Green Tea is Good for You
It should come as no surprise to anyone that green tea is good for you, there have been wars fought over the acquisition of tea. There are over 3,000 varieties of tea and they include Oolong tea, white tea, green tea, black tea, and berbal all derivatives of the camellia sinensis plant. Historically it was thought that tea originated from China, hence the expression for “all the tea in China”, and it was thought that the British smuggled out a tea bush and planted in what was then British India. However it is now thought that tea bushes are native to both Assam and China. In 1824 tea plantation were begun in the foothills of the Himalayas between Burma and the Indian state of Assam, which today is the second largest tea producer in the world China being the first.
What is so special about green tea and why is it that other Chinese teas don’t have the health benefits of green tea when oolong and black teas all come from the leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant, as does the green tea. The answer lies in the way that green tea leaves are processed. In preparing unfermented green tea, the freshly plucked leaves are steam blasted which kills the oxidizing enzymes, and then the leaves are heated and rolled until the leaves become dark green with a bluish cast. At this point the leaves are then dried and crushed. The green tea leaves remain green because the polyphenols are not oxidized and therefore remain colorless, allowing the processed leaf to remain green. Green tea also differs from black tea and oolong tea because the processed leaves lack theaflavins and thearubigins which give the beverage a weaker flavor than black tea. Black and oolong tea leaves are made from leaves which are fermented in their processing and this has an effect on their composition rendering them less effective to fight disease.
In China itself tea drinking is a ritual that goes back over a millennium but before the Chinese began to drink tea for its thirst quenching properties it was drunk for its medicinal properties. Tea makers in China and Japan have elevated the act of tea making into an art form it is still an insult to ignore a cup of tea when offered in South East Asia. The Chinese drink tea because they appreciate the benefits of green tea, without any green tea side effects. In March 2006 an article in the Journal of American clinical nutrition declared green tea to be the healthiest beverage after water to drink.
Posted in 
Tags: 