Best Green Tea To Buy for Maximum Flavor and Health Benefits?

by Archie
(Texas)

What is the best green tea for me to buy, as far as flavor and health benefits go?

Thanks Archie

Answer:

Hey Archie, the thing about green tea is that (natural) flavor and health benefits tend to go hand in hand. So when you mention these two together, you are indeed in the right track.

Why is flavor important? Drinking a quality green tea is just about enjoying the flavors. Scientists have found that quality green teas contain high concentration of theanine, caffeine and catechins. It is the high levels of these compounds that make flavorful green tea so healthy to drink.

The problem we consumers face is that tea products can get so processed, that it is getting harder to distinguish natural flavors from the artificial. So here is my recommendation, go for unprocessed green tea as much as you can, and let taste be your guide. Avoid tea powders, flavored tea and tea bags. Go straight for loose green tea.

The highest quality green tea tends to be made from young tea buds (usually with adjacent sharp pointed leaves) harvested in spring. This is common knowledge in the Far East, but Western Scientists have come to appreciate it as well.

Best Green Tea Chemical Secrets
Revealed By Study

So in conclusion, go for young tea buds harvested in spring. The Tea Shop do a few of these teas. For everyday drinking, I recommend the newly launched Biluochun tea and Huangshan Maofeng, currently at 15% Offer for my Newsletter Readers.

Chinese Tea Shop

I hope this helps.

Julian

Best Green Tea Also Help Me Lose Weight!

by Jude
(Philadelphia)

Jude from Philadelphia rates Jipin grade 5 out of 5.

The Jipin grade is the best tea I have ever tasted, though it took a few days to get used to the subtlety of the flavor.

I have only used the Wang grade a few times since I only ordered 10 grams. I think I prefer the Jipin, though the difference to me is very subtle.

I am looking forward to receiving more Jipin and also trying the AAA and seeing how it compares.

Also I would like to mention that I have lost about 25-30 lbs in the last several months, and I attribute this to several things, but drinking 2 cups of green tea a day is definitely one of them.

Thank you for providing access to such high quality tea!

Best Green Tea for Weight Loss, Skin and Heart

I was impressed by the health benefits and also studied a few cautions about green tea. I have also heard about the many flavours of green tea.

I just want to know which will suit me the best.

My needs are 1)I am black and I need to improve my skin texture. 2)Need to reduce my weight 3)Need to take care of heart to avoid future problems when get old.

Please suggest me few brands available in market which can satisfy the above and suggest me both good and bad effects if any on the same please.

Answer:

Hey, thank you for the questions. When choosing green tea, my recommendation has always been to choose teas that are harvested naturally in high mountains, as they contain the highest level of antioxidants.

You way want to try unflavored green teas as they are of higher quality.

The detailed guidelines are laid out in

Green Tea Diet - How To Be A Successful Loser

This Biluochun green tea contains a very high concentration of antioxidants due to its very young and tender tea buds:

Biluochun Tea (Piluochun)- Dongting and Zhejiang AAA Grade

I hope this helps.

Julian

Best Green Tea to Reduce Weight and Blood Pressure

by Julie E.
(Milwaukee, WI, USA)

Ok...let me begin by admitting that I am a total tea 'virgin'..seriously, the only tea I've ever really drunk is (please don't cringe)Crystal Light, which I know resembles Kool-aid more than real tea. So please forgive my ignorance in advance.

A little background to give you an idea of the concerns I have. I am a 34-year old woman who has narcolepsy, and I have been taking medication for my condition for the past 15+ years. I am a highly educated person and try to stay as well informed and up-to-date on scientific and medical research about my condition as possible.

Recent research suggests that narcolepsy is caused by the destruction and cessation of hypocretin (orexin) producing neurons. (I also read with interest you comments about Parkinson's as new research suggests these two conditions may be related in pathology). Not only is hypocretin responsible for regulating your sleep cycle, but also (sigh) is responsible for regulating metabolism.

As a result, despite my best efforts, I have put on a ridiculous amount of weight, which, as someone who was always very athletic, active, and in-shape, frustrates and absolutely disgusts me (I'm being honest).

I take a ridiculous amount of medication just to be functional (80mg of amphetamines for sleepiness, 50mg of imiprimine--an antidepressant--to control the cataplexy). And now with my last visit to my doctor, my blood pressure is starting to get alarmingly high...obviously because of all the stimulants and weight gain.

I am absolutely desperate to lose weight, but at the same time, am very interested in the improved health benefits (specifically EGCG's and improved brain cell regeneration). So having bored you through half my life story (lol), here's my question(s):

Which kind of tea would you recommend as being most beneficial to me...I keep reading that Oolong is more effective for weight loss, but green tea and white tea has more EGCG's. Keeping in mind my blood pressure, the less caffeine the better.

I am also looking for the highest quality possible because I just don't see the point of drinking commercial/processed tea that has questionable origins (of course, don't forget that I have absolutely no knowledge experience with drinking tea so I have no idea what I might like). So any thoughts or advice? Thank you in advance for your help.

P.S. Feel free to cut and paste parts of this question if you want to post it...don't want to bore the entire world! lol Thanks again.

Answer:

Julie, my sympathy to your recent weight gain. My wife has the same problems after the birth of our first child. I would do my best to help (have to say I am not a doctor so I am not giving any medical advice.)

So let me summarise, you want high EGCG, something that increases weight gain and reduces your blood pressure, right?

Let's start with a product that contains high amount of EGCG and near-zero caffeine. Decaffeinated green tea is not great because the process either strips out too much tea nutrients or make the tea tastes flat. So you are really looking into a tea supplement such as Teavigo ...

DSM is a reputable company so I am comfortable recommending. The disadvantage with Teavigo is that it is pure EGCG. There is no evidence that this product can promote significant weight loss (but may help with your brain healing).

