be certain that you’re getting what you pay for as well as get the best green tea that’s currently available.

To begin with, you need to decide whether you want to use fresh green tea leaves or the individually bagged tea. While convenience is certainly a factor for a lot of people, there are other things that the discerning tea drinker looks for. There’s the matter of aroma as well as taste and texture that the tea leaves provide, which you won’t find with the bags.

In order to help you make the choice of which is the best green tea for you, there’s plenty of research to conduct about the types and quality. The Internet provides all of the information that you could possibly need to make a good decision. Visit online shopping websites such as Amazon.com where you can read the reviews of all sorts of green tea and see what other people are saying about them. There will be comments about the aroma, the taste and what health benefits are associated with each ones.

You may want to decide which country you want as the origin of your green tea. A lot of countries produce wonderful quality green teas but there are still 2 at the top overall: China and Japan. Some of their best green tea never leaves the countries so the only way you can buy them is through online websites. Of course, each country will have its own special brand that it’s most known for. If you’re willing and able to spend the extra money, you can buy these, too.

The highest quality green tea doesn’t have to be expensive. If you do the right kind of research and find the best sources, you’ll be able to locate some amazing green teas that won’t clean out your bank account.

Green Tea – Healthy, Wealthy and Wise

It is not always that we are so fortunate that something we enjoy is good for us. How lucky we are that green tea fits that role so well!

The role of green tea in promoting health has been much in the news in the last few years. There is ample evidence that, consumed in moderation, green tea indeed does aid many aspects of functioning. Some of these benefits have been known for over a thousand years.

The polyphenols, flavonoids and even caffeine (in moderate quantities) present in green tea are all known to help the body protect itself. Green tea helps lower cholesterol (the ‘bad’ kind), absorbs free radicals that can damage cell membranes and reduces the prospect of certain cancers.

Despite Federal FDA denials, many studies lend strong support to those who tout green tea’s benefits. Black tea, as well, has most of the same benefits.

But green tea has many virtues beyond the medicinal. It tastes delightful and provides a relaxing form of enjoyment in a hectic world.

Just as with black or Oolong tea, green tea comes from the leaves of an evergreen called Camellia Sinensis. They are plucked, then processed. But unlike black tea, green tea leaves do not go through a long oxidation process.

Instead, green tea leaves are steamed, which retains the EGCG (epigallocatechin gallate) antioxidants. Black and Oolong teas undergo ‘fermentation’ which converts the EGCG into other compounds. ‘Fermentation’ in tea, despite the use of the same word, is not the same process as in winemaking. No sugars are converted to alcohol. It’s simply a synonym for oxidation, more or less.

As a result, the tea flavor is much more delicate and the aroma and taste retain much more of the ‘vegetative’ quality from the original bush. That flavor is enjoyed in a hundred varieties by tea drinkers the world over.

The Long Jing tea from Hang Zhou in China, pan dried and flat in appearance, often goes by the name Dragon Well. This green tea is among the most common drinks in China. Yet for all its commonality, it makes a fine brew. The Gyokuro, also known as Jewel Dew as a consequence of its color, is another fine green tea from China.

The Ryokucha from Japan is a green tea that is so common there that a form of the word (ocha) is often taken to mean simply ‘tea’. Connoisseurs regard the green tea from the Uji region of Kyoto to be among the finest. Matcha is a powdered green tea once used primarily in tea ceremonies. Now it is so popular throughout Japan and elsewhere that it finds its way into ice cream and other sweets.

Gunpowder, which has nothing to do with the explosive, is another popular variety. The leaves are rolled into tiny pellets, making for a very intense infusion. Its muscatel overtones make for a wonderful brew.

There is even a green tea-style Earl Grey. Though without the heady flavor of the more common black tea type, the bergamot oil combines well with green tea.

So if you have always been a committed black tea drinker, it’s time to open up your horizons. It may not make you wealthy, but it can give you enjoyment and promote your health. And isn’t that very wise?