Showing posts with label tea. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tea. Show all posts

Monday, September 24, 2007

Sinharaja Tea

If you're looking for a particular tea, perhaps for a particular event, or just to give yourself a particular treat, give Sinharaja tea. This achromatic tea is one of the most alone and flavorful you'll ever taste, and it's sure to go one of your all clip favourite teas.

Sinharaja is a achromatic Ceylon tea, grown in an country of Sri Lanka that boundary lines the rainforest. Sri Lanka's Ceylon teas are human race celebrated for their flavor, enhanced by the cool mist that environments this country of the countryside twelvemonth round. These cool moist statuses make a tea that is unique, with a reddish colour and a spirit that is robust, yet milder in spirit than some other achromatic teas. Ceylon go forths are longer than many other tea leaves, and are very wiry. This tea is as interesting to look at as it is to drink. And, really good Ceylon teas, like Sinharaja, never travel bitter, even if over infused.

Sri Lanka is known for making great tea. In fact, this little island is the 3rd biggest tea manufacturer in the world. Tea production uses over one million people in Sri Lanka, making it the country's biggest industry. But, Ceylon tea is still fairly rare in the United States. Only about 19% of the tea consumed outside of Sri Lanka is Ceylon.

Sinharaja tea have a alone flavor, even among Ceylons. It have a very heating flavor, with short letters of molasses and caramel, and just a intimation of sweet berries. You'll happen no better achromatic tea for waking you up on a cold morning time or helping you loosen up when you've had a long day. This tea have it all; it's rich, yet easygoing and without even the slightest bitterness.

Ceylon teas are not easy to happen in the US, and many that you make happen are of inferior quality.

Quality self-assurance is becoming more than than and more of import in the tea industry. For years, it seemed that Americans weren't all that interested in imbibing tea, but all that have changed. In part, alterations have got happened because we've go increasingly aware of the wellness benefits of imbibing tea. In addition, it looks to be the up-to-the-minute trend, following on the heels of the popularity of java houses.

One of the greatest tendencies in tea is flavored and forte tea, since these teas unfastened up a whole new scope of spirits for the palate. So, it looks that everyone is getting into the tea market. But, as you might imagine, not everyone is making high quality tea. And, for the consumer, it can be hard to justice whether or not the tea you're purchasing is high quality.

There are no international tea grading standards. Each state classes their tea by their ain standards, and often greenish teas are graded differently than achromatic or achromatic teas. So, determining the quality of the tea you're buying by looking at the class can be quite confusing. The best stake for getting really good teas consistently is by determination a tea company that have a repute for quality.

Friday, August 24, 2007

Is Loose Tea Better Than Tea Bags?

Is loose tea really better than tea bags? Some tea cognoscentis will reply a resonant yes; however, others curse by tea bags. The truth lies somewhere in the middle.

The convenience of tea bags is a considerable factor, especially when brewing a cup at work or away from home. Using a tea bag you can bask a good cup of tea anywhere hot H2O or a microwave is to be found. Wrapped, they suit very nicely in the bag and are always handy.

The tea used in tea bags is usually fannings and dust. These are simply littler particles, but may be broken leaves of absence of first-class quality tea. The smaller, broken atoms brewage more quickly, because of the greater surface area. Absorption of caffeine and tannic acids are usually a small greater from a tea bag as well, again owed to the littler particles. This tin be an advantage, or not, depending on your tastes.

One major disadvantage of tea bags is that the littler broken atoms used in tea bags be given to travel stale more than quickly. A whole leave of absence will reserve its freshness much longer, so tea bags should not be stored for long term use.

Loose teas come up in more than varieties, which can be used individually or blended to your ain tastes. Most tea bags are blended for a specific flavor. Using loose tea, you can savor the pure spirit of each variety, then intermix to your preferences.

Environmentally witting tea partisans compost their tea leaves, while tea bags are not as environment friendly. This is an further consideration.

