Green Tea Experience

I cannot stop talking about this wonderful drink. People often joke with me that…”is someone paying you to speak on green tea?” It brings a crackling smile on to my face and then I simply answer them back that it’s because, “I love green tea.” Although, I am a big of the regular black tea but being a “Teaholic,” I cannot stop myself on trying new varieties of tea every now and then.

Let me tell you, I was not a big fan of green tea earlier but over the years when I realized the health benefits of this miraculous drink, I became a real big fan of green tea. Before I begin talking about green tea, let us know a bit about this it.

Green tea is a tea made from unfermented extracted from the Camellia sinensis plant and are produced mainly in China and Japan. It is the most popular form of tea in China. The tea leaves are harvested and after collecting them they are heated by pan firing or steaming and dried to avoid excessive oxidation that would turn the green leaves brown and change its freshly picked flavor. When brewed it is generally green, yellow or light brown in color and its flavor may varies from grass-like and toasted to vegetal and sweet. Most green teas if brewed properly are light in color and gently astringent.

Now basically when anyone tastes green tea for the first time, they tend to be reluctant to it due to its different taste(it is generally unacceptable the first time anyone who drinks it) from the normal sweet ginger tea or black tea (which we all are used to) and it takes some practice or some kind of education (yes… really!!!) to actually inhabit the daily habit of drinking green tea.

This is because of the fact that plain green tea is actually tasteless and is best effective when consumed without sugar, and we being Indians love sweet. Although, now many varieties of green tea are available in the market like ginger-green tea, lemon green tea and various other added flavored green teas too, for people who cannot consume green tea. Tea companies have become smart and have understood the real deal on selling their products and hence add new flavors to outsmart the brains of customers.

My first experience with green tea…

A few years back, probably 5 years to be precise, I visited China for a short vacation trip with my family. During my visit, I had my first experience of drinking green tea. I am foodie too, and love Chinese food and was excited to go to China. I with my family visited a few places in China and was really impressed by the Chinese culture especially the “Chinese food.”

I first tasted the Chinese green tea in Beijing in a restaurant out there. Our tour guide who spoke both English and Chinese explained to us that this is one of the very old & famous restaurants of Beijing. When I first entered the restaurant, I could hardly see any foreigner in there but after we sat down for food, I could see many Indians out there.

Later on, I observed that everybody was served some kind of tea in the cup. I asked our local guide and he explained to me that it was green tea which was being served to them. He also gave us an undersized sermon on the tea culture of china and how green tea was a significant part of their lives. That was my first encounter with Chinese green tea and I was the only one in my family who actually drank that whole cup of tea. I didn’t like it though, but my love for Chinese culture made drink it. It was then and now after five years, green tea is a part of my life now and I somewhere consume around 1-2 cups of green tea every day.

Over the years, I have tried to visit places where we find the best tea in the world. Last year I visited one of the best tea gardens of India located in Assam. It was at the Gatoonga Tea Estate in the month of may for a week, and I stayed at the famous Banyan Grove hotel. During the entire week I took a tour across the Gatoonga tea estate and saw how the tea estate works. It was an incredible experience and I plan to visit more tea estates in the near future. This is probably every tea lover wants to do in his or her life time atleast once.

I did it..what about you???

… Why is green tea healthy? This question must be boggling in the minds of many of you. Although, many of you must be aware of the health benefits of green tea, and it is for obvious reasons that you consume green tea for the same reason. Let’s dig a bit deeper and discover the health benefits of green tea in a scientific manner.

We all are aware that green tea is good for skin, hairs and it helps to detoxify the body but there is much more to it. Did you know that green tea helps in prevention of various cardiovascular disorders, diabetes and even cancer!!! When I came to knew about it, I was like wow!!! I immediately researched on the same and my curious nature enabled me to study a bit deeply on green tea. It is a real miraculous drink and is the only reason why people in china consume it throughout the day.

A recent study says that Breast cancer is one of the most common types of cancer for women. It is estimated to affect one in eight, and is the second leading cause of death after lung cancer. This number is going to go up as the lifestyle which we live today is very unhealthy. It is nearly impossible to get anything which is actually pure and hence we all are more prone to cancer.

Green tea can be a life savior in this case, as not only breast cancer but it also helps in preventing various other forms of cancer such as lung cancer, prostate cancer and even skin cancer. Research shows that the catechins in green tea, specifically epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), kill the cells responsible for cancer development without affecting normal cells in the body.

Now let us open one surprise of green tea which is going to help many of you…

Green tea prevents hair loss!!!

Yes it does!!!

Since I have felt it personally, and felt a huge difference in my overall texture of hair and got a healthier skin, I personally started recommending family and friends regarding the benefits of green tea in preventing hair loss. Guess what?? It actually worked for almost each one of them, and today they thank me for saving their hairs. I felt blessed when I they kept me thanking for this. The reason to this positive effect of green tea on hair loss is the compound found in the tea, called EGGG, which helps to stimulate the hair production by enhancing the health and boosting the activity of dermal papillae. A powerful antioxidant, EGGG present in green tea also helps in fighting the signs of aging in skin and seems to be effectual in avoiding the thinning of hair.

If you get a chance to study about the benefits of green tea, go for it. I guarantee that you would find a solution to each of your problems in a cup of green tea.

Now let us graze into green tea more and discover a few healthy green tea recipes.

Green tea for fat loss!!!

Girls, you are going to love me for this one. Staying fit is the best mantra in today’s world and maintaining a healthy weight to stay slim and trim is a must for every girl today. Green tea benefits weight loss in various effective ways – by speeding up metabolism and increasing satiety. This is not me talking but there are thousand others like me who have lost weight with green tea. Recently, I was reading an article where a girl lost 3-4 kg of weight just by dieting and consuming lots of green tea. So, those on the path to weight loss, let me just quickly show you a magical remedy made from green tea.

“Pour boiling water into a saucepan over the tea bags and steep for about 5 minutes. Squeezing gently, remove tea bags from the water. Add sweetener (non-calorie) to cold water and stir for 2 minutes until the sweetener dissolves. Let the tea come to room temperature and is now ready to serve. You can squeeze a dash of lime to improve the flavor of green tea. Sip this drink throughout the day and see the difference.”

So girls, what are you waiting for!!! Start drinking green tea today itself.

Green tea for a good night sleep!!!

I have had sleepless nights, often due to one or the other reasons, and I believe that many of us suffer from the same. We live in a world which is highly competitive and demanding, and to fulfill that responsibly we need to have a good night sleep. Often we sleep late, completing our office work at home, which leads to anxiety, tension and leads to high level of stress which indirectly leads to sleepless nights.

One time when I was struggling with one assignment which nearly took the life out of me!!! Although, I completed it successfully but working on it for months made me addicted to not sleeping at night. I struggled it with for a few days and then finally discovered something magical. Find the magical drink below, especially for the ones who struggle to sleep…

Chamomile Green tea – The perfect sleep inducer

Chamomile is widely regarded as a mild tranquilizer and sleep-inducer.and together with green tea it gives a very mild effect and will put you to sleep. It also helps to reduce anxiety and tension.

“Put four green tea bags and two chamomile tea bags in a pre warmed tea pot and add hot water. Allow to infuse for 2-4 minutes. Add the honey to the pot and stir. Your drink is ready to drink. Easy peesy!!! “

You know what I can keep on talking on green tea and its benefits but I am going to give you all a break and allow to self discover the world of green tea.

For more information visit on – Green Tea