Green Tea Bottles and Cans - Is Instant Tea Healthy?

by Robert
(Vegas)

Are the instant green teas that come in jugs, cans and bottles worth buying? Do they have any of the good qualities that you find in tea you brew yourself?

Answer:

Robert, the thing about green tea antioxidants (catechins and EGCG) is that they are very active and react easily with oxygen they come into contact with (the same property that makes them such powerful toxins remover). This makes storing high potency green tea a very difficult task.

A lot of green tea products out there (in bottles, powders, cans or jugs) are synthetic tea i.e. they are made from low potency tea extract.

When buying, look at the label and check how much catechins and EGCG the manufacturers say they contain. Words such as "green tea extract" are meaningless because they don't tell you anything.

Such manufacturer claims their tea is extracted naturally rather than made from extract. But these natural tea extract can still be low potency.

So in answering your question, if the label does not tell you much, then the tea is probably does not compare to a high quality loose green tea.

Some extract is high potency i.e. it has been standardised so that they contain high level of catechins and EGCG. However, most instant tea products (such as bottled and canned green tea) prefer not to use them because they taste astringent (i.e. a dry month feeling).

It's not surprising, because that is the natural taste of tea antioxidants.

I hope this answers your questions.

Further information can be found in

Healthiest Green Tea - What Brands Rather You Not Know

and

Best Green Tea - Four Studies Reveal Healthiest Brand