Green Tea, Polyphenols and China!!
Wow! What a trip to China. I wanted to share my entire experience but I would write for days. Instead I want to pass some great information about the great medicinal benefits of green tea and polyphenols. This is a quick article to peek your interest in learning more about the health benefits of green tea and hopefully convince you to add it to your diet.
Dragon Well Tea (Longjing)
I have known that green tea is good for out health, I just didn’t know how good it really is for us. We had the fortunate opportunity to go the Hangzhou, China which is the home of the famous Dragon Well Tea and to Huangshan, China or Yellow Mountain where Monkey King Tea, Maofang Tea and Oolong Tea is grown. Not only was this an amazing experience in seeing where the tea is grown and harvested, but also in how it is turned into the tea we drink.
Roasting tea leaves
All of the teas I mentioned a picked by hand and roasted in a wok by hand as well. It is vary labor intensive work but the medicinal benefits of the tea are unsurpassed. The key to great tea is to use the actually leaves for your tea. The tea bags that many Americans drink are the left overs of tea, still not too bad for you but not close to quality of brewing or steeping the leaves. Another key is to buy the best quality of tea you can find. The price is higher but it is true that we get what we pay for.
Huangshan Monkey King Tea (Taiping Hou Kui)
There are more than 30 polyphenols found in green tea and are the keys to the medicinal benefits. In 2006 the FDA approved green tea for medicinal use. The benefits include the following:
- Anti-oxidant, eliminating free radicals and anti-aging
- Protect blood vessels in the prevention of cardiovascular disease
- Improve immunity inhibiting disease and preventing cell damage
- Protection against radiation and skin damage
Huangshan Maofeng and Monkey King Tea also are highly alkaline and help to reduce acidity in the body as well. This in turn helps to prevent the disease processes created by acidic environments.
Huanshan Maofeng (medium grade)
I have found all of these teas at Tao of Tea. https://taooftea.com/
I am sure you can find them elsewhere on the web just be sure to check the source and ensure the tea is of good quality!
Enjoy!
