Home Health Information : Chinese Tea

Shennong's Herbal is the first recorded Chinese herb dictionary. It recorded 365 herbs more than 2000 years ago. The herbs were individual tasted and tested by Shennong – one of the earliest Chinese herbal pharmacists. The book states: “Shennong tasted hundreds of herbs. He was in contact with poisons daily. Regular tea drinking kept him free of sickness and stayed healthy.” The statement summarizes an ancient Chinese acknowledgement for teas: a beverage for enjoyment and a herb for health.

Over the centuries teas, especially those that are least processed such as GREEN , WHITE and OOLONG/WULONG teas, have been purported to have long term health benefits. These benefits have been studied intensively in recent years at various health/medical departments. (For original research articles and results, please visit PudMed at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)

Well established health benefits:

• Anti cardiovascular diseases, including stroke
• Anti cancer
• Anti obesity
• Anti inflammation & infection
  
• Enhance body immune system
• Control blood sugar, benificial to diabetes patients
• Control osteoporosis
• Lower risk of kidney stones

Conditions that are currently studied:

• Alzheimer's disease

• Combat auto-immune diseases
• Liver disease
• Skin care - rejuvenating skin cells

"Drinking tea slakes thirst, aids digestion, keeps off disease, shortens the time for sleeping, relieves water retention, improves eyesight, brings clear thinking and removes disturbances; Humans should not stop drinking tea for even a single day.” Zhang Qiande in a Treatise on Tea.

Compared to the long history of tea consumption, the scientific discovery of associated health benefits is new. The rapid increase of so call ‘life style related diseases’ such as cardio-vascular disease, cancer, diabetes, obesity etc, has caused people to ask what lifestyle related factors might assist in combating these. Teas are seen as candidates.

• Are there any negatives associated with drinking green teas?
   

   

  • For those who suffer from insomnia, it is better to be avoided in the afternoon. It contains caffeine equivalent to 1/4 cup of coffee. It is also not recommended for people who are over-sensitive to caffeine. Interestingly, there is one research of de-caffeine green tea showed the most of the health benefits disappeared with the remove of the caffeine.
  • It reduces the absorption of iron. For those who are iron deficient, it is recommended not to use it with meals.

   

• Does green tea reduces free radicals in the body?
   

   

  Yes! Teas, especially the least processed ones such as green and white teas, have been found to have the highest levels of natural anti-oxidants (catechins). Their preventive effect against cell damage is believed to be ten times of vitamin E.

  Here is what the US National Cancer Institute says.

  Tea and cancer prevention: fact sheet

• Fresh tea
   

   

  Tea is a very fragile product. Even the top quality teas could deteriorate rapidly when exposed to light, high temperature, moisture and foreign odor. Once the tea quality is diminished, it is truly not worth while drinking.

  Some downfalls of the teas on the current market:

  • Tea bags. Made of low quality tea dust to the effect that it is hard to distinguish whether it is fresh or not.
  • Loose leaf tea. Most of the packaged loose leaf teas currently on the market are not adequately packaged in air tight bags or containers. The teas are continuously exposed to moisture in the air, high temperature and odors from surrounding products.

  At Valley Green Tea, we only import teas that are seasonally produced. We use the latest techniques for storing high quality loose leaf teas - vacuum seal, refrigeration and small satchel packaging. The small satchel packaging (10-25g) allows teas to be consumed gradually without affecting the quality of satchels that remain sealed. We also air transported the teas to Australia to minimize the time out of refrigerated storage.

• How many cups of green tea should I drink daily?
   

   

  Anywhere between 3-8 cups depending on individual daily fluid intake. It is almost impossible to drink too much green tea.Anywhere between 3-8 cups depending on individual daily fluid intake. It is almost impossible to drink too much green tea.
  
  A normal cup of green tea contains about 1/4 caffeine of the equivalent cup of coffee. For those who are concerned about this caffeine intake, rinse the tea leaves with hot water and dispose this liquid which contains the majority of the caffeine before then brewing the remaining tea leaves ( 2 -3 minutes before drinking
  
  
• Other links - tea & health
   

   

  Tea & Health - Tea Industry Forum