All About Tea

The popularity of healthy and all-natural beverages have surged over the past few years because more and more people are becoming more concerned about their health and fitness. Now, instead of grabbing a can of soda or a bottle of artificial juice, people just take water or all-natural beverages instead.

One of the more popular drinks that are attracting people’s attention is the green tea. Aside from the usual hot green tea, big soft drink manufacturers and beverage companies are offering cold diet green tea as alternative to soda and other unhealthy drinks. In fact, multinational beverage groups are fusing and mixing green tea with other fruit flavors to give people more choices.

What is probably in everybody’s mind right now is whether diet green tea is here for good or is this just one of the drink craze of the moment? Another issue that is worth discussing is whether green tea is really good for you.

Green Tea

Since time immemorial, green tea has already been a tea of choice in the East, particularly in China and Japan. The plant from where the green tea came from is Camellia sinensis. The funny thing is that this is also where the black tea is taken from. The only difference between the green and the black tea is process in which they undergo in order to become tea. In the green variety, the leaves of the Camellia sinensis is only dried, while in black tea, the plant is fermented.

Although both black and green tea came from the same plant, their taste is different. The green tea is much more grassy and light than the fermented black tea.

Benefits of Green Tea

The number one benefit of green tea is that it prevents many serious illnesses that plague a lot of people today. Green tea is rich in antioxidants that lower your risk of getting rheumatoid arthritis and some types of cancer, particularly cancer of the esophagus.

Green Tea is also effective in eliminating heartburn, easing bladder problems and fighting off viruses. Moreover, some studies have found that regular consumption of green tea can increase your level of good cholesterol.

Green tea is not only effective in fighting off viruses, but it is also used by Chinese herbalist to kill the bacteria that causes tooth decay and food poisoning. This is probably why Asian people drink hot green tea after meals.

If you want to delay your aging process and improve the quality of your skin, you can also try consuming green tea everyday. It is no wonder that many skin care products – from moisturizers to body lotions and perfumes to cellulite creams – are now using green tea as an active ingredient.

The ability of green tea to speed up the metabolism is actually the main reason why it is very popular today. A lot of celebrities and models all over the world have tried using green tea to speed up their weight loss so many fans are following the suggestion of their idols. Aside from boosting the metabolism, it is also believed that green tea can suppress your appetite and prevent your body from absorbing fat.

In order to reap all the benefits of green tea, experts say that you need to consume about three to five cups of green tea. Instead of drinking coffee in the office, you can probably just drink green tea, whether iced or hot, so that you can achieve all the benefits of green tea.

If you like diet green tea, you don’t have to worry. These products also contain the nutrients and health-giving benefits that the regular green tea can give. Moreover, diet green tea does not contain sugar, so you will not have to worry about packing on the pounds.