Green Tea Facts: Immerse Yourself!

Green Tea Facts #1:
How’d you like your Chinese Tea, mister?

Whether the tea is green, black or oolong depends on the way the tea is processed, not on the color of tea leaf, which is all the while, green. Forgive the pun.

What about white tea?

White tea comes from the tender uppermost buds (baby leaves), which are still covered in fine, white hairs. This is how it got its name.

Green Tea Facts #2:
To Ferment or Not To Ferment

White and green teas are unfermented or “unoxidized”; they are steamed immediately after harvest and then rolled and dried. A correctly brewed white tea gives a pale gold appearance, while green tea gives a lovely jade green color.

Oolong tea is partially fermented (< 90% oxidized), while black tea is fully fermented. During the process of oxidation, the flavor and chemical properties of the tea will alter.

Green Tea Facts #3:
The Important First Step

In a fast-food restaurant, did you notice how many people eat? Fast, and in a haste.

Slowly chewing food is too time-consuming; they prefer to swallow it after a few quick chews. And where tea is concerned, many will just drink it in one gulp!

Yet, when we talk about the health benefits of green tea, one that springs up often is its anti-stress property.


Enjoying the Experience!

The art of tea-brewing demands attention to detail and gentleness in every single step. To enjoy the art, you must first learn how to appreciate it.

Now, after brewing … try to observe the color of the tea … take your time … relax … smell its aroma … then slowly and mindfully you take a sip, tasting and relishing every drop with pleasure.

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Things to consider for a perfect brew:

• the choice and quality of tea
• tea set
• the tea amount
• water temperature
• brewing time

Writer Zhou Zuoren sums this up well.

“In simple terms, drinking tea is a way to get a moment of respite from the hustle and bustle of life and work, to experience comfort and joy in the groans and grinds of this bitter life, to seek fulfillment and harmony in the imperfection and the harshness of present reality and thus achieve a sparkle of peace in the soul that can endure to eternity.”

Allow Ms Liu Dan to demonstrate the art of brewing green tea. Enjoy and relax.

Green Tea Facts #4:
Umami, Thianine!

Heard of umami?

It simply means “delicious” or “tasty”.

Of the over 20 amino acids in tea leaves, theanine is the most abundant.

Exuding a rich, fresh, lingering “sweet” taste, umami is the single most important determinant of tea quality.

Is umami unique only to tea?

No, this pleasant savory taste also occurs naturally in many foods besides tea, such as meat, fish, certain mushrooms, and dairy products.

Taste aside, are you aware that tea theanine, in particular of green tea, also promotes a calming and relaxing effect on the brain?

Here's my natural “Joy” equation:

Tea theanine + Tea ceremony = Serenity

Green Tea Facts #5:
Tea Theanine – Green or White?

This is why the most tender, less astringent teas are plucked in the early spring. With this in mind, naturally enough you’ll assume white tea has the highest theanine content, right?

However, there’s always a grey area between quality white and green teas. A high grade green tea, like its white cousin, also comes from very young tea leaves.

Additionally, the theanine content in white tea has not been measured or studied specifically.

You've got to trust your taste buds here.

If white tea is your tea of choice, Silver Needle is a must-try.

The first and most tender wooly leaf buds of the camellia sinensis tea plant are hand-harvested every spring for just a few days to produce this tea, which is one of the rarest and finest organic teas available in the world!

White Teas 101

As mentioned, theanine is converted to catechin as the season progresses, and when tea leaves begin to mature.

Making the best use of this knowledge, the Japanese take the growing of tea a step further―they shade the tea plants during growth, before harvesting.

This is to “minimize the conversion of theanine to catechin by keeping the tea leaves and bud sets in a slow-growing state of immaturity that are harvested at the peak time—when theanine and caffeine are peaked and catechin is at the right balance.”

The Uji Gyokuro, the most sought-after Japanese green tea, and Matcha, literally “powdered tea,” are two examples of “shaded” tea.

Japanese Green Teas 101 (Part 1)
Japanese Green Teas 101 (Part 2)


Green tea trivia

Ever wonder why high grade green teas, which contain the highest level of caffeine, are more soothing (calming) than lower grade tea?

