Chinese Green Tea
What makes Chinese green tea different from the other blends available in the market? Find out about the origins and difference between Chinese green tea and the rest of the blends.
The Chinese have been making use of green tea for over four thousand years. The drink that has kept the Chinese healthy and helped to give them the longest life expectancy rate in the world is now being acknowledged as having the potential to be a source of great benefit to individual health.
The discovery
Legend has it that the first cup of green tea was drunk by Emperor Shen Nung back in the year 2732 B.C. The cup of tea that he drank was accidentally prepared as the leaves from a near by tree fell into a pot of boiling water. The smell intrigued the emperor who took a sip and fell in love with it. From there onwards he started patronizing the drink and encouraged the public to get hooked on it as well.
The green tea revolution had thus begun. The neighboring islands of Japan were also introduced to Chinese green tea through Buddhist monks who had come from Japan to study the dharma in China. During their stay in China they developed a taste for green tea and took some back with them to Japan. After some time the two nations were regularly engaged in green tea trade until Japan started producing it own cultivation.
What makes Chinese green tea so special?
There are many different types of teas available in the market. The question is what makes Chinese green tea so special? Basically there is no such tea on the face of this planet that can offer the benefits that green tea has to offer.
Basically the tea is prepared from the leaves of the Camellia plant. Ironically this is the same plant from which black tea is derived. It is the techniques through which both these blends are prepared that give them different characteristics otherwise the leaves of the shrub are endowed with all the health benefits.
To turn the leaves of the Camellia plant into black tea they are put through the process of fermentation. Although this process gives the blend a great and highly addictive taste it strips it of all the medicinal qualities that the leaves naturally possessed.
On the other hand Chinese green tea skips the process of fermentation and undergoes a process of steaming and drying. This makes the blend retain the natural medicinal properties that are found in the plant. As a result of the different techniques both these kinds of blends are strikingly different from each other although they are derived from the same plant.
Thus the product derived at the end of the steaming and drying process is authentic Chinese green tea. It is rich with antioxidants which are one of the biggest qualities of green tea as they can help with many health problems such as cholesterol, cancer, heart problems, weight loss and any many other illnesses.
