Green Tea has been a popular beverage for thousands of years.
After water, tea is actually the 2nd most consumed beverage in the world!
Not only does it taste delicious, green tea also provides an incredible amount of health benefits, ranging from cancer prevention to diabetes protection to skincare to mental health.
Brief history of Tea
Green Tea has been consumed for thousands of years - it dates back up to 5,000 years in ancient China.
The most popular legend about the invention of tea takes place in 2700 BC. Emperor Shennong, who liked his water boiled before drinking it, was resting on a distant island. A dead leaf from a wild bush fell into his cup of hot water, but it went unnoticed and he started to drink it - and really enjoyed the flavour.
Quickly, Tea became a very important part of the Chinese culture and society.
Then, it also spread in other Asian countries especially Japan, where different types and styles of tea were then created.
Its importance grew so much that tea became subject of government taxation during the thirteenth-fourteenth century in China.
Finally, by the sixteenth century, Westerners (especially Britons) started exporting Tea from Asia and made it a desirable good all over the world.
Health Benefits of drinking Green Tea
Green Tea has been used as medicine for thousands of years in China, and later spread all over Asia.
The most important component of Green Tea is EGCG (epigallocatechin-3-gallate) - a powerful antioxidants.
Antioxidants protect the body against diseases and fight free radicals, lowering the risk for cancer, heart diseases and more.
You might have heard of "superfoods" like Acai or Goji Berries which contain high levels of antioxidants, which is very healthy - well, green tea offers between 2-5 times the amount of antioxidants that can be found naturally in blueberries, acai or goji berries.
Drinking Green Tea regularly has proven to provide the following health benefits:
- Lowers blood pressure
- Increases metabolism
- Lowers cancer risk (especially esophageal cancer)
- Lowers risk for heart diseases
- Anti-inflammatory properties
- Regulates glucose levels
- Prevents atherosclerosis / reduces bad cholesterol
- Dental health: inhibits growth of bacteria, reduces risk of infections
Mental health benefits:
- Improves memory
- Boosts availability of dopamine
- delay of deterioration caused by Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s
- contains Theanine, an amino acid with naturally relaxing and tranquilizing effects
- Calming effect, beneficial for meditation
Green Tea as medicine / external use
- High in antioxidants = anti-aging properties
- Skincare: for eye care, cleansers, toners and masks
- Relieves Acne and Inflammation
- Reduces sun damage
Matcha Green Tea
Matcha is a special Japanese type of green tea in powder form.
Only the finest green tea leaves are being hand-selected and harvested to create matcha powder. After removing the stems and veins, the leaves are then stone ground into a fine, smooth powder.
Matcha is much more intense than green tea - in both colour, taste, potency and nutrients.
It contains up to 10-15x more nutrients and 137x more antioxidants.
Matcha powder is also a key part of traditional Japanese cuisine and can be used in countless desserts, hot and dairy beverages, ice cream, smoothies, shakes and more.
Matcha and caffeine
In terms of caffeine, one cup of matcha tea comes close to around 10 cups of regular green tea!
But the caffeine in matcha is of a different "type" than caffeine from coffee: it provides you with a more stable release of energy throughout 4-6 hours, instead of crashing after a jittery high like you do from coffee.
Do you like Green Tea? How often do you drink it and what is your favorite way to prepare it?
© Sirwinchester
Great write up on green tea...too bad I'm drinking a black coffee while reading this post.
I drink the green tea on the daily, nice caffeine good taste and many other benefits to start the day right and continue on.
I wouldnt be surprised if green tea made you fly :)
Great post buddy. Its a must read post for every steemitian who wants to lead a healthy life. Totally agree that green tea has plenty of health benefits which r long lasting. Upvoted, resteemed and following u as always. Please do review my latest post whixh is aimed to speard positivity in everyone's lives.
Regards Nainaz
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wow... @nainaztengra you hare..........?
I am currently working in a tea company and my favorite tea is the oolong osmanthus tea, I tried out more than 100 different teas :) Matcha is also one of my favorite, I drink it very often in the afternoon, when I am tired and down, it gives me a kick! I can confirm your health statements.
