Quality of Green tea?

I know that green tea is supposed to be really good for you. I like to start my day off with a mug and I’ll sometimes have a mug with dinner. What I was wondering was, does a generic brand of green tea hold nearly as many health benefits as a higher quality source?

Which brand do you use and where do you buy it?

I don’t know if one’s better than the other, but I buy Clipper or Twinings from Asda.

You just reminded me to have one and I’ve just put the kettle on.

Your post counts as double cause your from England

I think it’s more to do with taste rather than antioxidants and fat loss benefits because the cheaper alternatives are still made using the same plant. I have tried many different brands including, Twinings, Tetley, M&S, and even Harrods! They are all good but I must say the Harrods brand is in a different league when it comes to taste! Harrods even sell ‘loose leaf’ varieties!

My current favourite though is Tetley Decaf because I can drink it late at night without it affecting my sleep.

Screw you Brits and your tea! You put milk in your tea which is an offense punishable by death (it should be).

Real tea is brewed in a pot made from china, placed about 6 inches away from a small collection of hot coals - usually used in a session of opium smoking, but bear with me - and is brewed for about an hour and a half.

Sort of kidding about the actual set up, but point being it is SLOWLY brewed by indirect heat if you really want good tasting tea. Any of my American friends that have had tea at my house end up rolling down their windows and spitting at every Starbucks they drive by.

I like to serve them a bit of yellow cake on the side…

Oooooooooooh, I haven’t thought about the decaff option. I’ll have a look next time I’m shopping.

I tend not to drink it at least 2 hours before bed anyway, though.

I’ve found Clipper Organic to be the best tasting so far.
I’ve currently got some Twinings and some PG Tips with mint and I find them both incredibly bitter, especially the Twinings. With the Clipper stuff I can happily leave the bag in while I drink it with any kind of bitterness.

I also usually put a couple of bags in the cup but it’s just too gross to do this with a brand like Twinings.

Health benefits aside, there are few beverages more satisfying than high-quality loose leaf organic green. A store near my house sells probably 10-12 different kinds of leaf, and for the price of a box of tea bags at the grocery store, you get a 50 gram bag of some real tasty shit. Not bad, I say.

Also, I’ve found with the good loose leaf stuff I don’t get all jittered and cranked; I just feel focused and on-target.

[quote]PonceDeLeon wrote:

Sort of kidding about the actual set up, but point being it is SLOWLY brewed by indirect heat if you really want good tasting tea. [/quote]

Ive heard that in order to get much out of the tea it must be steeped for quite a while.

Also, where do you guys get your loose leaf stuff? I can’t find anything like that near me.

For those looking for quality teas and coffees, try Murchie’s out of Richmond, B.C.

http://www.murchies.com/wwww/about.php

I used to buy Lapsang Souchong Ex. Choice, but Gunpowder Ex. Choice looks like the premium green tea.

These folks respect quality and tradition. They still speak of the Queen on their web page, so these ex-Colonists are almost as English as the English! I like that for some reason.

I would recommend buying loose leaf tea and a little mesh tea ball from the natural food store or Whole Foods. The tea will most likely be organic. It is fresher and cheaper than pre-packed tea bags, which they also use at Dunkin and Starfucks. It looks expensive because it may say $40/lb buy this equates to barely anything.

Even if you drink 3 cups a day like me, I feel like I spend $5 dollars or less per week on tea. I would recommend storing it in a clean, airtight glass jar like one that peanut butter comes in through the dishwasher.

Mzhickteno is right about the focus and on-target thing. Loose leaf makes you feel good. White tea is also very good. It is higher in antioxidants and lower in caffeine than green tea. White tea is also higher than green tea in an amino acid called L-theanine. This amino raises levels of serotonin and dopamine and makes you feel good all day without getting jittered or crashing.

Muscles297 try ordering from online. I don’t know any reputable ones but I’m sure you could find one.

fuck tea before bed

I’ve heard that to gain the benefits of green tea you’d need to have about 5 to 10 cups per day.

I take a green tea extract pill, which is higher dose.

[quote]Nards wrote:
I’ve heard that to gain the benefits of green tea you’d need to have about 5 to 10 cups per day.

I take a green tea extract pill, which is higher dose.[/quote]

5-10 cups per day is only for the fat loss benefits. Drinking 2 a day will still do you good.

[quote]toots27mkc wrote:
I would recommend buying loose leaf tea and a little mesh tea ball from the natural food store or Whole Foods. The tea will most likely be organic. It is fresher and cheaper than pre-packed tea bags, which they also use at Dunkin and Starfucks. It looks expensive because it may say $40/lb buy this equates to barely anything.

Even if you drink 3 cups a day like me, I feel like I spend $5 dollars or less per week on tea. I would recommend storing it in a clean, airtight glass jar like one that peanut butter comes in through the dishwasher.

Mzhickteno is right about the focus and on-target thing. Loose leaf makes you feel good. White tea is also very good. It is higher in antioxidants and lower in caffeine than green tea. White tea is also higher than green tea in an amino acid called L-theanine. This amino raises levels of serotonin and dopamine and makes you feel good all day without getting jittered or crashing.

Muscles297 try ordering from online. I don’t know any reputable ones but I’m sure you could find one.[/quote]

Exactly what I was looking for. Thanks for the additional tips!

I’ve actually never even thought of the quality of my tea. I’ve been drinking the very cheap Salada green tea, which is probably not the highest quality. My initial thought to seeing more expensive teas is that they had no more nutritional quality but rather fancy combinations of certain plants for the purpose of taste.

I’m not sure if the antioxidant content varies by tea. Hell, to be honest, I’m not sure sure I believe the hype - you know, " OMG LIEK FREE RADIKELS ARE ROBBING MY HEALTHZ!!!111!1one1!" While I only understand the basic concept of what a free radical is, and don’t know specifically about different antioxidants and their properties, it appeals to my intuition that simply following a reasonable diet comprised of a wide variety of unprocessed foods would be sufficient to maintain near-optimal health. Most of the people I see obsessing over antioxidants don’t even know what a free radical is, so this makes me think that it’s mostly a bunch of overhyped bullshit used by niche food industries like juice and tea companies to line their pockets.
Please let me know if I’m off base here, since my argument is only based on my intuition and sense.

To be honest, I’ve found that the best advantage to tea is drinking it before I train to increase my body temperature. Having a pre-training routine also improves my focus a lot.

I drink a ton of diet iced green tea from Publix. I drink it to get a little flavor rather than for its health benefits. (Since I only drink water, 1% milk, and the occasional Mighty Mango Naked Juice)

Green tea is treated with many pesticides therefor if you’re looking for the antioxidant effects then organic is the way to go.

I go to my local Chinatown and buy “Dragon Well” loose tea (that’s not the brand, it’s a category of green tea). It’s expensive (40 dollars a pound I think) but a half-pound lasts a long time. And you can get multiple brews from the same leaves (I get at least 3 and sometimes 4 brews). Dragon Well is mild and delicious.

I buy mine from a Chinese supermarket, where it is absurdly cheap compared with regular supermarkets/stores. I have also added an inexpensive green tea extract supplement during fat loss phases and believe it jacks up body temp.