How To Make Green Tea
Learn How to Brew Green Tea For Health

How to make green tea?
Does the Green tea supplement have any health benefits?

How healthy is Green tea?

Information on Green tea vitamins and the Green tea products.

If you don't prepare Green tea the right way, you will damage its health benefits.

There are actually only three categories of teas: green, oolong, and black. Each of these is the product of a leaf called Camellia Sinensis. The difference between them comes from the duration of the fermentation: 'black tea' is fully fermented, 'oolong tea' is partially fermented, and 'green tea' is not fermented at all, only steamed.
Ceylon and Darjeeling tea refer to the region in which they are grown.

Looking at the Japanese people, who tend to look much younger comparing to their western age group (usually ten years younger), certainly says something in favor of the traditional Japanese diet.

Drinking Green tea is a very basic part of it.

Personally, I was convinced to drop coffee years ago. I drink Macha green tea instead.

Many people think it's very complicated or time consuming.

I get these funny looks from non-Japanese friends when they see the tea whisk in my kitchen.

But I am not practicing a tea ceremony Ritual – I am only making a cup of tea, which takes 2 minutes or less.
And the health benefits?
Plenty !!

For a short summary on how to make Green Tea, please read on.

Matcha is finely-powdered green tea used mainly for Japanese tea ceremony. Matcha Green tea leaves are grown in the shade.

Then they are stone ground until they become a bright green, talc-like powder.

Matcha is generally more expensive compared to green tea leaves, which are the most popular form of green tea in use.

Personally, I find Matcha tea to be the tastiest, but don't take my word for it - try a few types of Green tea before deciding what to buy and how to Brew Green Tea the way you prefer.

A bamboo tea whisk is used for whisking Matcha.
It is not an expensive product, and with proper treatment it will last a long time.

It's really essential if you want to learn how to make Green Tea (the powder version - Match).

Here's How to make Green Tea -

• Put between 0.5 - 1 spoon of Matcha tea powder in a Japanese tea cup (depends if you like it strong. I put 0.5 spoon per cup). I use a wooden spoon which costs next to nothing in one of the '100 Yen shops' in Tokyo.




• It's better to use spring water or filtered water to make Green tea.
  Pour hot (not boiling) water. Green tea is different from black teas. It needs water temperature of 180° to 185° (80 °C to 85 °C).

  Some people use a cheap thermometer for this purpose, but frankly I just boil the water and then let it cool down to more or less the right temperature.




• Whisk the Matcha Green tea powder using the bamboo whisk. Make sure all the lumps are gone.

If You Are Preparing Tea From The Leaves, Here's How To Brew Green Tea Correctly

• Put green tea leaves in an empty Japanese tea pot.
  The amount depends on how many cups of green tea you want to prepare. One teaspoon (5 ml) of green tea leaves per one cup of water is a good measure.




• Pour hot (not boiling) water over the tea leaves. The best water temperature for making green tea is around 80 degrees Celsius.




• Cover the lid and wait for a while before serving. The ideal brewing time for green tea is between 30 seconds and 2 minutes. The longer it brews the more bitter it will become.
  Serve Green tea in a Japanese tea cup.

As you can see you can learn How to Brew Green Tea very easily, and enjoy the health benefits.

Here's a few words on...

How Healthy Is Green Tea

Green tea vitamins have been examined in many scientific and medical studies.

The results?

There is evidence that regular drinking of green tea lowers chances of heart disease and cancer.

A connection between Green tea and weight loss have been found in many studies too.

Much of the evidence that green tea is anti-carcinogenic is based on studies among populations in Japan and in China, where people drink green tea many times a day.
These studies showed lower rates of many types of cancer.

Recently there have been controlled studies on Green tea.

These studies found that Green Tea contains the highest levels of polyphenols comparing to other kinds of tea – that's the antioxidant that provides the anti-cancer qualities.

Green tea has also been found to have anti-bacterial qualities.

Based on these studies - the suggested daily dose is two cups of green tea per day.

Sorry folks – Decaf Japanese green tea does not show the same health benefits.

The quality of the tea is a very important factor.

A lot of Green tea products that are being presented as 'Green Tea' aren't really good quality.

It all depends on the parts of the plant used, and how they are processed.

When planning to purchase green tea, look for a product of a known brand, preferably made in Japan.
Read the labels carefully.

How To Drink Green Tea

There are many other ways to enjoy green tea.

Iced green tea is a favorite of mine. It's very easy to make – here's how to make Green Tea, the summer version -
Prepare the Green tea (from Matcha or leaves), and let it cool down with the help of some ice cubes. Don't forget to add in the sugar while it's hot (it tastes great without any sugar too).

Vanilla soy milk also tastes wonderful in hot or cold Green tea.
You can find Green tea in a variety of foods - Green tea ice cream, Green tea Japanese Desserts and even A Green tea Japanese cake.

More information on How to make Green Tea, Traditional Japanese Foods, Breakfast in Tokyo And Japanese table Manners.

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