Interesting facts about green tea

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Green tea is considered one of the world’s healthiest beverages.

It comes from the plant species Camellia sinensis.

Green tea is a tea that has undergone little oxidation while it was processed.

Green tea tends to come from the first flush (first harvest), tending to come around early to mid spring. The first harvest is believed to produce the highest quality and most expensive leaves, thus leaving those to be most desired for processing and harvesting.

When the tea leaves are picked, they are immediately exposed to oxygen and begin the fermentation process.

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Than farmers steam and roast the newly picked tea leaves, preventing the oxidation process from occurring and stopping any fermentation from happening.

Green tea gets its name from the natural green color of the leaves that the plant grows and green tint of the brew.

The origination of green tea began in China tracing all the way back to 2737 BC. The discovery occurred by accident when the Chinese Emperor Shennong mistakenly drank water that had a dead tea leaf boiled in it. Emperor Shennong found the flavor incredibly refreshing and thus, a new beverage was created.

Green tea was primarily available to the highest tiers of Chinese society and was very expensive to purchase. It was not until the 14th century that green tea became accessible to the general public for enjoyment and medicinal purposes.

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In about 600 AD, the most important book regarding tea was written in China. Lu Yu was the author of Cha Jing, or Tea Classic. The book is an important document both for historical purposes and as an insight into the lives of a country which introduced tea to the world.

Tea seeds were first brought to Japan in the early 9th century by the Buddhist monks Saicho and Kukai.

Over the centuries, different forms of green tea were introduced as they were discovered. Oolong and black tea were created much later than the country’s fascination with green tea was developed – black tea is a fermented version of green tea and Oolong is semi fermented.

Green tea was first brought to Britain in the early 17th century by the East India Company. It was an expensive product and one only for the rich and often kept under lock and key.

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Black tea overtook green tea in popularity in the 1720s when sugar and milk were added to tea, a practice that was not done in China.

Along with settlers, green tea was shipped over to the Americas, where it enjoyed great popularity among the early colonists. In fact, tea was so popular in America that Great Britain imposed a Tea Tax in 1767 that infuriated the colonists and sparked the Boston Tea Party of 1773, where 45 tons of green tea was dumped into the harbor.

In recent years, green tea’s health benefits have made it even more popular among tea drinkers, especially in the western hemisphere.

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There are many different types of green tea available around the world.

Steeping, or brewing, is the process of making tea from leaves and hot water, generally using 2 grams (0.071 oz) of tea per 100 millilitres (3.4 US fl oz) of water or about 1 teaspoon of green tea per 150 ml cup.

Steeping temperatures range from 61 °C (142 °F) to 87 °C (189 °F) and steeping times from 30 seconds to 3 minutes.

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Generally, lower-quality green teas are steeped hotter and longer while higher-quality teas are steeped cooler and shorter, but usually multiple times (2-3 typically).

Green tea has tons of nutrients, antioxidants and alkaloids, which have positive effects on overall health. There are many vitamins in green tea, some of which include vitamin A, vitamin D, vitamin C and B-complex vitamins. Some of green tea’s healthy minerals include manganese, zinc, potassium, selenium ,sodium and chromium.

The health benefits of green tea include improve brain function and mental performance, lower risk of type II diabetes, reduce the risk of high blood pressure, may stabilize blood sugar levels, better heart health, aid in weight loss, keeps you looking youthful, good skincare, better dental health, keeps boness strong, reduces depression and prevention and treatment of cancer.

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Green tea is a better antioxidant than black tea. Black tea contains certain substances which cannot be found in common green tea, such as theaflavin.

Although there is caffeine in green tea, it contains less caffeine than black tea, and in turn black tea has a lot less caffeine than coffee.

Tea is the most consumed beverage in the world behind water. However, 78 percent of the tea consumed worldwide is black and only about 20 percent is green.

Green tea was called “bullet tea” because it resembled the shape of bullets when shipped.

If the cat’s litter box is stinking up the house, put dry, green tea leaves in with the litter. The tea possesses deodorizing effects and is safe for your cat.