Tea Facts and Quotations

• "I am so fond of tea that I could write a whole dissertation of is virtues. It comforts and enlivens without the risks attendant on spiritous liquors. Gentle herb! Let the florid grape yield to thee. Thy soft influence in a more safe inspirer of social joy." -- James Boswell (1740-1795)
• When tea tasters describe tea, they may be describing the dry leaf, the infused (or wet) leaf, or the brewed tea itself, called the tea liquor. "Grey" is a term used to describe dry leaves that have suffered too much abrasion during sorting.
• "Coppery" is a term used to describe the infused leaf, indicating th bright leaf of a well-manufactured tea.
• "Weedy" is a term used to describe tea liquor that has a grassy or hay-like taste related to under-withering of the leaves. Also referred to as "woody."

Tea and Health

Milk in tea: I've seen reports that adding milk to your tea can detract from the tea's antioxidant benefits. A recent study in India, where the addition of milk is popular, showed no such effects for adult male subjects consuming black tea with milk compared to plain black tea. Total plasma antioxidant activity was the same for both groups, so if you prefer milk, have no fear. You'll also get some calcium! Ann Nutr Metab, July 13, 2005; 49(3): 189-195.

Frequently Asked Question: I often have people ask me which kind of tea is the healthiest, and they tend to get frustrated when I don't give a clear-cut answer. Here's why there is no perfect answer: Clinical research on the health benefits of tea done all over the world today often does not contain specific information on what tea was used for the studies. It is only recently that researchers routinely specify whether they are using green, black, oolong, or white tea. Almost never do they specify that they used, for example, Keemun black tea, Genmaicha green tea, or Silver Needles white tea. For one thing, researchers are on a budget and may not be able to buy expensive teas. They often rely on donated tea and/or very inexpensive tea (often tea bags), which will be blends of many different types of black or green tea. Second, it is very early in tea research and we are still sorting out the basic effects of tea in general and just touching on the effects of green vs. black tea. To try to tease out any differences between, say, Keemun black tea and Yunnan black tea seems a bit premature. Since black teas are all produced via similar methods (and all tea comes from the same plant), there may not be huge differences in the heath benefits among the different sub-types of black tea. The same goes for green teas, white teas, and oolong teas. I'm sure that eventually researchers will catch up with your tea questions and have the answers you seek. But I imagine that for quite a while, we won't have those kind of specifics. If you hear that black tea does thus and so, or green tea is good for a certain problem, it is reasonable to assume that all black tea or all green tea will provide you with similar results. Until we have better data, that is where we are.

Tea and Health News provided by: TheTeaTable.com

Return to current newsletter.   ~   View archived news.