What Green Tea Catechins Content?

I was looking for information on green teas catechins content in milligrams. Browsing through your website I gathered some good information. Based on what you have to say loose tea leaves are your best bet, but I can't seem to find any information in regards in how many mg of catechins they contain. Is there some other information that you can recommend so that I can look at? Perhaps a brand that you would recommend?

Answer:

You are right to say I haven't explicitly say how much catechins they contain, and the reason is because catechins levels can vary significantly from tea to tea, and even for the same tea by plant parts, seasonality and processing method.

A good source of info is the USDA study:

Green Tea Catechins Content

As for my recommendation, check out a recent question that I answered on the
healthiest green tea.

If you have further questions, please let me know. I hope this helps.

Green Tea Brands - What Catechins Levels?

by John
(Albany,NY,USA)

Where can I find information on how the various green tea brands and their catechins level?

A July/August 2006 issue of Men's Health,p 52 describes that the amount of catechins can vary considerably between different brands of green tea.

It gives Stash's Darjeeling Organic green tea high marks. Not so much Celestial Seasonings green tea.

Answer:

John, I strongly agree with the observation that catechins levels can vary significantly from tea to tea, brand to brand.

What many people forget is that tea is an agricultural product. Its raw content, and the subsequent processing and storage, can result in complex and unpredictable changes in quality.

Luckily, taste is as important as chemistry. In fact, the two is inseparable.

So we don't have to always rely on chemistry tests. We can and should be able to "taste" the difference.

But more on that later ... first back to your question.

I have a quick search on Men's Health and found this article entitled "It's In The Bag".

Catechins content are measured in milligram per gram:

Stash Darjeeling Organic Green Tea
TOTAL CATECHINS: 100
CAFFEINE: 22 milligrams (mg)

Peet's Sencha Japanese Green Tea
TOTAL CATECHINS: 76
CAFFEINE: 17 mg

Lipton 100% Natural Green Tea
TOTAL CATECHINS: 29
CAFFEINE: 8 mg

Celestial Seasonings Green Tea
TOTAL CATECHINS: 19
CAFFEINE: 6 mg

The results are very interesting. It is saying the Stash tea contains 5 times more catechins than Celestial Seasoning!

I am slightly surprised that even the Stash Darjeeling Organic green tea catechins level of 100 milligrams per gram is lower than the average quoted by the 2007 USDA Study, which found that on average hot regular tea contains 127 milligrams of catechins per gram.

Healthiest Green Tea

As far as I am aware, the USDA have not analysed tea bags and loose green tea separately, so the inclusion of loose green tea may be biasing their average upwards, but I am not 100% sure.

The 2003 study published in Nutrition And Cancer entitled "Catechins Content of 18 Teas" compared various tea bags from various tea brands.

Interestingly, authors Susanne Henning et all found that Celestial Seasoning came out on top in term of catechins content.

All figures below are quoted at milligram per gram:

Celestial Seasoning Authentic Green Tea
105.7

Lipton Green Tea
84.3

Uncle Lee's Green Tea
76.7

Bigelow Darjeeling Blend
68.1

The above studies only include tea bags, so does not tell the whole story. There are many reasons why loose green tea offers greater nutrition and better value for money compared to tea bags:

Loose Green Tea

Finally, be aware that high catechins content does not mean quality.

In a 2004 study, scientists discovered that the most important quality indicators are EGCG, theanine and caffeine, and singles the Dragon Well green tea as exhibiting these chemistry patterns.

The health benefits of EGCG is well documented. As you may be aware of, EGCG makes up about half of catechins, and is the single most potent compound in green tea.

Best Green Tea

I hope this helps.

Twinings Tea Bags - Contain Polyphenols?

by Dianne
(Chile)

Do Twinning tea bags contain polyphenols? The only tea I've every tried are Twinings flavoured and individual green tea bags - the ones you drop in a cup.

Are there any health benefits in these tea bags? Or are they simply a waste of money?

I want to try green tea leaves for the health benefits - there are many opinions as to which brand is best.

Won't just any brand provide at least some green tea benefit?

Answer:

Dianne, the short answer to both your questions is a definitive YES.

Any type of tea, as long as it is Camelia Sinesis, whether it is tea bags, Twinnings or any other brands, will contain polyphenols and will have health benefits. They are not a waste of money!

The question is: what kinds of polyphenols do you want? AND - what is the difference between low and high quality tea?

The word polyphenols is very broad and imprecise. Scientists can't deal with it, because when they conduct research, they need to break it down into its constituents.

So far, if you are drinking tea for health benefits, the most potent part of polyphenols that has been identified is EGCG, which is found to be in the highest quantities in green tea (and possibly in white tea also, but this is me talking!).

A 2004 study conducted by UK scientists found that the highest quality green tea (i.e. traditionally those judged by tea tasters using taste, appearance and smell) also contain the highest levels of EGCG, as well as compounds such as theanine.

So, what this tell us?

This means that green tea that tastes delicately sweet without adding sweeteners, harvested using young tea shoots, such as the Longjing tea, has been shown to contain the highest amount of EGCG.

Also, because this high quality tea tends to contain more theanine, drinking it should make you feel very calm and soothing, rather than wanting to run around and feeling quite agitated.

You can read about the study here ...

Best Green Tea Secrets

Which tea do I recommend?

For maximum health benefits, I recommend drinking loose green tea, probably of the young tea shoots varieties - i.e. those made of one-bud-two-leaves or one-bud-one-leaf or single buds.

For an example of how young tea shoots look like, check out HQ's Longjing tea at

Dragon Well Tea

Which brand you choose will depend on your taste, budget and convenience.

High quality tea tastes good naturally (without sweetening and flavouring) and make you feel calm rather than agitated.

Hope this helps.

How to Conduct EGCG Test on Green Tea?

by Bill
(Vancouver Island Canada)

In the last year I have become a health advocate and green tea is an important part of my diet.

I have 4 different green teas and there are conflicting claims about the amount of EGCG in these teas.

What equipment is required to test for EGCG?

Thank you for any information.
Bill

Answer:

Bill, it is not the testing, but the tea leaves themselves are subject to huge variation. Factors to consider are:

- Which season?
- Early or late harvest?
- Buds or leaves?
- Land, location and altitude
- Climate around the days of harvest
- Making process

In addition, storage and time of consumption also make a huge difference.

Experienced green tea drinkers will know there is a wide variation of quality, all due to the factors mentioned above.

The following study uses NMR Spectroscopy.

Best Green Tea Chemical Secrets Revealed By Study

I am sure lots of other tests exist.

Hope this helps.

Julian