There's lots of blends and types of green teas available on the market, however what type is the best for your overall health?
Here we work down the five most effective.
Before I commence, I want to point out that the antioxidant/nutrient level of virtually any tea is usually reliant on the cultivating environments as well as the point in time at which the tea is gathered.
And although all of these factors are frequently the ones that inevitably establish the 'type' of tea it is classed as, there nevertheless remains some amount of variance in nutrient/antioxidant levels in the various types of teas - depending on the quality of the tea.
5. Longjing
Longjing is actually a hugely popular Chinese green tea, and the variety of leaf you will sometimes get in supermarket and some popular blends of green tea.
Filled with vitamin C, amino acids, plus a powerful quantity of catechins, this unique variety of tea can also have even further incarnations - which means the amount of above mentioned vitamins and nutrients might actually change from type-to-type of LongJing.
Bai Longjing (although officially not a genuine LongJing tea), is said to be the one LongJing to deliver the most amino acid content.
4. Kukicha
Kukicha green tea is essentially a by-product connected with sencha or gyokuro tea (see no. 2) - composed of stems, stalks along with twigs.
It is because of its simple, unprocessed formula that it has become a common staple in the 'macrobiotic diet' which specifically avoids the consumption of refined or refined foodstuffs.
3. Schincha
Schincha is a Japanese green tea that simply means 'new tea' i.e. the first, tender new leaves of the plant which develop in early Springtime.
Because these leaves are picked so early, they consist of concentrated nutrients that the tea plant has held on to through the entire winter months.
Even though it has a high vitamin and amino acid content, catechin content is quite small (which has been found to have cancer-fighting qualities). Thus, over to our number two ranked green tea for health properties.
2. Gyokuro
Gyokuro is actually shade-grown for approximately the last twenty days of cultivation - enabling the plants to fill up with a strong content level of amino acids and natural vitamins.
Along with the health rewards, Gyokuro also features a specific aroma and fairly sweet taste shared by our number 1 ranking tea.
1. Matcha
Matcha is harvested in a really similar fashion to Gyokuro. The major variation comes about through the refinement of the tea.
Matcha is ground up on ancient stone-mills whilst Gyokuro is left to look like a typical green tea (dried leaves). Consequently, with matcha, you actually ingest the tea leaves themselves.
Also , since the development process allows these leaves to fill up with a concentration of amino acids and nutritional vitamins, you will get the direct advantage of this with a degree of potency matched by not one other green tea.
So, that's it, our top five green teas based upon their health properties.
For more information on healthy green teasvisit Health Benefits of Green Tea or For more information on healthy green teason our number one tea Matcha Green Tea.
Posted under Tea
This post was written by Gavin Edley on January 5, 2011