Teavigo - Best Tea Supplement?

In the realm tea beverage, you may find it surprisingly to know that the higher the tea quality, the more caffeine it contains. However, these high grade teas are much more soothing to drink, because they contain even more of another compound called theanine, which is naturally decaffeinating.

A known relaxant, theanine promotes alpha brainwave. There is emerging evidence that it normalises blood pressure.

Theanine Health Benefits

For weight loss and health, I recommend a high grade tea which contains high level of theanine and EGCG. Further information on how to have an effective tea diet can be found at

Green Tea Diet - How To Become A Successful Loser

I hope this reply helps. I will soon be publishing a beverage review guide. Do come back and visit often by subscribing to my RSS feed!

RSS Feed

Julian

Green Tea - What's Good And Bad?

by Nal

Julian, what's the difference between good and bad green tea?

I like your site, I've just been reading it these past few days as I was interested in where the boundary between good and bad green tea lay.

I bought 250 grams of 2007 Long Jing (no idea which grade but certainly not the highest) at £27.

I am pleased with it, I just love opening the bag and sticking my nose in, though it gets bitter easily above 70 degrees.

I am relatively new to this game and am enjoying myself thoroughly.

Answer:

Ian, where do I begin? Tea prices are determined by grades, which in turn in determined by location, crop dates and the growing season.

Grading

Let's start with location. Older tea villages tend to produce higher quality teas than the newer tea farms. Higher altitude better than lower altitude.

In the context of Long Jing tea, even within the West Lake, Lion Peak Mountain will be higher quality than Meijiawu village that in turn will be better than other West Lake villages etc.

Cropping dates are obvious. The earliest picks are fatter, sweeter and richer.

Seasonality is obvious. Spring green tea is head and shoulder above the rest. Summer harvested tea is the lowest quality. The best tea gardens in China only harvest their teas once a year.

Taste and Nutrition

Higher grade tea produced in famous locations tend to be more consistent and easier to brew. They perform well at high temperature (up to boiling point).

They are sweet to drink, which is partly due to their high theanine content, which also makes them very calming and soothing.

They also taste infinitely richer. Which means you get brew using a smaller quantity and find they last longer.

The very highest grade is also aromatic and nasal, which is often described as orchid fragrance. Such high quality green tea, of course, is extremely rare. HQ's King grade is one example. But I wouldn't recommend it other than to a true connoisseurs due to its high cost and subtle flavours.

You can also tell by the appearance. Higher grade is handpicked, regular, unbroken, one-bud-two-leaf or higher, and fatter.

As for nutritions, high quality teas tend to contain more of theanine, EGCG and caffeine. You may want to check out the article below:

Best Green Tea Chemical Secrets

I hope this helps.

Chinese Jasmine Tea - Where To Find A Good One?

by Anonymous
(Canada)

I purchased tea from you in the past. It's excellent!! I just recently was introduced to chinese Jasmine tea. I am looking for information about this tea. Is it a green tea? What are the benefits of this tea? Are there different grades? and I noticed that you do not carry this type of tea.

Please also inform me if there is a safe and reputable place that I could purchase this tea from. Thank you.

Answer:

I will be writing on Jasmine tea later this year. It means the tea is infused with jasmine, can be either white, green, oolong even pu-erh tea. Health benefits will depend on the quality of tea leaves used.

Most jasmine teas sold either in China or the West are mass-produced, simply because they are jasmine scented there is no incentive to use high quality leaves. Still they are very popular. You can do a search online to find them, or your local Chinese store (they sell Long Zhu Cha or dragon balls which have been heavily scented).

Higher grades will use higher quality leaves, i.e. tea buds and not leaves. A friend of mine is based in Sweden and carries a high quality Jasmine tea that has been infused 7 to 9 times. If you are interested, I can get a price quotation and further details for you.

Julian

Healthiest Tea or Tisane - What's Your Opinion?

by Matt
(Chicago)

What do you think is the most beneficial or healthiest tea or tisane to drink?

I have a hard time picking my daily tea for health...

Silver Needle White Tea
Japanese Matcha
Green Rooibos

Hard for me to decide which would benefit me most because I believe those are the top 3 healthiest drinks in the world...

What's you opinion?

Answer:

Matt, I believe the best option is to diversify your healthy beverages. That way, you open yourself to new choices, and reduces the likelihood of side effects from drinking too much.

All three beverages have the pluses. Just bear in mind that within the same type of beverage, there is a wide variations of quality.

Some green tea will contain more antioxidants and theanine than Matcha green tea or Silver Needle white tea. But it may also cost more. It all depends.

You may find these two articles helpful:

Matcha Powder Benefits Vs Green Tea Leaves - A Reality Check

Silver Needle Tea (Fujian Baihao Yinzhen) - Handpicked Unblended Grade

I hope this helps.

Julian

Best Green Tea to Buy

So, what is the best brand of green tea to buy, where do you get it, and should you buy loose or bagged?

Answer:

Natural, unflavored loose green tea harvested early spring with lots of tea buds contain the most health benefits.

You may find the following article helpful.

Green Tea Beverage Brands - Best Of 7 Types Reviewed

I hope this helps.

Julian

Best Colon Cleanse Tea to Use with Illumination

by M.
(Missouri)

You mentioned needing an additional Colon cleanse product while using the Illumination tea. Do you have a recommendation on that? I am new to this detox thing, and would like to try the Illumination, but need to know which Colon cleanse product to use with it, preferably in a tea form.

Answer:

M, since you are new to detox, the best way is to start slowly. From this point of view, Illumination is a good starting point. Since you are just consuming one product, you also have a better idea what is making the difference.

I will invite the site's herbalist Donna regarding the second part of your question on which is the recommended Colon cleanser...

Julian