Japanese Green Tea. Different Green Tea Review Video

Japanese Green Tea. Different Green Tea Review Video

Japanese green tea offers a huge spectrum of diverse brews, ranging from very light and grassy to deep and roasted. Join Christine Savage as she delves into the subtle and not so subtle differences of Japanese Green Tea.

Green Tea. What Is Green Tea Video

Green Tea Video

Green Tea is not fermented or oxidized. Learn more about green tea with tips from a tea lounge owner in this free tea brewing video.

Types Of Green Tea. Green Tea Benefits

Types Of Green Tea. Green Tea Benefits

1) Gunpowder green tea

Gunpowder tea comes from China and comes in the form of small pellets that open up when placed in hot water. It has a slightly smoky flavor which many people enjoy. This tea is also high in fluoride which may help to reduce dental caries.

2) Bancha green tea

Bancha tea has a slightly stronger, more astringent taste than most higher-end green teas. It’s one of the least expensive green teas and is the most common green tea consumed in Japan. It also has the distinction of having one of the lowest caffeine contents of the green teas, which makes it suitable for those who are sensitive to caffeine. Despite being low in caffeine, it retains the polyphenols and other components that are associated with the health benefits of green tea.

You can also get a subtype of bancha green tea known as genmaicha which is a blend of bancha tea and toasted rice. This type of tea has a somewhat nutty flavor due to the toasted rice. Another type of bancha green tea is hojicha made of roasted green tea leaves. It also has a distinctively nutty flavor.

3) China green tea

China green has a more subtle flavor than gunpowder or bancha and is a good standard, everyday tea.

4) Sencha green tea

Sencha tea is made from smaller, more delicate leaves than those used for the lower priced bancha which gives it a more refined flavor. This tea has a natural sweetness which is brought out by steeping it at a slightly lower temperature of around 160 degrees Farenheit. It’s a green tea that the Japanese are most likely to serve their guests. Sencha also may have the most health benefits since it has the highest concentration of polyphenols.

5) Matcha green tea

This is the type of green tea used in the traditional Japanese green tea ceremonies. Matcha tea comes in the form of a fine green powder which is added to hot water and stirred with a bamboo whisk to dissolve the powder before drinking. It can also be incorporated into a variety of recipes including lattes, cookies, and ice cream.

6) Gyokuro green tea

Gyokuro tea is considered to be one of the highest grades of tea available and may not be offered at your local tea store, although it can be purchased online. It’s made from the first flush leaves and tends to have a greener color than most other forms of green tea with a sweet, slightly vegetative flavor. It’s considered to be Japan’s best green tea, and some types of gyokura may sell for as much as a thousand dollars a pound, although it can be found at more reasonable prices.

The next time you visit your local tea store, you won’t be so confused by the different types of green tea available to you. Try a variety and you’ll get the wonderful health benefits of green tea without ever getting bored!

How Natural Is Green Tea?

How Natural Is Green Tea?

Green tea leaves have for many years been used throughout Asia continent as a natural medicine for poor digestion, body aches and pains, headaches and general improved wellness.

Very little processing is required to produce green tea. In most cases the leaves are dried immediately after harvesting or briefly treated with steam prior to drying. There are a few types of tea that are also lightly roasted. Because of this minimal processing, the leaves keep their green color and more importantly they keep the very valuable ingredients that contribute to their healing properties. Green tea leaves contain caffeine, tannins, essential oils, proteins, vitamins, minerals and trace elements such as fluoride, zinc and potassium.

Green tea is naturally found to be rich in antioxidants. Antioxidants are used by the body to protect cells from free radicals (unstable molecules found in our cells) damage. Too much damage, over time, could lead to diseases which includes cancer. As part of our body cell renewal, antioxidants attach themselves to free radicals and this results in the neutralization these molecules. Drinking green tea frequently has been linked (confirmed by research) with the prevention of cancer; it lowers high blood cholesterol, prevents harmful blood clotting and acts to minimize the risk of strokes.

Green tea is very good for arthritis sufferers because of its anti-inflammatory properties.

As reported earlier, Green Tea has some caffeine which helps invigorate and improve concentration.

Green tea is also antibacterial. The tea contains the trace element fluorine whichs helps to fight tooth decay. It is suggested that just one cup of tea a day will be beneficial in the prevention of decay. Green tea is also ideal after dinner as a palette cleanser.

Many Naturopaths recommend green tea to cleanse the body. It is a useful addition to all types of detoxification diets. It contains no calories, no carbs and is referred to as the 'fat eater' in China due to its cholesterol-lowering properties.

Green Tea is fantatic for quenching your thirst, and can be enjoyed at any time of the day - either hot or cold. Sometimes lemon juice is added, or the tea is poured over ice to produce a really refreshing drink.

