What Makes Green Tea More Beneficial Than Black Tea?

By Max Waters


Did you know that green and black tea originate from the same plant? Though the colors differ, they both come from a plant called camellia sinensis. Teas are identified as one of the most healthy drinks and both black and green teas are beneficial to health. How are they similar and more significantly which one possesses more health benefits compared to other?

Because tea is a liquid, we are going to compare the two from a taste perspective. Which beverage is tastier is a personal preference; nevertheless green tea possesses more of a bitter taste than black tea. Black tea provides a richer taste compared to green tea. For this reason, most first time drinkers choose black tea above green tea. Yet understanding that tea is a healthy drink, flavor is certainly not the main concern.

Even prior to tasting the drink, color separates the two teas. The colors are not the same because of the tea processing. Both teas go through almost same processing with the exception of the oxidation process. Green tea's first drying operation is a quick process of panning or steaming which reduces oxidation. On the contrary, black tea goes through a full oxidation procedure which takes up to 3 hours. This process is the main reason why flavor is richer and the color is darker. What exactly does that suggest relating to health benefits?

The leaves of camellia sinensis are naturally green same as almost every other plant. With regards to food, one that is more processed generally sheds more of its natural components. The very same reasoning also applies to tea leaf. Retaining the color green means it is going to have more of catechins.

Catechins are the active element available in the tea leaves. They are source for benefits like cancer prevention, heart disease, weight loss and bad cholesterol. Scientific studies have shown that a cup of green tea contains eight times more catechins compared to black tea. In theory, you would need to take in 8 more cups of black tea than green tea to gain the same amount of benefits.

You can find results of numerous researches on the health benefits associated with black tea. Many experiments have been successful against diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and cancer. This shows the healing ability of camellia sinensis. Regardless of what type of process it applies, the leaves continue to be helpful to human body. However it makes sense to intake the tea which contains more of the active ingredient. So why not start including green tea to your diet.




About the Author:



No comments:

Post a Comment