You actually might suppose the description would be self-explanatory - it is tea that is green. But that is not going to really cover it.

All genuine teas - as distinct out of herbal and flower infusions, which tea lovers call tisanes - are made from the leaves of a magnolia-related evergreen tree with the botanical title of Camellia sinensis. Even though getting to a level of 30 feet in the wilderness, on tea farms, the plant is kept as being a shrub, constantly pruned to a height of about 3 feet to encourage brand-new growth and for convenient picking.

Tea plants develop only in warm climates but will flourish at altitudes ranging from sea level to 7,000 feet. The very best teas, however, are made by crops harvested at greater altitudes where the leaves mature slower and deliver a better flavor. Based on the elevation, a brand new tea shrub usually takes from 2 ? to 5 years to get ready for professional picking, but once productive, it could actually supply tea leaves for close to a hundred years.

Tea crops produce abundant foliage, a camellia-like flower, plus a berry, but only the tiniest and newest leaves are picked for tea: the two leaves and bud at the top of each young shoot. The development of brand new limbs, known as a flush, can take place every week at lower altitudes but takes a few weeks at higher ones. The brand new leaves are picked out by hand by "tea pluckers," the best of whom can easily pick 40 pounds per day, enough to make 10 pounds of tea.

All tea crops belong to the same species -Camellia sinensis-, but local maturing conditions (altitude, climate, soils, etc.) differ, resulting in a large number of distinctive leaves. The way the leaves are refined, nevertheless, is even more important in developing the individual features of the three predominant kinds of tea: green, black and oolong.

Green tea leaf is definitely the least refined and thus provides the most antioxidant polyphenols, particularly a catechin known as epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), which is considered to be responsible for most of the health and fitness benefits associated with green tea. We'll speak about EGCG a little bit later, however it is this element of green tea which makes it a real healing and beneficial drink.

Green tea is made by quickly steaming the just farmed leaves, making them smooth and flexible and stopping them from rotting or changing color. Immediately after steaming, the leaves are rolled, then opened up and "fired" (dried out with hot air or pan-fried in a wok) right up until they're crispy. The finished greenish-yellow tea provides a green, a little astringent essence close to the taste of the fresh leaf.

Green tea is definitely, and stays nowadays, the most popular kind of tea from China where the majority of researchers and botanists think the tea plant has come from throughout all of Asia.

Why is this so? Perhaps because green tea not just grabs the flavors, scent and shade of spring, but provides this enchanting arrangement combined with highest power of advantageous phytonutrients and also the least caffeine of all the teas.

The true secret to the incredible health benefits that are resulting from consuming green tea is that the leaves are steamed which in turn keeps the EGCG substance from being oxidized. Other sorts of teas are fermented which in turn reduces natural EGCG and takes away from its medicinal components.

In fact, green tea has very long and fabled history going back thousands and thousands of years. It really is really exciting to be aware what the Chinese have known for ages.