Green tea is a drink made from the steamed and dried leaves of the Camellia sinesis plant, a shrub native to Asia. Black tea is also made from this plant, but unlike green tea, it is made from leaves that have been fermented. Fermentation may reduce the levels of some compounds, such as antioxidants, in black tea.
Green tea is often lauded for the many amazing health benefits that it touts. However, in Asia, the birthplace of tea, green tea is widely enjoyed not only for medicinal effects, but for the many dimensions of flavor that can be experienced through the different varieties. In China, there are nearly as many varieties of green tea as there are towns. Adagio Teas continues to sell the finest loose green tea you'll find, and now offers many varieties in a convenient gourmet tea bag as well.
Tea plants grow only in warm climates but can flourish at altitudes ranging from sea level to 7,000 feet. The best teas, however, are produced by plants grown at higher altitudes where the leaves mature more slowly and yield a richer flavor. Depending upon the altitude, a new tea plant may take from 2 ½ to 5 years to be ready for commercial picking, but once productive, it can provide tea leaves for close to a century.
Green tea has been consumed throughout the ages in India, China, Japan, and Thailand. In traditional Chinese and Indian medicine, practitioners used green tea as a stimulant, diuretic (to promote the excretion of urine), astringent (to control bleeding and help heal wounds), and to improve heart health. Other traditional uses of green tea include treating flatulence (gas), regulating body temperature and blood sugar, promoting digestion, and improving mental processes.
The secret of green tea lies in the fact it is rich in catechin polyphenols, particularly epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG). EGCG is a powerful anti-oxidant: besides inhibiting the growth of cancer cells, it kills cancer cells without harming healthy tissue. It has also been effective in lowering LDL cholesterol levels, and inhibiting the abnormal formation of blood clots. The latter takes on added importance when you consider that thrombosis (the formation of abnormal blood clots) is the leading cause of heart attacks and stroke.
The main polyphenol in green tea is epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG). Scientific studies suggest that EGCG and green tea polyphenols have anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties that may help prevent the onset and growth of skin tumors.
Green tea brewing time and temperature varies with individual teas. The hottest brewing temperatures are 180°F to 190°F (82°C to 88°C) water and the longest steeping times 2 to 3 minutes. The coolest brewing temperatures are 140°F to 150°F (60°C to 66°C) and the shortest times about 30 seconds. In general, lower quality green teas are steeped hotter and longer, while higher quality teas are steeped cooler and shorter. Steeping green tea too hot or too long will result in a bitter, astringent brew. High quality green teas can and usually are steeped multiple times; 2 or 3 steepings is typical.
The Green Tea diet pills are mach more effective than the regular green tea and all other teas, because they contain only the active ingredients extracted from the leaves.
Green tea helps lowering cholesterol levels. The Avatrim green tea pills kill the 1 factor for heart diseases – high cholesterol.
Green tea is used for its antioxidant properties, to help fight mental and physical fatigue, its general health enhancing properties, in the fight against cancer, help to prevent blood clotting tendencies, lower blood cholesterol levels and the regulation of blood sugar levels. It is also used in weight loss programs, since it is helpful to those individuals busy with weight loss.
Green Tea can lower 'bad' cholesterol levels. Researchers at the Beltsville Human Nutrition Research Center in Beltsville, Maryland, asked test subjects to eat low-fat, low-calorie prepared meals and drink five cups of caffeinated green tea or caffeinated and non-caffeinated placebos that mimicked the look of tea. Levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol dropped 10 percent among the test subjects who drank tea.
