The True Power of Green Tea

Green tea is made solely from leaves of tea plant called Camellia sinensis. It originates in China but is also associated with many countries and cultures of Asia, from Japan and South Korea to the Middle East.

It is indeed a very old yet popular drink. Drinking green tea protects you against many modern diseases and slows down the process of aging.

Keywords: green tea, antioxidants, free radicals, weight loss, diet, vitamins, health

Lately green tea is becoming increasingly popular drink, both with old and young. This delicious drink can be served in all seasons and is tasty warm or cold.

What makes green tea so healthy?

Green tea hunts down free radicals roaming freely in your organism. These free radicals may cause cancer and stroke.

Green tea also relieves sunburn, lowers blood pressure, strengthens your immune system, relieves overabundance of stomach acid and eliminates bad breath.

Green tea also protects you against formation of kidney stones, help you restore power after physical exertion, promotes youthful looking skin and raises your concentration.

In other words, green tea is a healing potion!

Substances found in tea leaves have many positive effects on your health and your well-being.

Below you can read about the most important substances found in green tea.

Polyphenols

Polyphenol is an antioxidant and protects your body against harmful effects of free radicals formed in your body as a result of an unhealthy lifestyle, stress, heavy training, etc.

Green tea contains as many as 25 different polyphenols. Among them is the catechin which acts as an antioxidant.

EGCG (epigallocatechin gallate)

Green tea contains a very strong antioxidant EGCG (epigallocatechin gallate) which is more than hundred times stronger than a well-known antioxidant vitamin C and 25 times stronger than vitamin E – that is when it comes to fighting off free radicals.

Flavonoids

Flavonoids have a significant impact on prevention of cardiovascular disease and positively affect the absorption of vitamin C in your body.

Tannins

Tannins have an inhibitory effect on digestion of caffeine that is found in green tea so that caffeine is released into the blood stream gradually and not all at once.

Caffeine

Caffeine gives tea invigorating effect. In one cup of tea there is up to 0.002 oz (80 mg) of caffeine. Due to gradual release of caffeine its invigorating effect lasts longer.

Vitamins

Green tea is a source of B-complex vitamins and vitamin C. B-complex vitamins have positive impact on mental capacity, strengthen the nervous system, increase metabolism and detoxify your body.

Vitamin C acts as a powerful antioxidant that strengthens your immune system. The amount of vitamins in green tea depends on quality of the product and preparation of the drink itself.

Teanin

Teanin is an amino acid that has the opposite effect as caffeine and has a soothing effect. It also gives green tea a pleasant aroma.

Positive effects of drinking green tea

For physically active people drinking green tea is highly recommended. People who are trying to lose weight will find drinking green tea very beneficial too!

Intensive and prolonged sport activity generates free radicals in your body. Drinking green tea before exercise will protect your cells and tissue from damage caused by free radical. In addition caffeine will stimulate you as it has a positive impact on sport performance.

Drinking green tea after activity will help you regenerate faster and alleviate muscle cell damage. As an alkaline drink, green tea helps with the excretion of acidic metabolites generated during sports activity.

Drinking green tea slows down the process of aging, fights off free radicals and refreshes your body and mind. Drink it daily.

Green tea promotes weight loss

Studies have shown that a person who drinks green tea spends an additional 70-100 calories per day on average due to the antioxidants called catechins (ECGC and polyphenols).

Therefore drinking green tea will increase your daily calorie consumption. When losing weight it is important that your caloric intake is lower than your caloric expenditure. This way you are forcing your body to obtain the missing energy from stored reserve – that is your extra body fat.

Also, green tea will boost your metabolism by up to 5%. Faster metabolism means faster digestions means more effective weight loss.

Drinking green tea will:
-boost your metabolism by up to 5%*
-lower the glycemic index of food you ate by 20%*
-increase your daily calorie consumption by up to 10%*
*It all depends on how much green tea you drink per day. Advised dosage is 3 to 4 cups per day.

How much green tea per day?

It is advised to drink 3 to 4 cups a day. It is not advised to drink large amounts of green tea because caffeine causes insomnia and restlessness, excessive discharge of water from the body and possible loss of minerals.

How to prepare green tea?

Heat the water until boiled and let it stand for 1 to 2 minutes. Pour hot water over tea leafs and wait for 2 to 3 minutes. Time it well as most healthy ingredients are eliminated after three minutes (kind of “burned off”).

If you leave tea leaves in hot water for 2 minutes only, the tea will be more refreshing! After 2 minutes, more tannin (which binds a part of caffeine to itself) is excreted from leaves and makes tea more soothing, but a bit more bitter.

If you leave the leaves in hot water for more than 3 minutes, the tea becomes bitter and less tasty, also most of healthy ingredients are eliminated.

Of course not all teas are ready in 2 or 3 minutes. Some special teas require different preparation. See packaging for more details.

Here’s a quick list of different teas and steep time.

Tea Type Water Temp ‘F / ‘C Steep Time
White 175-185 F / 79-85 C 1-3 Minutes
Chinese Green 185 F / 85 C 3 Minutes
Japanese Green 180 F / 82 C 2-3 Minutes
Black 206 F / 96 C 3-5 Minutes
Darjeeling 185 F / 85 C 3 Minutes
Oolong (Rolled & Long Leaf) 185-206 F / 85-96 C 3-5 Minutes
Herbal Infusion/Tisane 206 F / 96 C 5-7 Minutes
Raw Pu-Erh 195 F / 90 C First Soak 30 Seconds Then Flush. Steep 3-5 Minutes
Half Baked & Full Baked Pu-Erh 206 F / 96 C First Soak 30 Seconds Then Flush. Steep 3-5 Minutes

Did you know?
Green tea leaves can be used several times, but need to rest for at least 5 minutes between usage.

The density of polyphenols is increased if a bit of lemon is added to a freshly prepared tea.

Tea leaves are edible, so you can use them as a condiment when you prepare food and thus get even more healthy substances that are insoluble in water (especially fiber).

So, are you thinking of replacing your morning coffee for green tea? If you have tried green tea before and you didn’t like it there is still hope.
You can buy flavored green tea which you can find in your local super market. Some of them taste excellent! Try mango and passion fruit flavored green tea – you will be surprised by its taste! It’s a guarantee!

3 COMMENTS

  1. Nice post… .

    1Drink green tea after you’ve allowed it to cool down slightly.
    2. Don’t brew too many infusions from the same tea leaves.
    3. Avoid tea that is too concentrated.
    4. Avoid drinking green tea when taking any medications.
    5. Don’t drink too many cups! 4-6 cups a day are more than enough for you to reap the benefits of green tea.
    6. Drink green tea an hour before or after your meals.

  2. Generally when you write an article that includes as many attention grabbing factoids as this it’s good to cite at least one credible source. I was just googling for an explanation as to why green tea on an empty stomach can cause nausea and here’s this ‘article’ full of sensationalist health claims backed up by absolutely nothing. Yay for the wellness industry, no need to provide evidence, just make the claims and watch the sheep follow!

    I don’t doubt a lot of the claims you’ve made in this article, a lot of them are very well backed up by numerous peer-reviewed studies and trials. Which really just makes it more surprising that you couldn’t reference a single one. Just smells of the laziness of a part-time writer to me.

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