When using loose tea, you can command the quality and freshness of the tea. Some of the tea used in tea bags is of less quality, but this is true of loose teas as well. I urge that you judge each trade name and method of brewing according to your taste sensation penchants and convenience factors. While there will probably always be a small snobbishness surrounding this debate, the chief consideration is the enjoyment of a good cup of tea.

Monday, July 2, 2007

About Green Tea Extract

A green tea extract is produced from the leaves of a plant camellia sinensis. These teas have undergone minimal processing during their manufacture. Green tea is now a worldwide phenomenon being very popular in several countries. Countries originally producing green tea are China and Japan.

Green tea extract is a fine brown yellowish powder having a typical smell. These powders are soluble in water and ethanol. The green tea extracts are polyphenols and catechins.

Catechins are green tea extracts which have high biochemical activity. Catechins are also called polyphenols or tannins. A catechin, which has high antioxidant property, is Epigallocatechin gallate (EGCg). The antioxidant property of these chemicals is much more than either vitamin C or vitamin E. Catechins have several medicinal properties. They inhibit the proliferation and development of aberrant cell colonies in the body. It is known that proliferation of aberrant cell colonies give rise to cancer. They inhibit oxidation of cholesterol and low-density lipoproteins. The American journal of Nutrition has found out in its research that catechins decrease the oxidative damage of cells and DNA due to exposure to iron. The green tea extract has been attributed in weight loss in humans. Obesity is a major worldwide epidemic that is spreading at an alarming rate. Bad food habits and sedentary lifestyle is the main cause for obesity. Obesity can set in at any age in humans. It is the major cause for several diseases. Weight can be reduced in two steps. First, regulate the excess calorie intake. Second, is to burn the body fat. Green tea has been found to possess both these properties. It not only reduces the amount of calories that is entering the body but also aids in body fat burning by increasing the metabolism. People suffering from hypothyroidism face problems to burn down the fats as they have a low metabolic rate. Green tea is beneficial for such patients.

There was a myth that the caffeine content in tea increases metabolism. However, recent studies have shown it is not in the caffeine but in the green tea (catechins) that aid in fat burning. They suppress the secretion of several digestive enzymes limit the absorption of sugar.

The green tea extracts that is the catechins have properties, which inhibits uncontrolled cell growth, and thus prevent cancer. In countries such as China where the consumption of green tea is the highest, it has been observed that the cancer rates are significantly lower. They have antibacterial properties too inhibits food poisoning bacteria which causes botulism (food poisoning). They also inhibit several types of pathogenic microbes. The green tea extracts helps in glowing of the skin, prevent the formation of wrinkles and protect them from the harmful effects of ultra-violet (UV) rays.

These extracts also mask the smell of bad breath. After all, unhealthy lifestyle produces bad breath. Imagine that you are in a business meeting of high merits and you emit foul smell from your breath! This will affect not only your professional life but also your personal life. You will not only be avoided and shunned by your colleagues but also your friends, if you have bad breath!

Green tea extract contains natural caffeine. While processing this caffeine should not be removed. Otherwise, the beneficial effects of the green tea extract will be lost. A standard green tea extract should contain 91.2 % polyphenols and 54.5% EGCG.

Therefore, next time when you buy green tea, make sure you have all the standards present. Enjoy the taste of the beverage and lead a disease free healthy life.

Monday, June 25, 2007

Links Between Green Tea and Losing Weight

Going back thousands of years, green tea has been enjoyed in both Japan and China, both as a wonderful tea to drink and for all its herbal healing properties. In recent times, green tea has also caught on in the West for the same reasons. Many scientific studies have been done to determine whether its therapeutic use is justified, and to learn just why green tea is so effective. Much has been learned, and one of the most exciting discoveries has been the link between green tea and losing weight.

Why is Green Tea and Losing Weight So Effective?