Let’s get to the next green tea fact: “caffeine”

Green Tea Facts #6:
High Caffeine in Green Tea?

Have you got the answer to the above question?

But I thought caffeine is supposed to be “stimulating”, and may even give you jittery. A calming/soothing cup of coffee is unheard of anyway!

Let’s get two things straight.

If we take an average of 30 mg, you’d have to drink 8 cups of green tea to reach that level, which is equivalent to about 4 cups of coffee.

The point I'm trying to get across is: A cup of green tea contains approximately half the amount of caffeine found in a cup of coffee. Hence the “less stimulating” effect.

Again, each of us is different. No one knows your body better than yourself.

Caffeine is of course not recommended in these levels (200 to 300 mg) if you want optimal health, but small amounts are quite okay.

Second, let’s not forget that tea contains not only caffeine, but also theanine.

The answer to why high grade green teas, which contain the highest level of caffeine, are more soothing (calming) to drink is … theanine.

So are you trying to say that theanine “cancels off” the stimulating effect of caffeine?

Please click here to find out.

Green Tea Facts #7:
The Power of Tea Polyphenols

Polyphenols are chemical compounds such as flavonoids found naturally in the plant world, including tea.

These flavonoids including quercetin, rutin and catechin are an important class of powerful antioxidants.

Catechin, also called condensed tannin, is peculiar to green tea because during black tea fermentation, the oxidation process reduces catechins in tea leaves to theaflavins and thearubigins.

Black Tea Extract, Theaflavin: The Gold of Tea!

A cup of green tea may contain 60 to 125 mg of catechins, while black tea, 30 to 60 mg. For simplicity sake, I’ll take the average of 100 mg and 50 mg catechins per cup of green and black tea respectively.

Catechins: The Power of Green Tea Antioxidants!

Green Tea Facts #8:
Tea Tannins, Anyone?

The other main cause of concern (after caffeine) of drinking green tea: It may inhibit iron absorption in the body. As you know, green tea is filled to the brim with polyphenolic goodness, and one of them is catechin. And we want more of this polyphenolic compound, don’t we?

And since catechin is a reduced form of tannin (this is a little technical: if a catechin has 20 or more hydroxyl groups (-OH) groups, it's considered a tannin), is it true to say that more catechin means more tannin?

The idea is to achieve the right balance. A high grade green tea has higher theanine to polyphenol ratio. Tea drinkers always go for the theanine “sweetness” flavor when choosing high quality tea.

Yes, though catechin content is high in quality green tea, but it does not go to the extent of giving the tea an astringent taste.

As always, my advice is not to over-drink or over-eat anything, however good they are.

Many population studies documenting the health benefits of drinking green tea are based in Asia, where people typically drink 3 cups of green tea a day.

But for me, a cup or two a day of a good quality green tea is more than enough. No, I don’t throw away the first infusion for high quality teas, whether it's in tea bag form or loose tea leaf.

NOTE: One more misunderstood fact about tannin. It is not the same as tannic acid and cannot be used to treat animal skin to make leather. Ever!

Enough of green tea facts for now?

Tea, Iron Absorption, Anemia and More!

Oh, one more thing, and this is important. It's important because it indirectly involves each and every one of us.

It's Fair Trade.

So I guess another green tea fact wouldn't hurt, eh?

Green Tea Facts #9:
Fair Trade - Fair For Life

Why Fair Trade?

“Here are just a few reasons why fair trade practices are so important to Art of Tea:

~ Fair trade practices help producers in under-developed countries have greater opportunities to acquire the resources they need to improve their livelihood.

~ Sustainable development protects against land loss by promoting environmentally friendly processes which in turn creates a healthy working environment for producers and their families.

~ Fair trade practices also promote fair wages for workers, build schools and hospitals, create cultural centers, promote gender equality and fights against child labor in tea producing areas.”

Please click here to learn more.

I have to admit … not all the facts above are exactly “green tea” facts, but bear in mind, whether the tea is green, black or anywhere in between, it's still the same plant!

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