If you have finally given up on soda and decided to make green tea your drink of choice, good for you! Green tea is one of the most popular beverages today. Green tea has many health benefits such as lowering the risk of particular types of diseases, from simple infections to chronic degenerative conditions such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, stroke, periodontal disease, and osteoporosis. With this in mind, you should learn how to select the best green tea.
Green tea contains the health-promoting ingredient flavonoid, which is in the form of catechins and their derivatives. However, the more processed a green tea is, the fewer catechins it will contain. For example, consider the catechins in the following (based on a 30-cup per day consumption):
- Instant and bottled green tea: 12 milligrams of catechins
- Flavored green tea: 43 milligrams of catechins
- Decaffeinated tea: 56 milligrams of catechins
- Regular green tea: 127 milligrams of catechins
This means that when you do purchase tea, buy organic green tea to gain more catechins. Also make sure that you store your tea properly. Store it in a dry place that is preferably dark. Don’t put it in the fridge! It will end up having a food odor as well as gain moisture. Are you not sure if your green tea is fresh? Check the freshness. To do this, remove tea from a tea bag and steep the bag (without the tea in it) for about three minutes in a pot of boiling water. Does the water taste like tea? Then the green tea’s flavor is now on the bag, which means that your tea is not fresh. If the boiled water tastes like hot water, then your tea is fresh!
You should remember that green tea doesn’t have the longest shelf life compared to other kinds of tea you may find at a supermarket shelf. The typical shelf life for green tea from the date of packaging is 6 months. Once you open your package, the shelf life drops down to 2 or 3 months. Because tea may have spent a while in transit to get to your home, you should consider where the tea has come from, when it was packaged in the factory and how long it has been sitting on the shelf at the store. Also remember that it is best to buy green tea that is in oxygen-free packaging.
Picking the best green tea doesn’t end after your purchase your box at the store. Another essential item you will need is a proper teapot. Some people may try to make their green tea by using an automatic tea brewer or even putting a teabag in a hot cup of water, but this is not the best way to enjoy your tea. Find a teapot that is specifically created for brewing green tea. These particular teapots allow the tea some room to expand.
With the right teapot, you can now brew your tea correctly. Green tea isn’t like your regular style of tea that you may or may not be used to. You have to stand-by to make sure it is brewed properly. Brew your tea at 165-170 degrees F (73-76 C) for two minutes. If you brew for longer, your green tea will not taste so great. Also drink your green tea as soon as it is ready. If it sits too long, you will lose some of the best parts of the tea!
So sit back, relax and enjoy a cup of green tea today and start raking in the benefits.
