Green Tea & Caffeine

So you've heard that green tea is good for you, and have considered trying some out to see what the big fuss is all about. If you have checked out what is on the typical grocery store shelf, you most likely have seen green tea bags of various descriptions. Sitting amongst these is usually a decaffeinated type as well. If one wants green tea but at the same time does not want the caffeine, most people would assume all they need to do is go for the decaffeinated version. Unfortunately, it's not quite so simple. What most people are not aware of is that the decaffeination process pretty much ruins the major health benefits associated with green tea. There are numerous reasons for this, but to understand why you need to have an idea on how green tea is processed. It all has to do with oxygen.
Decaffeinated green tea is just about unheard of in Japan, home of the world's finest green teas. There really is no place in the processing where a decaffeination process would work and not ruin the tea. This processing involves steaming, rolling, and drying, and takes about three hours start to finish.

Although it comes from the exact same species of plant (Camellia Sinensis) as black tea, it is picked and then process immediately to prevent oxidation of the leaves. Green tea, however, is not like that. This gives black tea its unique taste. When you drink regular English tea, those leaves have been exposed to oxygen and fermented that way on purpose. That is from contact with the air, or more specifically, the oxygen in the air.

Notice how it starts to turn brown? Think about what an apple looks like after it's been cut and sitting on the counter for an hour.
Quite often, the second infusion is greener than the first, although it won't be quite as aromatic or tasty. Since nearly all of the caffeine is in the first infusion, getting a quality decaf green tea is going to be better than the best decaffeinated green tea out on the market. As much of a shame as it seems to be to dump the first infusion (which has the most taste and best aroma), rest assured that the 2nd infusion of a high quality loose leaf Japanese green tea, preferably from the first harvest. That said, if it's a caffeine free cup of quality green tea is as simple as brewing an infusion, dumping it, and then re-brewing.

That's slightly less than regular black tea just a fraction of the caffeine in coffee. No, it is possible, but first it's important to know that green tea does not have high caffeine content, only about 30mg per cup. So does that mean one cannot drink decaffeinated green tea?
Based out of Japan, in addition to offering a wealth of information on the health benefits of green tea, O-Cha.com offers a large selection of loose leaf green tea, matcha, and tea brewing supplies. Kevin Moore is the founder of O-Cha.com, one of the internet's first and largest websites dedicated to Japanese green tea.
http://www.o-cha.com
Contact him at
kevinrm@o-cha.com

Types Of Chinese Tea

Probably you are familiar with the Chinese saying, "Firewood, rice, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, and tea are the seven necessities to begin a day." Though tea is last on the list, we can still see how important the tea is for the Chinese.
These include green tea, oolong, black, red, white, yellow, flower, and compressed tea. However, if we will consider tea in terms of quality, there are actually eight classes of Chinese tea. These are usually classified by procedure, quality, and preparation methods and so on.

There are actually thousand of Chinese tea varieties.
Now, let's take a look at these classes one by one.
Green Tea
Green tea is said to be the most natural type of Chinese tea. It is usually picked, naturally dried and fried briefly to get rid of its grassy smell. Unlike the other types, green tea skipped fermentation process.
Today, about 50% of China's tea is green tea. The aroma of this type of Chinese type range from medium to high, while the flavor is usually light to medium. According to some experts, green tea has the most medicinal value and the least caffeine content of all Chinese tea classes.
Oolong Tea
Chinese also call it "Qing Cha" and its typical leaves are green in the middle and red on the edges as a result of the process to soften tea leaves. This type of Chinese tea is halfway between green tea and black tea in a sense that it is half fermented.
Then, it is fried, rolled and roasted. Oolong tea leaves are basically withered and spread before undergoing a brief fermentation process.
Black Tea
The leaves of this variety become completely oxidized after processing. Also, this type of Chinese tea undergoes withering, then left to ferment for a long while, and then roasted. The Chinese black tea produces full-bodied amber when brewed.
Red Tea
It is also considered that red tea has low aroma and medium flavor and it is now divided into three subclasses: Kung Fu Red Tea, Ted Tea Bits, and Small Species Red Tea. This color is strongly highlighted during the fermentation process. As the name implies, this type of Chinese tea has red leaves and red tea color.
White Tea
This type of Chinese tea is sometimes considered as subclass of green tea. Perhaps it is for the fact that it is only withered and then roasted. Just like green tea, white tea escaped fermentation process. And, it has low caffeine content.
Yellow Tea
Apparently, yellow tea has yellow leaves and yellow tea color. According to some experts, this type of Chinese tea is an uncommon class of Chinese tea. The flavor of yellow tea is usually mild and refreshing.
Flower Tea
Generally, this class has light to medium flavor and medium to strong aroma. The Scented Tea, on the other hand, uses green tea and red tea as base and mix with scent of flowers. Well, the Flower Tea is just based on a simple concept that dried flowers are used, without much processing, to make tea. It actually subdivides into Flower Tea and Scented Tea.