Green tea has been proven to have several connections in the area of weight loss. It helps to speed up up the metabolism causing the body to use up more calories, it helps to keep the body from storing calories as fat, and can help suppress the appetite. Green tea and losing weight is also made easier by the fact that green tea is naturally calorie-free itself.

Burn More Calories, Lose More Fat

Research done in Switzerland in the 1990s showed that overweight subjects taking a green tea supplement while eating a normal diet became able to burn more calories than those who were not taking the green tea pill. Green tea works to accomplish this by increasing the rate of metabolism in the body, which is called thermogenesis. As well, when using green tea and losing weight, one tends to lose more fat than you would if you were not drinking green tea. This leads to a much healthier body in the end.

Eat Less!

The most obvious thing you need to do when drinking green tea and losing weight is to eat less food, like with any diet plan. Unlike most other plans, green tea will help you with this, as it acts as a natural control on your appetite, telling your brain that you are full after you have eaten food instead of leaving you wanting to overeat.

Replace Other Drinks with Green Tea and Lose Weight Faster

An obvious benefit of this plan is that you can just replace the drinks you normally consume with green tea and losing weight will be easy! The average coffee shop drink contains many more calories and gram of fat than you should be drinking just to get the benefit of the caffeine in it. Green tea also contains caffeine, although not in as large a quantity as coffee – this is another reason that makes green tea healthier. But it does contain enough to give you a little boost of energy to get you through your days. Unsweetened, green tea has no caffeine, and like all teas does not contain fat.

Thursday, June 14, 2007

What is Vanilla Jasmine Tea?

Jasmine tea is the most popular flavored tea in the world. Chinese tea gardeners have been producing this delicacy for at least 700 years. Though jasmine tea is already considered a blend, it is often used as the base for additional blends because of the popularity of the jasmine tea base. Jasmine tea is mild and slightly sweet, making it perfect for combining with other flavors, like vanilla.

Jasmine tea is created by plucking the jasmine blossoms just as they are beginning to bloom and adding them to the tea leaves at night to ensure the best infusion of the aroma and fragrance. In most cases, green tea is used as the base for jasmine tea. To make vanilla jasmine tea, the tea is infused with vanilla bean or vanilla flavoring after the infusion of the jasmine blossoms. While vanilla jasmine tea is most often made using green tea, it can be found in black, white and oolong tea varieties, too. The type of jasmine tea used for the base will affect the flavor, caffeine content and health benefits of the vanilla jasmine tea.

While China is still the largest producer of jasmine tea, in part because the Chinese are such large consumers of all varieties of jasmine tea, you can find vanilla jasmine and other jasmine teas produced in nearly every tea producing country in the world. There are Formosa vanilla jasmine teas from Taiwan, Darjeeling and Assam vanilla jasmine teas from India and Ceylon vanilla jasmine teas from Sri Lanka.

Black Vanilla Jasmine Tea - Vanilla jasmine tea made from a black tea base will have a bold flavor and produce a rich liquor. You'll find this tea to be complex in flavor, with many variances, depending upon the variety of black tea used as the tea base. This is a sweet blend of tea, perfect for serving with dessert. Black vanilla jasmine tea will have the most caffeine of any vanilla jasmine blend.

Green Vanilla Jasmine Tea - Vanilla jasmine tea made from green tea will produce a much lighter liquor, often pale amber or green in color. This tea will be milder in flavor with a very natural taste. Because of the lightness of the tea, the vanilla and jasmine flavors will be much more prominent. The region of the world in which the green tea is grown will affect the flavor of the tea. Green vanilla jasmine tea will have less caffeine than black vanilla jasmine tea and will offer many health benefits.

Green tea is a very powerful source of anti-oxidants, which are important to our health because they combat free radicals in our bodies. Free radicals are created as a by-product of our digestive processes. While they are naturally occurring, they are oxygen containing molecules that have the power to damage our cells and DNA. However, a diet rich in anti-oxidants, like those found in green and white tea, help rid our bodies of these free radicals before they can damage our bodies. For many years, Asian cultures, where green tea is a staple beverage, have shown far lower incidences of serious illnesses like heart disease and many forms of cancer. This led to research on green tea's health benefits. Since then, much research has shown a strong connection with lifelong green tea consumption and a longer and healthier life.

