The Alternative Health Gazette

Types of Tea

The healthy types of tea come from the same plant, or tree, known as the Camellia sinensis. This one plant is where Green Tea, Black Tea, and Oolong tea comes from. And it’s also the source of a new tea that’s gaining in popularity, known as white tea.

Although all of these types of tea come from the same plant, the reason they look, smell and taste different - plus have different health benefits associated with them - is because of the way they’re processed after harvesting.

Green tea has always been the healthier of the three main types, because it is processed less after it is picked. Less processing allows more of the EGCG compound to stay in the tea instead of becoming oxidized.

Black tea however, has a much darker and more robust taste because it’s leaves go through a complex process of fermentation. This process changes the EGCG into other compounds within the black tea.

Oolong tea is only partially processed, so it is often a reddish color and it’s known to have something of a floral taste to it.

White tea is becoming a popular trend, because it is processed even less than green tea is. White tea is also said to have a much more delicate flavor than green tea, and it’s believed to have a wide variety of health benefits too.

Some people don’t like the taste of green tea, because they feel it tastes too much like grass, or some sort of raw plant. This taste is usually caused by brewing the tea too long, but it can happen with certain brands of green tea too. Green tea brews to a much lighter, greener color than black tea does.

There are also many different types of herbal teas which each have their own unique health and wellness properties too. These aren’t actually teas though, since they don’t come from a tea plant. Since herbal teas are made from flowers, roots, stems and leaves of various plants, they’re actually just infusions, or more accurately: tisanes.

Herbal teas definitely have their uses in natural health and wellness care, but it’s good to know they’re not technically a tea in the same sense Green and Black teas are discussed.

Actual tea does have caffeine in it naturally, but the amounts are drastically lower than other popular beverages. How much caffeine there is in your tea will depend on the brand you buy, the quality of that tea, and how you brew it. Stronger brewed teas will have more caffeine of course. On average though, a cup of black tea tends to have about half the caffeine content that coffee does, and Green tea often has less than that.

There are also decaffeinated tea options of course, but the studies are still inconclusive about whether the process used to remove the caffeine from the tea will also remove the healthy properties and compounds as well.

Other Alternative Health Topics...
Arthritis Candida Colon Health Constipation Depression Diabetes Fungus hemmeroids hemmoroids hemoroids Hemorrhoids hemroids Herbal Basics Herbs Insomnia Joints Kidney Health Liver Health Menopause Metabolism piles Skin Care Womens Health Yeast Yeast Infections