Benefits of Tea – Green Tea Benefits

Posts Tagged ‘free radicals’

Sencha green tea originates from Kyoto, Japan. It’s made from tiny leaves and offers more of a refined taste than other types of green tea. In addition, this tea is actually a green color rather than the yellow of many Chinese teas. Many feel that Sencha has more of a bittersweet taste that complements both seafood and chocolate. Sencha also has the same health benefits that are found in other types of green tea.

One of these benefits aids oral health. Green tea offers fluoride in a natural form.  When you drink it, your tooth enamel is strengthened and you’ll get fewer cavities. You’ll find these same qualities in Sencha green tea.

It also reduces plaque buildup as well as bacterial infections that can invade the mouth. Green tea works great when you find yourself in a situation of having no way to brush your teeth. It will also help to refresh your breath.

It’s been proven that green tea is a natural way to increase your immunity. Green tea has very high antioxidant properties as well as being an anti-inflammatory and anti-viral agent. Antioxidants fix the damage that can be caused by excess free radicals created during oxidation. While Vitamins C and E are well-known antioxidants, the levels present in Sencha green tea are hundreds of times more powerful than Vitamin C and twenty five times more powerful than Vitamin E when it comes to protecting the immune system. The most powerful of these in green tea are Catechins.

Among the other abilities that green tea possesses are lowering high blood pressure and reducing overall cholesterol. These make green tea highly effective in preventing heart disease and strokes. Green tea can regulate blood sugar levels in people with diabetes and can actually prevent the onset of the disease. It can also prevent and treat cancer as well as acne.

Ancient traditions involving Sencha green tea can easily become a part of any personal meditational practices used to clear and calm the mind. It also functions as a mild stimulant to aid you in focusing, sleeping or handling anxiety.

You can have a refreshing hot cup of green tea to relax with and you can also pour the Sencha leaves into a sachet. Hang this sachet under hot running water from your shower or tub. You’ll have a very peaceful bath.

There are even ways to use green tea in the household. You can use it in both cleaning and cooking. You can even add it to your plants and freshen up your cat’s litter box.

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?