White Vanilla Jasmine Tea- This is the sweetest variety of vanilla jasmine tea you'll find and likely the most refreshing. White tea, because it is plucked before the tea buds have even opened, and because it is left unfermented, is the mildest and sweetest of all tea varieties. When it is paired with fragrant jasmine and sweet vanilla, it creates a delicious tea that has very little caffeine and could probably serve as all the dessert you need after a fine meal. This tea is equally delicious whether enjoyed iced or hot. In addition, it contains all the health benefits of green tea.

Oolong Vanilla Jasmine Tea - Oolong teas are semi-fermented, meaning that they do go through a fermentation process, but one that is much shorter than that of black tea. A vanilla jasmine oolong tea will be complex in flavor, with fruity notes and a sweet finish. You'll find it bolder than a green or white blend, but never bitter or strong. The flavor will be significantly affected by how long the oolong tea leaves are fermented and by the country in which the tea was grown. Oolong vanilla jasmine tea will also be a larger leaf tea than the other varieties.

There are nearly endless possibilities in the varieties and flavors you can find in vanilla jasmine tea. Each variety of tea will have its own unique flavors based on where it is grown, how it is processed and the quality of the tea. In addition, the quality and type of the jasmine blossoms and vanilla used to flavor the tea will impact its flavor. Vanilla is grown in several areas of the world, with each area producing a slightly different flavor. Jasmine is also grown in many parts of the world, and the jasmine blossoms are slightly affected by the soil of the growing region.

So, you see, vanilla jasmine tea can have many subtleties and nuances. However, it is easily one of the most fragrant and pleasing teas, in any form. The combination of familiar and comforting vanilla paired with fragrant jasmine can make any variety of tea pleasing to nearly any palate.

Sunday, June 3, 2007

Can Green Tea Help Me Lose Weight?

If you want to lose weight, you will find that drinking green tea can help. In fact, the beverage is fast becoming an alternative for dieters who prefer weight loss programs that help them lead a healthier way of life. Here are a variety of reasons why consuming green tea periodically can help you reduce your weight.

Cutting down on calories is one way to lose weight. Drinking tea in place of coffee and cream, a combination that's abundant in calories, will greatly help in your quest for weight reduction. Aside from cutting back on your weight, green tea consumption is also good for your health since the brew comes with beneficial antioxidants like polyphenols and flavonoids.

Most weight loss programs commonly include green tea in their plans because of the beverage's properties that cause suppression of appetite, which then causes a person to control his food intake. Green tea contains caffeine, a substance that's effective in inhibiting food craving, making it an effective appetite-suppressant.

Green tea can also help you lose weight by repressing the effects of insulin, which is responsible for the conversion of glucose into energy that's then stored into fat. The delay in the insulin action causes sugar to be moved directly to the muscles for immediate use. This reaction caused by green tea is essential for the body to lose weight.

Incorporating green tea in weight loss programs can also assist in the promotion of thermogenesis, a process essential for the body to lose weight. The thermogenesis process entails the burning of body fat and the release of calories. This vital process is a result of the interaction between the caffeine content and the catechin polyphenols found in green tea. This is one reason that weight loss plans based on green tea are successful in speeding up the body's metabolic rates, which eventually helps the body lose weight.

In one study, various groups of people were administered with caffeine to determine how that compared to green tea in thermogenesis. The results showed that people who consumed green tea had higher thermogenesis compared to those taking the equivalent amount of caffeine without green tea catechins.

Since losing weight is also associated with exercise, a new study might be of help to exercise buffs who are fond of drinking green tea. A recent study was conducted to test the effect of regular intake of green tea extract. It was found that taking green tea extract regularly boosted a person's endurance in performing exercises by up to 24 percent.