How to prepare Green Tea:

Put one level teaspoon of tea leaves per cup; then Boil your water and then let the water stand for a couple of minutes - allowing it to cool slightly. Pour the water over the green tea and leave the tea to brew.

Brewing the tea for 2-3 minutes will give you a mild tasting but highly stimulating tea.

Brewing the tea for 4-6 minutes yields a less stimulating and stronger tasting tea.

Important: The caffeine in green tea may cause heart palpitations in some sensitive people. To reduce the amount of caffeine in your tea, put one teaspoon of leaves in your cup, pour a little bit of hot water over it and allow it to stand for 30 seconds then strain. Now use the leaves to prepare your tea as usual - or of-course buy non-caffeine Green Tea, which is available in many health food stores.

By: Keith Woolley.

Does Bottled Green Tea Have Health Benefits

Does Bottled Green Tea Have Health Benefits

Have you ever wondered if bottled green tea has the same health benefits as freshly brewed green tea? Well, sorry to break the news to all of you bottled tea drinkers but in most cases, the answer appears to be no.

In December 2006, the U.S. Department of Agriculture made public its database on the flavonoid content of foods.1 (Flavonoids, a type of polyphenol, are a group of compounds found primarily in fruits and vegetables that act as powerful antioxidants. Green tea’s catechins are a sub-group of the flavonoids.) The USDA list, which includes the levels of catechins found in green tea that was prepared in different ways, is a real eye-opener for those who drink bottled tea for health reasons!

For example, the level of EGCg (green tea’s most potent catechin) in brewed loose-leaf tea was 77.81 mg per 100 grams of infusion. Decaffeinated green tea, however, had just one-third that amount, weighing in at 26.05 mg. But ready-to-drink green tea (the kind that comes in a can or a bottle) contained a minuscule 3.96 mg of EGCg, just 5 percent the amount found in freshly brewed green tea. And instant green tea was even worse, with a practically nonexistent .5mg EGCg!

Similar studies measuring the health-promoting compounds in green tea were done in 2005 by researchers at Oregon State University.2 They found that the polyphenol content and antioxidant activity in some bottled tea products were 10 to 100 times lower than those found in brewed tea!

Why does bottled (or canned) green tea have such low levels of catechins? A major reason is that the catechins are sensitive to heat and oxygen, making them easy to destroy during the processing, transporting and storing of bottled tea. Also, many bottled tea products are made from tea extracts, which have far fewer antioxidants to begin with than brewed tea. Then, to make matters worse, bottled tea products are often loaded with sugar or high fructose corn syrup which, besides being unhealthy and unnecessary, can contribute to catechin breakdown.

If you still want to drink bottled green tea, be sure to look for a high quality product made from brewed tea that contains no added sweeteners and has the polyphenol or catechin content listed on the label. Your best bet is a product that contains at least 75 mg polyphenols or 50 mg EGCg per cup. If you can’t find one, how about just settling for a nice bottle of water?

1http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/Data/Flav/Flav02-1.pdf (Scroll to database pages 87-88)2
http://oregonstate.edu/dept/ncs/newsarch/2005/Oct05/teaprotection.htm

What Is Green Tea. Why Drink Green Tea

What Is Green Tea, Anyway?

First things first: The word “tea” is only used correctly when it refers to leaves taken from the Camellia sinensis bush. And that means that herbal teas really aren’t tea – only green, black and oolong tea are the “real thing.” That said, the way the Camellia sinensis leaves are processed will determine which of these three choices the end product becomes.

To make black tea, the freshly picked tea leaves must undergo a process called oxidation. Oxidation occurs when an enzyme in the tea leaf called polyphenol oxidase is brought into contact with the air. To do this, the leaves are left in the sun for 18-24 hours to wither and dry; then they’re broken up to encourage further oxidation. Steaming, pan-firing or roasting the leaves stops the oxidation process, after which they are rolled, twisted and dried. Making oolong tea involves a similar process, although the leaves are withered for a shorter period, which produces a partially-oxidized leaf. But for green tea, the leaf isn’t withered or broken at all – in fact, just the opposite! The tea leaves are steamed almost immediately after picking in order to stop the oxidation process, after which they are rolled and dried.

The health benefits of the resulting tea will largely be determined by whether or not the tea leaf has been oxidized. That’s because the fresh tea leaf contains large amounts of catechins (pronounced “CAT-i-kins”), which are the powerful disease fighters and potent antioxidants that give green tea its health-enhancing abilities. But when exposed to air and polyphenol oxidase, the catechins change into completely different compounds called theaflavins and thearubigens. The theaflavins and thearubigens, which give black tea its distinctive taste, aroma and dark color, do have some health benefits, but not the same wide-ranging antioxidant and disease-fighting prowess seen in the catechins.