Here is a unique type of Chinese tea - the Flower tea.
Compressed Tea
The final type of Chinese tea is the compressed tea. This class uses black tea as base tea. It is steamed and compressed into bricks, cakes, columns, and other shapes. Also, compressed tea has all the characteristics of black tea. It can be stored for years and decades.
Improve your health dramatically with the use of chinese tea -
http://www.chinese-tea-today.info

Anti-Aging Benefits of Green Tea

If you want to look and feel younger without prescription drugs or surgery something as simple as adding green tea to your diet may be an effective option. This very simple yet effective and tasty drink may very well reverse some of the more visible signs of aging!
Studies have indicated that green tea's powerful combination of biological compounds, called polyphenols which has a subgroup called "catechins" are extremely effective at destroying free radicals which can help reverse the aging process.
The most powerful of these catechins is a compound called EGCG. This is a natural antioxidant found in green tea or green tea extract which has 25-100 times the potency of vitamin C or E.
Here is one very interesting example. There is strong evidence supporting the notion that drinking green tea may reduce the risk of neurodegenerative disease such as Alzheimer's.
Healthy cells exposed to "amlyoid", a protein highly linked to Alzheimer's, rapidly died ( a condition called "cell death" ) due to the high toxicity of this protein. On the other hand, cells exposed to amlyoid and then exposed to green tea extracts containing catechins survived.
These amazing findings are too powerful to be ignored and give strong support to the notion that consuming green tea or green tea extract may reduce the risk of Alzheimer's disease.
There are many other anti-aging benefits related to drinking green tea such as: Reducing age spots, clarifying the skin, protecting against the suns UV rays, lowering LDL cholesterol (bad cholesterol)…
Green tea does contain caffine, which could be related to insomnia, anxiety, or other symptoms caused by the caffeine content naturally present in green tea. There is no real downside to moderate sensible tea consumption. More good news!
One cup beverage contains about 50-100 mg of polyphenols, depending on the quantity and quality of tea leaves used. A recommended dosage would be 300-400 mg of polyphenols daily to fully realize the anti-aging properties of green tea or green tea extract.
With every enjoyable cup you're doing your mind and body a favor - slowing the aging process the easy way! Compared to most artificially sweetend, overly processed and overpriced beverages out there today, you can't find a more healthy substance to put into your body than green tea.

Green Tea Has Just The Right Amount Of Caffeine With No Side Effects

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If you're looking for a coffee or soda substitute with just the right amount of caffeine enough to keep you awake and energized without the nervousness, chronic muscle tension, irritability, headaches, depression, and insomnia, Japanese Green Tea is exactly what you've been looking for. Green tea caffeine does not make you jittery or nervous.
Japanese Green Tea offers the best of both worlds when it comes to caffeine -- just enough to provide a stimulating pick-me-up that banishes unwanted drowsiness, but not enough to trigger nervousness or sleepless nights.
Ever since eight-century Buddhist monks discovered that tea helped them remain awake during long meditation sessions, tea has been used to boost lagging energy, refresh the mind, and brighten up the mood.
Caffeine increases your heartbeat, improves your alertness, your reaction time gets faster and your general mood becomes more "upbeat".
But to get the benefits of caffeine, you only need to consume the recommended caffeine intake.
The recommended caffeine intake per day is 200 mg.
Soda contains between 40 to 60 mg and a cup of drip coffee has a nerve-jangling 90 to 150 mg, more than half the amount of caffeine that some people should consume in a whole day. Soda contains between 40 to 60 mg. Soda contains between 40 to 60 mg.