Study findings have indicated that a certain compound found in green tea might be instrumental in helping people to lose weight. These compounds are called flavonoids, which are thought to modify the way the body utilizes norepinephrine, a hormone that monitors the burning of calories. When flavonoids react with the other ingredients of green tea, more calories are burned, a process that assists people in losing weight.

One other ingredient in green tea that helps people lose weight is the compound catechin polyphenols, which also interact with other green tea ingredients. This reaction helps lose weight through the burning of fat and through the process of thermogenesis.

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Tea Of the World

Tea is the worlds most consumed drink. It was invented almost 5000 years ago by the then Chinese emperor Shen Nung quite accidentally, during his temporary halt in a jungle. After that the drink grew in popularity in China. The Chinese were pioneer in making this beverage. Later after the East India Company had the monopoly in tea trading, they brought to several other countries where British colonies had been set up. After the company lost its monopoly, the countries started their own trade and gradually tea trading became a profitable business.

Tea is grown in several countries of the world. The major tea producing countries are China, India, Japan, Sri Lanka and Taiwan.

India

India is the largest producer of tea in the world. It was the East India Company which introduced tea into India when India was one of its colonies. Today, the Indians consume the highest amount of tea. They contribute to almost half of the total production of tea in the world (as of reports in 2006). Black tea is the mostly grown tea in India. India has several tea plantations in the north east valleys in Assam (in the Brahmaputra valley), in the foothills of the Himalayas (Darjeeling) and the Blue mountains in the south west known as the Nilgiri Hills. India is the second largest exporter of tea, second only to China. It has the maximum import of tea in the world.

China

China is the pioneer in tea production. They are the ones who invented this wonder beverage and for centuries, tea is the most popular drink there. China has the largest international market of tea in the world. China grows four types of tea namely, green tea, black tea, oolong tea and scented tea. More than half the tea grown in China is the green tea. The best known tea are Chunmee, young Hyson, Hyson, and Sowmee green teas. Green tea is the healthiest of all teas.

It has medicinal properties unmatched by any other tea. It helps to control diabetes, heart-attack, prevent cancer, helps to build strong bones and gums and also reduce body fat. Oolong tea is another type of tea produced in this country. Oolong tea lies somewhere in the middle between green and black tea, a unique balance between green tea's delicacy and black tea's depth. The most famous green teas come from Ti Kwan Yin and Phoenix Mountain.

Sri Lanka

The next country in the Indian subcontinent, to the south of India, which produces tea is Sri Lanka. Today Sri Lanka is the third largest producer of tea in the world. They produce the blank teas very similar to the ones produced in India having a floral aroma and taste. The black tea produced here are also referred to as Ceylon tea.

Some other black teas are pekoe, orange pekoe and broken orange pekoe. Initially Sri Lanka produced large quantities of coffee which was its main drink. However, a coffee rust affected and destroyed the coffee crops by the middle of the nineteenth century. Thomas Lipton was the pioneer in tea production and tea export in this country exporting large quantities to Britain. A famous tea company has been named after him.

Japan

Japan is an avid tea-drinking nation producing large quantities of green tea which have different flavors. Some of the famous Japanese green teas are sencha, matcha and bancha. These teas are famous for their wide varieties in taste, color and flavor.

Taiwan

This country is a significant exporter of tea and produces mainly oolong tea and pouching teas, which have a fruity and flowery taste.

In addition to these, tea is produced in countries like Brazil, Bangladesh, Kenya, Argentina, and several other African countries. Besides these teas grown from leaves and brewed henceforth, several other forms of easy-to-use teas are being sold commercially. With the fast lifestyle catching up with people, consumers are relying more and more on readily available items. As a result, canned tea, herbal tea and fruit tea are very popular. Countries like USA and several European countries export these forms of tea. It is a commercial growth influenced by tea.