You actually would suppose that the description would certainly be self-explanatory - it is tea that is green. However this doesn't truly cover it.

Just about all genuine teas - as distinct from herbal and flower infusions, which are often called tisanes - are produced from the leaves of a magnolia-related evergreen tree with the botanical name of Camellia sinensis. Even though reaching a level of 30 feet in the wilderness, on tea plantations, the plant is kept as being a bush, continuously trimmed to a height of about 3 feet to stimulate new growth and for hassle-free picking.

Tea crops develop only in warm climates but can flourish at altitudes ranging from sea level to 7,000 feet. The ideal teas, however, are made by crops harvested at higher altitudes where the leaves mature more slowly and yield a thicker essence. Based on the altitude, a new tea plant usually takes from 2 ? to 5 years to be ready for commercial picking, but when productive, it can provide tea leaves for around a century.

Tea crops generate abundant foliage, a camellia-like flower, plus a berry, but only the smallest and newest leaves are picked for tea: the two leaves and bud at the top of every young shoot. The growth of brand new shoots, known as a flush, can occur weekly at lower altitudes but takes many weeks at higher ones. The brand new leaves are picked out by hand by "tea pluckers," the best of whom is able to pick 40 pounds each day, sufficient to produce 10 pounds of tea.

All tea plants belong to the exact same group -Camellia sinensis-, but localized maturing conditions (altitude, climate, soils, etc.) vary, resulting in a large number of distinctive leaves. The way the leaves are prepared, nevertheless, is even more crucial in producing the individual properties of the three predominant kinds of tea: green, black and oolong.

Green tea is the very least processed and therefore offers the most antioxidant polyphenols, notably a catechin known as epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), which is believed to be accountable for almost all of the health benefits associated with green tea. We'll focus on EGCG a little bit later, however it is this element of green tea which makes it such a therapeutic and beneficial beverage.

Green tea is made by quickly steaming the just harvested leaves, rendering them soft and flexible and preventing them from rotting or changing hue. Soon after steaming, the leaves are rolled, then detached and "fired" (dried out with heat or pan-fried in a wok) until they're crispy. The finished greenish-yellow tea provides a green, slightly astringent flavor close to the flavour of the new leaf.

Green tea happens to be, and stays nowadays, the most popular sort of tea from China where most experts and botanists think the tea plant came from throughout all of Asia.

Why is this so? Perhaps because green tea not just captures the taste, scent and color of spring, but provides this enchanting bouquet together with the greatest power of beneficial phytonutrients as well as the very least caffeine of all the teas.

The key to the incredible health and fitness benefits that are produced by consuming green tea is that the leaves are steamed which saves the EGCG ingredient from being oxidized. Other teas are fermented which in turn breaks down natural EGCG and takes away from its medicinal attributes.

In reality, green tea has lengthy and storied background dating back to thousands and thousands of years. It really is really fascinating to understand what the Chinese have known for generations.