The Facts of Green Tea

There are four types of tea – white, black, oolong, and green. How the teas differ is the way the tealeaves are processed between the time they are picked and the time the are packaged.

The way that green tea is processed is that the leaves are picked and preserved by either steam or baking. This method keeps the leaves from undertaking the procedure of fermentation (oxidation).

Green tea has one-half to one-third of the caffeine that black tea has. This is due to the way the green tea is processed. When tealeaves are fermented, it slightly changes the chemical makeup of the tea. The longer the leaves ferment, the weaker the cancer-fighting compounds become, and in turn, the caffeine in the tea increases.

Almost 90% of the polyphenols found in green tea is called catechins (KAT-uh-kins).There are three times as much catechins in green tea than there is in black tea.

Health Benefits

Today, scientific research in both Asia and the west is providing hard evidence for the health benefits long associated with drinking green tea. For example, in 1994 the Journal of the National Cancer Institute published the results of an epidemiological study indicating that drinking green tea reduced the risk of esophageal cancer in Chinese men and women by nearly sixty percent. University of Purdue researchers recently concluded that a compound in green tea inhibits the growth of cancer cells. There is also research indicating that drinking green tea lowers total cholesterol levels, as well as improving the ratio of good (HDL) cholesterol to bad (LDL) cholesterol.

A few medical conditions that green tea is known to help:

• Infections
• High Cholesterol
• Cancer
• Immune Deficiencies
• Cardiovascular Disease
• Rheumatoid Arthritis

Want to lose weight?

There is evidence from a study done at the University of Geneva in Switzerland, published in 1999’s American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, which states green tea is a help to weight loss.

Green tea has been known to be added in numerous products for healthy benefits. Green tea can even prevent tooth decay! Yes, you can actually find toothpastes with green tea added. The tea destroys bacteria that causes food poisoning. It also has been added to skin provisions anywhere from deodorant to facial creams.

~Rochelle Valasek

Rochelle Valasek has been having teas since she was a little girl.  She has many stories, experience and information to share from the many teas with her family, close friends and even strangers.  Rochelle brings women from all around into her home regularly to share the spirit of having teas.