What is green tea?

I started to drink tea after I finished my degree study in West Malaysia in 1999. Must be good life of being a student, I gained 6kg when I came back here. *wink*

My mum introduced me to Chinese tea as according to her, it helped in slimming and burning fat in my body. True enough (or maybe just psychological play a part) I manage to trim off almost 10kg of my body and my weight dropped to 45kg. Plus morning exercise and strict diet, it helped out too. However that was 9 years ago before I started working. I cant get back to my 45kg no matter how hard I tried now.

I drink tea occasionally when I socialise. Sorry, I am not so much of a coffee drinker. I started off by drinking those bitter and hard-to-swallow Chinese tea, then I acquired the taste of English teas. I love Earl Grey, and Peppermint flavour; they are truly refreshing to my senses. Now I am taking green tea. There was one time when my dad went to Japan and brought back some Japanese green tea. That how I started to like green tea. I don’t know about other, green tea’s taste is slightly different that other tea. It taste…..green!

I have heard so much of the supposed health benefit of green tea compared to other teas.
Green tea has said to help with everything from curing or preventing diseases (including cancer and AIDS), burning fat, reducing cholesterol and more. Green tea contains a number of antioxidants (which help in counter anti-aging effect) and it contains caffeine, although in lesser amounts than coffee, many sodas and darker teas.

If you are wondering the green colour of the tea, it is actually the way they processed the tea leaves. For green tea, tea leaves are steamed to cause less oxidation. Where for most teas, tea leaves are fermented. As a result, green tea has its unique green tint and contains higher level of antioxidants than other teas.

Darker teas are usually brewed with boiling water, where as green tea is brewed with water that is slightly cooler tan boiling, but still hot. Steps to brew a perfect green tea, just pour cold water into a teapot or saucepan. Place it on a stove, set to high heat, and bring the water to a boil. When water begins to boil, remove it from the stove and let it sits for 2 to 3 minutes, then pour it over the green tea. Let the tea steep for a long as three minutes. Either removes the tea bag, or the loose tea leaves, and you have your green tea. *



* (Source: Malaysia Entrepreneur Jul – Sept 07 issue)