Thousand of years ago Chinese Buddhist monks discovered that drinking tea helped with their daily meditation. Meditation, they believed, was the source of all enlightenment. But tea drinking became established in China many centuries before it had even been heard of in the west.
What is green tea & how is it made?
Green tea is actually based on the same leaves as regular black tea, but with the exception that the tea leaves are not oxidized. This means that the tea tastes different and retains large parts of its nutrition and its positive qualities. Green tea is usually produced by roasting or holding the leaves over water vapor, immediately after picking. This reduces oxidation and retains nutrients and antioxidants in a nice way.
Health benefits from green tea
1. Boosts your energy
Green tea is the healthiest beverage that pack a lot of punch like caffeine and L-Theanine. Caffeine helps with drowsiness, and L-Theanine which help sharpen our focus and concentration. Green tea does contain caffeine but it may differ from different brand and quality of the process. An equal quantity of green tea contains less caffeine than coffee (one cup of green tea contains approximately 35-80 mg compared to approximately 100-400 mg in the same size cup of coffee), but it can still act as a stimulant. As a result, some people find that drinking green tea boost energy levels and focus but this effect may vary between individuals.
2. High level of antioxidants
and then we have polyphenols, antioxidants that protect and repair our cells in the event of illness, old age, general degradation and oxidation that can occur in when we stress. The most important antioxidants we know of are the catechins, especially EGCG, which are considered to fight cancer.
3. Protection from diseases
Thanks to these antioxidants, green tea can protect against diseases like cancers, diabetes heart disease, alzheimer, stroke. With that being said, green tea can protect the body from this disease but you need to look into many lifestyle factors that need to be changed for optimal performance. If you have a disease risk or disease state, then green tea is a very small aspect in the context, and you should then review things like sleep, stress, diet, exercise and rest, thus creating balance in your life.
Tips for drinking green tea
1. Let the water cool down
The best way of doing it is boil the water then let it cool down slightly between 80-70 decrease. Pour the water in you cup with your tea and let it sit for 2 minute before you drink. warm and ambient temperatures are the best to retain as much of the nutrients in green tea
2. Don’t drink green tea in connection to meals
Like all types of tea, Green tea contains tannins. Tannins can interfere with the absorption of Iron so try not to drink tea with an iron-rich meal and leave at least one hour before drinking tea after an iron-rich meal.
3. Drink more than 2 cups a day
They are many studies showing that if you want to get the most of what green tea can offer you must drink more than 2 cups a day. The monks for example drink 10 cups a day of green tea. There was a study showing that over 40,000 Japanese participants between the ages of 40 and 79 for 11 years, starting in 1994 who drank at least 5 cups of green tea per day had a significantly lower risk of dying (especially from cardiovascular disease) than those who drank less than one cup of tea per day.
4. Buy green tea with high quality
A great tip before buying your green teas is to choose a higher quality brand of green tea, because some of the lower quality brands may contain excessive amounts of fluoride and contamination in the the process. That being said, even if you choose a lower quality brand, the benefits is still far better than any of the risks.
The King of Green tea and my personal favorite - Matcha, here is why!
Matcha is an Powerhouse full with vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and amino acids in a way no other green tea can compete.
Matcha is a ("rubbed tea") is a powdered green tea that is also used today in Japanese tea ceremonies, but the tea is also used for flavoring and coloring of, for example, ice cream and pastries. To drink matcha properly invest in a traditional tea-set. In that tea set it should include a bowl/cup, bamboo whisk and bamboo tea measuring spoon. Prepare matcha first by heating up the bowl and the whisk with 70-80c ° hot water then pour out the water from the bowl/cup. Insert Matcha with the bamboo spoon, pour 70-80 degree water just a few centimeters then whisk the tea so that a green fine foam settles on the surface that pour more water into bowl/cup and let it sit some minutes before you drink.When you drink matcha you ingest the entire leaf and receive 100% of the nutrients of the leaf. Matcha has 137 times more antioxidants than regular brewed green tea. One cup of matcha has the same proportion of 10 regular brewed green tea cups, that is why Macha is a superfood or a super beverage.
I hope you have enjoyed this blog
Kind Regards
Gabriel