How do you start an article about a subject such as green tea?! Sure, there's no such thing as getting it wrong, but, since it's been debated on every social media platform more then there are people on this planet, I'll try to talk about it from my personal experience.
A teaspoon full of loose green tea before being soaked in water slightly cooler then its boiling point.
We have to go back to the start of people's love to tea, any kind of tea to be precise. Tea is the most consumed drink in the world after water and ahead of coffee to many people's surprise. Since ancient times, green tea has been considered by the traditional Chinese medicine as a healthful beverage. That thought has stayed in modern times and I'm sure that any adult if asked, would probably say that's true. When I was much younger, I'd drink tea, but only over the winter period and it had to be fruity with a ton of sugar added to it. Unhealthy? Absolutely! Fast forward 20 years and I can't think of the last time I've had tea which wasn't green tea!
Why all this urge to drink green tea you ask? Well, let me tell you...
Some of you will probably remember from my previous articles that I work nights, and I've been doing that for an amazing 11 years whilst enjoying every single shift! An aftermath of a few night shifts in a row can be hard on the human body, and mine is no different. There are moments that I don't get the sleep required between work, or maybe I don't eat as healthy as I should (all them pizza's...). So, my missus, being great with suggestions, mentions to me why not to have a mug of green tea every day to see if that helps me with my general wellbeing as well with sleep. At first, me being a coffee drinker, I thought less about interfering my routine with something new, especially if that means having a roasted brew less a day. As days go by, I would have a single green tea after my night shift as well as in the morning (but not before a glass of water). It didn't make a difference to the point that I'd all of a sudden become the healthiest or the most rested human being on the face of the earth...no, but it did a couple of other things. I started sleeping slightly better and was becoming calmer. To continue, after a couple of months, I started having two mugs a day; one in the morning and one at night. Slowly, I started to feel a moderate improvement to both previous mentioning’s as well as in general wellbeing. Again, fast forward to just over 3 years to present time, I have three mugs a day (morning, afternoon and evening) if possible. Just to be clear, not everything that has been claimed over the years by scientists about green tea and its benefits has impacted me! I could well have a placebo effect happening to me, I'll never know and wouldn't mind, because it has changed my day to day life.
A mug full of green tea which isn't entirely green but more a mixture of colours and even shades on to light brown and yellow as well as green colour.
Enough about my story...instead, let us look closer to some key benefit points of this beverage
Scientists have literally been digging into the health benefits subjects for longer than I can remember and more. There's been articles and studies presented to us about green tea having no benefits whatsoever, to it having three and/or ten valuable benefits that can change anyone's life. At the end, it's down to every individual to think what it might bring to the table if they've started consuming it, and if it's worth their time.
We've been bombarded with slogans such as Green tea is touted to be one of the healthiest beverages on the planet, and Green Tea - it'll make you superhuman ...extreme, I know.
But if we put aside all of the crazy headlines and concentrate on what the benefits really be like, then let us look below as I'll mention some which you might or might not have heard of:
- It contains or more appropriately said, it's loaded with antioxidants.
- Antioxidants may lower the risk of some cancers (studies have been concentrating on breast and prostate cancer).
- It may improve your brain function (It didn't make me smarter, but I can say it has increased my concentration moderately when feeling tired or drained after work).
- They claim there's a possibility it may protect the brain from aging and being overworked (that I can't confirm as my brain is constantly overworked).
- Works as a fat burner (now, this can be a sensitive subject for many...I sadly can't confirm if it's true because I've been slim to normal build all my life, with minimum fat attached to my muscle, so I've never had an issue, sorry).
- It may prevent type 2 diabetes (there might be something to it, or maybe it's my metabolism that's keeping type 2 diabetes away + we know sugar doesn't directly cause type 2 diabetes, you are more likely to get it if you are overweight).
- Helps in preventing cardiovascular disease (improves cholesterol levels in your blood).
- Apparently burns off fat and helps you lose weight (green tea is not going to work on its own if you're neglecting yourself in every possible way).
- Oddly enough, there's been many times I've heard that it helps to improve your bad breath as it suppresses the growth of bacteria (no, my bad breath is still there - just joking).
- It works anti-inflammatory and combats internal inflammation as well as it would combat an external inflammation in topical variety.
Same amount of green tea after being soaked will expand to almost three times the volume of its original dried state.
The bottom line...
How many mugs or cups a day is supposed to be enough? Let's all agree that this is a subject on which we'll never really be able to agree upon! Some might tell you one cup a day works for them; others will disagree and be very adamant in telling you three cups minimum every day keeps all the bugs away...
Each to their own, and whatever works for you might not work for me, and vice versa! Please do remember this bit; some of the benefits of green tea are surely overstated! Green tea should not be a substitute or act as a promotion to a treatment for either of more complex cause i.e. cancer, diabetes or in general, weight loss. Despite everything we've come across in our life, we all know that no amount of research done so far is ever enough! And as we all think we know so much about simple things; there's always more space and opportunities to learn about it and debunk nonsense or false acclamations as the technology progresses and research continues.
This is my preferable choice of green tea from a company based in N. Ireland.
As you can see, they have, product's content and packaging is also explained (unfortunately, because straight forward brand mentioning sometimes isn't a good idea, I've had to remove just that bit out).
I think that's about it, for now...
Hold on, hold on, last bit of an advice if I may...Whatever you do, don't just go and blindly buy the cheapest green tea you can find at your newspaper agent's store. Not only will it come in bleached filter bags, but will also be mixed with a different tea sort. I recommend that you buy organic sencha (leaves) or organic matcha (fine powder leaves). Matcha is actually 100% green tea leaves that have been ground into a fine powder. It is much more concentrated than regular green tea, so you only need half of what you'd use if adding leaves. So, please take it as a suggestion and whatever the case, do try avoid widely produced tea bags.
All of the photos in the article are mine as are the thoughts, which were gathering inside my head for many years.
Thanks for stopping by and take care.