Guest post by Dakota Murphey
Did you know that, after water, tea is the most popular drink in the world? Not so surprising when you consider that 165 million cups of tea are drunk every day in the UK alone. After Turkey and Ireland, the UK is the third biggest tea drinking nation per capita.
The majority of the cuppas enjoyed by us are black tea – mostly regular builders’ tea – and the national preference is to add milk, with sugar according to personal preference. As drinks go, it’s not an unhealthy one. The health benefits of black tea include positive effects on cholesterol levels, blood pressure, digestive problems and much more.
But what do you do if you don’t like the taste of regular tea? Or you’re trying to avoid caffeine? Or you’re trying to cut out milk and can’t stomach the thought of drinking your black tea, well, black? Luckily, you don’t have to look far to find many suitable and delicious alternatives.
Whether conveniently sold as tea bags or packaged as loose leaf tea in quantities of 50g or 100g pouches, there’s such a vast variety of teas available all over the world that, with a little bit of curiosity and adventurousness on your part, an exciting journey for your taste buds awaits. Here are 3 teas you should definitely try.
1. Green Tea
Like its black cousin, green tea also comes from the Camellia sinensis shrub but its leaves are dried and heat treated as soon as they’ve been harvested, so there’s less fermentation. Its colour, aroma, and taste will vary depending on the species of Camellia, and how and where it was grown, picked, and processed. Compared to black tea, green tea is minimally processed which gives it a fresher and brighter flavour and colour.
There are literally hundreds of varieties of green tea including the popular Sencha and Matcha from Japan and Gunpowder from China. Here’s a useful guide on the different ways to make green tea.
Green tea does contain caffeine but the amount varies depending on the exact variety and how it’s been processed. As a rule of thumb, teas made from leaves, twigs, and stems tend to be lower in caffeine, while those grown in the shade or made from the tips and buds of the tea plant are typically higher in caffeine.
Green tea is high in antioxidants and has long been hailed as a healing and energising drink. Regular consumption is meant to protect against cardiovascular disease and dementia, and even some forms of cancer.
2. White Tea
White tea comes from the fine, silvery hairs of the unopened buds of Camellia sinensis, i.e. the very youngest of tea leaves. With only minimal processing, the immature leaves are picked and dried – and voilà. Very pale yellow in colour, white tea has a distinctive, mild, and fruity taste that’s much more readily palatable than some other teas. It also contains much less caffeine – only around 15 mg per cup.
White tea is another super healthy drink, credited with many benefits for the regular tea drinker including anti-aging properties and healthy, smooth skin. It contains the same type of antioxidants as green tea and is said to offer the same cardiovascular and cancer-fighting benefits. Some studies have suggested that white tea may have a positive effect on diabetes, while it’s also helpful for reducing the risk of dental decay.
3. Red Tea
What is red tea? We tend to think of the South African Redbush or Rooibos Tea – although this isn’t technically a tea at all since it comes from the leaves of the rooibos plant, not Camellia sinensis. Rooibos is a herbal tea with a naturally sweet and woody flavour, and it’s entirely caffeine-free. As an alternative to tea and coffee, its popularity has steadily risen.
In South Africa, Rooibos tea has been historically used for medicinal purposes, though not much scientific research has been carried out into its health benefits. One study found that the tea may benefit bone health, while there is some evidence to suggest that Rooibos tea may help prevent heart disease, boost the immune system, and relieve stomach cramps.
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I found this article to have a major fail for a ‘tea head’. Rooibos is NOT a tea it is a tisane. You correctly call it a herbal tea whereas a herbal infusion would be more correct – even though it is leaf, not yet infused!
Red tea (hong cha) is what the Chinese call our black tea (hei cha).
Surely a tea head should use tea terms in a tea article and use the article to educate the public into the world of tea.
Thanks for your feedback Clifford. In the U.S. we typically use the term herbal tea when we speak of tisanes. Interesting how different terms are used throughout the world.
White tea versions would often contain the most caffeine, not the least. Processing steps can reduce caffeine levels slightly but really type of leaves used is a more significant factor, per me understanding. Buds contain more caffeine and white teas usually are made with a higher proportion of buds. Assamica plant types contain slightly less caffeine than Camellia Sinensis variety Sinensis so that input could counter that, for white versions not made from Assamica. I’ll look up a reference to quote more details.
Thanks John. Over the years, I have read that white tea has less caffeine and other times I’ve read that it has more caffeine.
That study excerpt, which cited research findings as support: http://chadao.blogspot.com/2008/02/caffeine-and-tea-myth-and-reality.html
1. Caffeine level varies naturally in types of tea and levels in one type may overlap with another type
2. Black and green tea manufactured from leaf from the same bushes on the same day will have virtually the same caffeine levels (within +/- 0.3%)
3. For a given bush, the finer the plucking standard, the higher the caffeine level
Actual caffeine level in tea is highest:
• when the tea is derived from buds and young first leaf tips (thus white tea has a high caffeine level)
• when the bush is assamica type rather than sinensis (can be 33% higher caffeine, thus African black tea tends to be higher than China black tea)
• when the bush is clonal VP rather than seedling (can be 100% higher caffeine, thus new plantings in Africa are higher than old seedling plantings in Asia),
• when the plant is given a lot of nitrogen fertilizer (as in Japan), and
• during fast growing seasons.
I believe Nigel is “the man” when it comes to tea. That said, the problem I have with the study referenced is that they tested caffeine extraction – with one sample being green tea – while using boiling water steeped for a variety of times. As you know, we don’t steep green tea in boiling water. I’d want to see a study using 180-185 degress F and see what the extraction is at that temperature. I”d like to see it steep for 30 seconds, 60 seconds and then 90 seconds. I suspect it will be quite different that those extractions done with boiling water. Doesn’t that make the most common sense? Also, they didn’t test white tea. I had met with a researcher at Pace University many years ago. He was smitten with white tea and was doing tests on bacteria, a variety of germs etc. He said he’d never seen anything like it. What ever he threw into the petre dish, white tea eliminated it. He was truly amazed.
Removing caffeine at 180 degree water is irrelevant. Green tea is steeped ay a lower temperature than boiling so that Tha caffeine is not extracted in the early steeps.
If boiling water is used the bitter caffeine overwhelms the delicate fragrances
The point being is that if you want to decaffeinate then do it quickly in boiling water but as decaffeinating ruins the taste of tea there really is very little justification.
Caffeine does not increase micturation or keep you awakde unless you imbibe around 200mg or 5 cups of tea.
The point is Clifford that when using lower temperatures, the caffeine will likely be extracted more slowly thus the table showing extraction times would not apply to green tea. I want to know how much caffeine is extracted after 30 seconds or 1 minute. If we’re trying to learn about caffeine levels in whole leaf green tea, we can’t do that with studies using boiling water. I’m not thinking of this as a way to decaffeinate my tea, I simply want to know how much caffeine one gets when brewing properly.
I choose the red tea, I love the taste and from what I’ve learned and experienced it also has weight loss benefits.
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