So in green tea manufacturing, it’s extremely important to rush the freshly picked leaves from the field to the manufacturing plant, being careful not to break or bruise them. There, the leaves are steamed or pan-fired immediately to inactivate the polyphenol oxidase. Afterwards, it’s safe to roll, twist, dry and package the leaves without worrying about obliterating the catechins. Yet even after the manufacturing process has been completed, green tea catechins can be destroyed if exposed to oxygen for too long. That’s why you should always keep your green tea in an air-tight container, even if it’s already in tea bag form. Remember: oxygen is the catechins’ worst enemy!

The Origins of Tea

The Origins of Tea

The British have been drinking tea for more than 350 years, but tea in other countries predates this by more than 4 millennia!!

Here's a detailed history of the origins of tea and how it became the world's favourite drink.

the first cup of tea was an accident

Our story begins over four and a half thousand years ago. According to Chinese mythology, in 2737 BC the Chinese Emperor, Shen Nung, scholar and herbalist, was sitting beneath a tree while his servant boiled drinking water. A leaf from the tree dropped into the water and Shen Nung decided to try the brew. The tree was a wild tea tree.

There are many authentic and supposed references to tea in the centuries before Christ, according to the Chinese dictionary dated circa 350 AD. The Chinese t'u was often used to describe shrubs other than tea, hence the confusion when Confucius allegedly referred to tea or t'u when writing about the "sow thistle" plant in the Book of Odes.

tea gets its name

From the earliest times tea was renowned for its properties as a healthy, refreshing drink. By the third century AD many stories were being told and some written about tea and the benefits of tea drinking, but it was not until the Tang Dynasty (618 AD - 906 AD) that tea became China's national drink and the word ch'a was used to describe tea.

The first book on tea "Ch'a Ching", circa 780 AD, was written by the Chinese author Lu Yu. It comprises three volumes and covers tea from its growth through to its making and drinking, as well as covering a historical summary and famous early tea plantation. There are many illustrations of tea making utensils and some say that the book inspired the Buddhist priests to create the Japanese tea ceremony.

The modern term "tea" derives from early Chinese dialect words - such as Tchai, Cha and Tay - used both to describe the beverage and the leaf. Known as Camellia sinensis, tea is an evergreen plant of the Camellia family. It has smooth, shiny pointed leaves which look similar to the privet hedge leaf found in British gardens.

tea drinking catches on

As Buddhist priests start to move around China and Japan, the spread of cultivation and tea drinking follows them.

The Indian and Japanese legends both attribute it to Bodhidharma the devout Buddhist priest who founded Zen Buddhism. The Indian legend tells how in the fifth year of a seven year sleepless contemplation of Buddha he began to feel drowsy. He immediately plucked a few leaves from a nearby bush and chewed them which dispelled his tiredness. The bush was a wild tea tree.

The first mention of tea outside China and Japan is said to be by the Arabs in 850 AD and it was they who were reputed to have brought it to Europe via the Venetians circa 1559. However, it is the Portuguese and Dutch who claim the credit bringing tea and tea drinking to Europe.

The Portuguese opened up the sea routes to China, some say as early as 1515. Jesuit priests travelling on the ships brought the tea drinking habit back to Portugal, while the sailors manning the ships encouraged the Dutch merchants to enter the trade. Subsequently a regular shipment of tea to ports in France, Holland and the Baltic coast was set up in 1610. England entered the trade via the East India Company, or the John Company as it was known, in the mid to late 17th Century.

Different Types of Green Tea

Different Types of Green Tea

If you try to buy green tea in a supermarket – even in a very large one – the chances are that you’ll only find one kind of green tea: the kind with ‘green tea’ written on the packet. The green tea that these packets contain tends to be of the absolute lowest quality, and so they are best avoided. Instead, you should try to buy your tea from Chinese markets or food stores, or order it over the Internet, as then you will be able to choose from the full range of green teas.

So which different green teas are there? Well, the most common green tea in Western countries is low-grade Gunpowder – that’s the stuff you’ll generally find in the supermarket. It is used because it is cheap, and stays fresher for longer than other green teas, because of the way it is rolled up into little balls.

The most popular green tea in China is Dragon Well, or Lung Ching, a bright green and quite expensive kind of tea. Many consider it to be the best green tea, but because it is expensive and not very much is produced, it is prone to imitation – make sure you trust whoever you’re buying this tea from to sell you the real thing.

In Japan, green tea drinkers prefer Sencha, a sweeter kind of green tea. It is cheaper than Dragon Well, more the kind of tea you could drink every day, but none the worse for it. Sencha is also more readily available over here than Chinese green teas tend to be, and there is a slightly cheaper version called Bancha as well.

The sweetest kind of green tea is Macha, the tea used in the Japanese tea ceremonies. It is very expensive and very nice, and tastes more like a luxury dessert than the everyday tea you’re probably used to – in Japan, it is a popular flavour of sweets and ice cream. If you ever get a chance to drink Macha, it’s well worth trying, because it really is the king of green teas.