Posted: Wednesday, 12 December 2007 1:13PM
Tea Processing
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Should You Join the Tea Party?
Legend has it that tea was discovered by a Chinese emperor nearly 5,000 years ago when the leaves of a nearby bush accidentally blew into his vat of boiling water. Over the centuries, as tea spread from the East to the West, it has become the most commonly consumed beverage in the world after water. In more recent years, scientists have uncovered an array of potential health benefits, from heart protection to anti-cancer and weight-loss effects. Should you drink a cup—or two or three—a day?
All tea comes from the Camellia sinensis shrub. ("Herbal teas" are made from other plants and are not true teas). How the leaves are processed after harvest, however, determines what type of tea it will become. Green teas are minimally processed - the leaves are steamed, rolled, and dried - and are light in color and taste. Black teas are withered, rolled, or crushed, and then "fermented" ( in this case meaning oxidized, or exposed to oxygen (before being dried, which makes them black and stronger in taste. Oolong teas are partially fermented. White tea, a relative newcomer to the U.S., is harvested in early spring; the young leaves and silvery white buds are steamed and dried only.
Tea also contains caffeine, unless it has been decaffeinated. The amount depends on the type/blend, how much you use, how long you brew it, and whether it's loose or bagged. A 6-ounce cup generally has about 40 milligrams of caffeine - less than half that of coffee. Black tea tends to have more caffeine than green, but white tea may have more than green.
U.C. Berkeley Wellness Letter
December 2007
ON AIR: 12/11/07 |
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