Soda contains between 40 to 60 mg. Soda contains between 40 to 60 mg. Soda contains between 40 to 60 mg. The average cup of green tea contains anywhere from 8 to 20 mg of caffeine, while black tea contains at least twice that amount -- 40 to 60 mg.
Just 3 cups of coffee a day is enough to give you the problems like headaches, depression, insomnia, irritability and nervousness, if consumed on a daily basis for a long period of time.
Still, green tea does have a "brightening" effect. It would take at least 4 cups of the strongest green tea to equal the caffeine content of the weakest drip coffee.
Rose Antonio has been a green tea drinker for many, many years. She has a special interest in alternative healing and natural remedies.
Though she has tried different types of tea from different countries, she always go back to Japanese Green Tea not only because of its taste but more so because of its amazing health benefits gathered from years and years of research and from talking to many health enthusiasts.

Coffee Or Tea – Which One Will It Be

For a coffee lover like me….I sometimes like a good cup of tea.
In this busy world there is nothing finer than taking time out from a busy schedule to enjoy a quiet cuppa by ones self. Sitting back with a steaming espresso in hand is like entering an oasis of sanity in the middle of a hectic day.
But then again I do relish sharing a brew with one or more friends whether it is when they come to visit me at home, or if we all meet up at a coffee house.
I know I am grossly insulted if someone comes to my house and turns down my offer of a cup of the good brew Coffee and tea are an indispensable social tradition the world over.
However, if it is summer and the temperature is running a little high many people prefer iced coffee or tea to cool them down rather than to warm them up. Now days, there are also some really enticing gourmet blends on the market which include a variety of fruit or nut flavors that add something special to any occasion.
The only draw back is the decaffeination process tends to take some of the flavor with it, so it is best to buy a premium grade of coffee when you want the "no kick" or light variety. However if you are looking to wind down instead of be up-lifted, you can opt for decaffeinated coffee where the beans undergo a process to have the caffeine content removed. Both coffee and tea are stimulants which contain caffeine.
Some people can't drink coffee or tea at all because it affects their blood pressure. More commonly people won't touch coffee because it interferes with their sleep patterns. Naturally enough if you do have trouble sleeping then it would be best not to have a full strength brew just before you go to bed. Maybe an herbal tea would be a better choice.
Alternately, you may like to switch to a caffeine-free version of your favorite brew at bed time. Of course if you want a bit more buck, then you can always try one of those flavored stirrers that are becoming more and more popular and readily available in supermarkets everywhere these days.
Coffee and tea are the caffeine twins (although coffee is the one with all the hitting power); however it is quite ironic that both are associated with comfort and relaxation when really the opposite is in fact the case. If you are really looking to wind down beer or wine are probably better depressants.
We all have our different daily rituals when it comes to drinking coffee or tea.
First thing in the morning I prefer the jolt of a good espresso. The aroma is as stimulating as the coffee itself. It might seem strange but at lunch time I enjoy a cup of tea, something like English breakfast tea does it for me at this time of the day.
Lately with the arrival of warmer weather I have taken to drinking Chai tea. The spicy taste is quite refreshing and I like it either black or with a dash of milk. By the close of day I really like to finish off with a top quality gourmet blend coffee and possibly a glass of port or a small brandy on the side.
Enjoy!
At
http://www.thecoffeebrew.com
Whether it is the best beans, coffee machines or grinders - if it's about coffee then you will find something to interest you here. the author John - a self confessed coffee lover, shares with you the delights of exotic and gourmet coffees from all over the world.