I’ve been drinking green tea for at least 20 years. I usually have 3 – 4 cups per day. It’s my hot drink of choice. I like coffee, but I can’t handle too much caffeine. Green tea contains less caffeine and has a much more calming effect.
Green tea has become part of my health plan due to it’s benefits. Green tea contains natural compounds called catechins particularly Epigallocatechin-3-gallate(EGCG). One study compared the effects of EGCG against 9 other tea polyphenols on colon cancer cells. EGCG was found to be the most effective in colon cancer prevention.
Another study showed that frequent consumption of green tea decreased the risk of cognitive impairment in middle aged and older adults.
Some other health benefits of green tea include helping with weight loss, improved heart health, lower cholesterol and improved insulin sensitivity.
Drinking 3 – 5 cups per day is a good target range to shoot for in order to gain the health benefits of green tea. Adding a little lemon juice to a cup of green tea will increase the antioxidants even more.
A type of green tea is matcha which is a powder made from dried green tea leaves. The green tea it is made from is grown differently than regular green tea. About a month before harvest it is covered to protect it from sunlight. This helps produce more chlorophyll and antioxidants. It has even more benefits than green tea because you are consuming the leaves. It does have more caffeine than regular green tea, but not as much as coffee. Dr. Andrew Weil sells matcha and other Japanese teas, which I have yet to try.
Challenge:
If you don’t currently drink green tea, give it a try. Watch out for teas with natural flavoring. They are probably chemicals that are not so natural.
There are a lot of different tea brands, but a few of my favorites are:
Uncle Lee’s Organic Green Tea – This is a budget organic green tea good for frequent drinking.
Prince of Peace Organic Green Tea – This is another budget green tea that is a step up from the first one.
Buddha Teas – This company uses unbleached tea bags. The tea is organic, non-gmo. It’s a little more expensive. The taste is a little milder.
Bigelow Green Tea – This is a non organic, budget tea that’s pretty easy to find in stores.
Green tea also comes loose which avoids any chemicals that could be in the tea bag itself. Just put a teaspoon of dried tea leaves in an infuser. Put the infuser in a coffee cup. Pour hot water over it and let steep for 3 – 5 minutes. Make sure the infuser is stainless steel. This infuser is similar to what I use. The only part I don’t like about loose leaf tea is when tea leaves are very small and get through the infuser mesh, so you end up with tea leaves in the cup.
Resources:
https://longevity.technology/lifestyle/11-health-benefits-of-green-tea/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3509513/
https://bmcgeriatr.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12877-020-01848-6
https://matcha.com/pages/learn
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More Tea Resources