GREEN TEA HISTORY

It all started in China.....

The history of tea is steeped in legends (pardon the pun). There are many stories about how tea drinking was discovered. One of these stories describes how a man ate a leaf; enjoyed the flavour and decided to release this flavor by steeping the leaves in water. Another story is an accidental discovery whereby a flower and its leaf dropped into a cup of water thus flavoring the water. Someone tasted it this flavored water, liked it and tea was born!

The Original Tea

Green tea is the original tea. It is about 5000 years old! All tea was green at one point because it was made from green leaves steeped in water. Historically, it was not processed like it is today. This was the most natural way of enjoying tea and it is still enjoyed this way throughout the world.

Tea Was Created in China

Tea was first discovered by China. And the Chinese take their tea quite seriously. A book was published describing in great detail how to prepare and enjoy a cup of green tea. This book was written in 600 AD and was called Cha Jing or Tea Classic. Tea drinking spread throughout the East. The Japanese had a great influence on the culture of green tea drinking. They produced more varieties and raised the drinking of tea into an art form through "tea ceremonies".

Varieties of Tea

Over the centuries many more varieties of tea were discovered. For example, the black teas that are so popular in the Western hemisphere are a fermented variety of the original green tea. Green tea is now becoming much more popular in the West especially with the discovery of the associated health benefits.

Green tea has the reputation of being the healthiest tea to drink. It has been associated with weight loss and for this reason alone it has become very popular. However, there are many benefits to drinking green tea than just this aspect. Here are just a few of the many reasons this tea is better choice than other teas.

1. Promotes weight loss by increasing metabolism which helps to burn more fat.
2. Contributes to heart health by lowering cholesterol levels and thus reducing the risk of heart disease.
3. Reduces the risk of cancer by helping your body to protect cells from being damaged.
4. Stabilizes blood sugar level and is therefore beneficial for diabetes.
5. Amino acids in green tea help to combat stress and anxiety.
6. It contains antioxidants that fight the free radicals that accelerate aging.
7. It destroys bacteria that leads to tooth decay and prevents bad breath.