What a great post , so much more I didn't know about green tea ! I used to drink it , and now im going to start drinking it again ! Im wondering if it matters if you add stuff to it , like cream or sugar !? Im sure its best just straight with maybe some honey !? Of course the Matcha powder sounds best if it mixes well in hot water ! Thanks for sharing !!upped and resteemed 💕✌👍💕
Good question, I like coffee without honey and cream, they say you can taste it better that way. But if its not good coffee, I add some sugar and milk.
I drink it a lot
Where do you get it?
Corner stores and bigger supermarkets
Thanks is it pretty easy to find?
Green tea is sold in a lot of places now. I believe Lidl sells it ;-)
Thanks for connecting. Just curious, where are you from? I hope you have a WONDERFUL day!!
Great post!
I drink a cup of Matcha green tea everyday. I prefer to drink it on empty stomach, half an hour before my breakfast.
Here is how I like to have my super-healthy cup of Match tea :
1/8 teaspoon of Match green tea
1/8 teaspoon of turmeric powder,
1/8 teaspoon of funnel seeds,
1 whole cardamom (or a tiny bit of cardamom powder)
1 clove
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/6 teaspoon of wild raw honey
All of these ingredients are put in my clear glass cup and them flooded with 200ml of boiling water.
A coworker of mine once brought me a bag of matcha tea, the green powder and my body reacted as if i took a laxative. Maybe too much information, but i'm just saying, i don't know if that is supposed to be one of its uses.
Seems like the Mate Tea... I have 4 liters daily. No Joke! :)
Is the Mate tea the same as the matcha tea? and are they laxatives?
Hi @leggy23 ! No..they are not the same... and the Mate tea is not laxative. In our culture we drink so much Mate Tea, and litres and litres a day so if it were laxative..well :) - No it's not.. check for it calls MATE
Thanks, nice to know. So pronounced mate like latte coffee?
Yes! :) And you drink it hearing Tango...
I have heard so much about Green Tea, but I never knew it fights cancer,
that must be Great, taken it a few times though till I finally got used to its taste.
Drinking green tea brings me the zen feeling :) however, I am still inclined more to coffee.
Wonderful presentation of the green tea! I'm personally like coffee, but in my family many drink black tea and sometimes green. My full upvote for the aesthestic, feels simply good!
wow i also like green tea. thank you very much for lovely post...
Of course the green tea has those great properties that you mentioned.
I treat a family member who has cancer and for 6 months has received chemotherapy
I started giving her tea immediately and she has never had vomiting or digestive disorders. I think it's effective.
Thanks for sharing this article @sirwinchester.
Green tea
Nice @sirwinchester
Yes I agree with you sir. One of my Chinese friend advices me to stop caffaine consumption and switch on taking a tea as an alternative. He also explained everything about all health benefits of it.
There has always been a benefit from drinking green tea. Good to know the complete list of benefits. The Matcha sounds interesting, but is it limited to only Japan?
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Thanks where do you get Matcha, I like the idea of a more stable release of caffeine. Very important.
Great post ! All ready upped and resteemed in my @karenmckersie account ! But will also up vote and resteem to share with my foodie followers in my @momskitchen account !! Great job my friend !😋💕✌
Great post! Love matcha in all kinds of drinks and food
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The green tea is my favorite drink, every day i drink it, am Moroccan, you know the Moroccans they consume so much green tea and they add to it the mint to become more delicious and more refreshing, thank you very much for this informative post.
Cheers.
After reading this I need to add green tea to my diet :)
valuable info thx for sharing it! 👍
Green tea is wonderful also good in weight loss. I love this post on green tea alot. Well done @sirwinchester.
very good information, thanks my friend
@sirwinchester - thanks for sharing this information. I had a green tea-mango tea that I found delicious. I'll have to find that again.
Little story about tea plant in my village, The farmer grew tea between coffee crop and as border of garden. If you want to know about tea plant in my village please check here https://steemit.com/indonesia/@gayocoffeefarm/the-tea-crops-in-dataran-tinggi-gayo-tanaman-teh-di-dataran-tinggi-gayo