The Health Benefits of Drinking Tea

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To learn how drinking tea became associated with good health we have to go back almost 5000 years to ancient China. According to legend in 2700 BC Shen Nung, who was Emperor, also had a reputation as healer. He was boiling water on a fire in the countryside one day when the leaves of a nearby bush blew into the pot. He drank the brewed water and felt renewed, alert and completely energized. He issued a proclamation that everyone in the land was required to new drink mixture known as tea.

It wasn’t until 700 AD that tea left China and started to appear in neighboring Japan, and the early 1600’s that tea first started showing up in Europe. In the 1700’s tea made the voyage across the Atlantic Ocean to the new colonies, and even played a role in Boston Tea Party, one of the events leading to the revolutionary war. It would be over 200 years later, the 1990’s to be specific that people began to look at tea the way Shen Nung had, as a health drink.

Today we know that drinking tea has scientifically proven health benefits. Tea exhibits both curative and preventative properties. Some of these properties including acting as an antioxidant, antibacterial, antiviral, and anti inflammatory agent. From a nutritional standpoint tea has no calories, no fats, and no sugars.

Eager to cash in on the benefit of tea some people sell “herbal tea” or “red tea” which in fact are not a true tea, and don’t pass on same benefits. Leaves from the Camellia sinensis bush are the only true tea leaves. They are come in 5 different varieties black, green, oolong, pu-erh, and white. The different varieties of tea arise from the way they are harvested and then processed, not from different varieties or species.

One of the most important ingredients in tea are the polyphenols which include catechins and flavanoids. All of these are antioxidants, and help the body maintain properly functioning blood vessels. Recent studies have shown that they may slow the growth of cancer. All of these ingredients can also be found in fruits and vegetables.

Most people who are eager to start trying tea ask “what kind of tea is going to give me the most health benefit”. The answer is any tea as long as it fresh and has been properly stored. Generally loose tea leaves fall into this category. They should be stored in small to medium sized airtight containers, which have opaque sides and do not allow light to penetrate. Tea stored in individual bags will have slightly less benefits. Tea packaged in bags gets more exposure to light and air and degrade quicker than loose leaves. Individually bagged tea is however much more convenient to use, so if you are going to use it buy small boxes that you will consume in reasonable timeframe and store it properly. The next step down would be powdered tea, which surprisingly still has some beneficial health properties. However keep in mind that the health benefits of tea begin to deteriorate about an hour after brewing, so try to finish your drink within that time. The one type of tea that had no measurable health benefit was bottled iced teas. In some cases they don’t contain real tea only a tea like flavoring.

Let’s take a look at the different types of teas starting with black. Black tea is the darkest and driest tea leaves you can buy. After the tea leaves are picked they are rolled up and allowed to wither and oxidize. Lipton and Tetley are two popular commercial varieties of black tea.

Oolong tea leaves are allowed to wither on the bush and then shaken free. This results in leaves with distinctively bruised edges. Oolong tea has a taste similar to black tea however it’s also poses many of the aromatic qualities of green tea. Follow the instructions carefully when brewing oolong tea as they vary considerably form variety to the next.

Green tea leaves are quickly dried and then steamed to prevent oxidation. This allows the leaves to retain much of their original green color. Some people find the taste of green tea to herbal or earthy others love it for its pleasingly fragrant aroma.

White tea leaves are come from leaves that were harvested before they had a time to fully mature. When picked they have a fine silvery fuzz and are then allowed to dry when they turn white. White tea has mild pale and slightly sweet flavor and aroma.

Pu-erh tea is like wine and champagne. The leaves are then aged with a microbial agent to enhance and enrich the flavors. This type of tea has a dark rich complex taste.

Many people believe that green tea has the most beneficial health results of all the teas available. There is however no scientific research to back up this claim. What is true is that green tea is more popular than black tea in China and Japan, marketers probably took advantage of this to promote an exotic old world remedy to a new and developing market. If you’re ready to stat getting the health benefits of tea we suggest you try each of the five varieties and find one of two kinds that you drinking over others.

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