Green Tea Time

Before accidentally turned into ‘black’ during its transportation in the 17th century, tea had no color. However, despite that, green tea has a long and wonderful history. Green tea has been around for hundreds of centuries, dating back in Chinese literature as far as 5,000 years ago! It dates back to 2737 BC based on some Chinese legends, stories and some literature.

A man known as Shien Non Shei found the plant, and tasted a leaf from it. He thought it tasted fantastic, and decided to mix it with water to make a drink out of it. He also thought that the plant had medicinal properties. Another story says that the Emperor, Shen Nung, came upon the tea when a leaf from the plant fell into a cup of hot water he was drinking at the time.

The brew that can be called tea appeared around the 2nd century in China, when sun-dried green leaves were chopped and boiled as a drink, the earliest green tea. In the 7th century, the ancient Chinese began to prepare their tea into the shape of pie. Steamed, molded and baked dry, the pie was smashed by a roller and boiled at tea time. Pie tea was popular for a long period until banned by Emperor Hongwu in 1391.

Tea was introduced to Korea at the end of the 4th century along with Buddhism. In 805 AD, a returned Japanese monk brought with him the seeds of tea from Mt. Tiantai of Zhejiang Province and planted the first tea in Japan. (Japan has only green tea and tea-makers still use Chinese steaming method today).

When pie tea was replaced by loose leaf tea, roasting method replaced steaming method in Chinese tea production. There were 58 recorded well-known teas at that time. In 15 of them still in production today, 13 teas are green teas.

In 1673, England imported Chinese green tea for the first time. After the franchise of tea importing being suspended by a Chinese emperor, England started tea plantations in India.

Green tea has been used in China as a healthy, medicinal drink for approximately 5,000 years. Green tea was the drink of choice among the leaders and the wealthy. The tea leaves were used fresh from the plant for tea brewing, lightly heat processed, or even eaten right away. In ancient China, tea was a costly drink, consumed only by the rich and wealthy of the population. However, following the fall of the Mongolian Empire back in 1368 AD, the whole population of China began to experience the wonderful consumption of tea, including green tea.

Between 1405 and 1433, when China had the power of the sea, the seamen were given the necessary amount of green tea. The antioxidants in the green tea they drank fought off scurvy, which killed many Europeans sailors several years later.

Tea consumption was introduced to the United States by Europe, as a part of the worldwide tea trade, and also by Chinese immigrants who owned Chinese restaurants in the United States

With all of the new research that is being done about green tea, there’s no doubt that there are very few chemicals included in those green teas that are touted as herbal green teas. Green tea includes ingredients that are there naturally. They are herbal products that make green tea the healing beverage that it is.

The reality today, however, is that you can find green tea in many different forms besides the traditional tea bags and loose tea. You can now find green tea gum, green tea shampoo, green tea skin cream, green tea juice, and green tea well, almost everything. There’s a reason for that. It’s because green tea is all herbal all natural. When you go all natural, you are making a healthy choice for yourself as well as your family.

When people think of herbal teas, they general think of oolong or some other type of tea, but the reality is that green tea is truly the original herbal tea. It is made from the green tea plant that generally grows somewhere in Asia. Then the leaf is picked and dried. After that, it is steeped in boiling water but not too much! If you steep herbal green tea too much, you will lose the healing properties that come naturally!

Look at what research says about green tea as an herbal remedy for life’s problems. Studies have shown that herbal green tea can affect conditions such as:

• Diabetes
• High Blood Pressure
• Cancer
• Alzheimer?s Disease
• Obesity
• High Cholesterol

And much, much more!

So many studies are being conducted daily regarding the benefits of herbal green tea and what it can do for the human body. While no study has ever really been completely conclusive, they still have shown that herbal green tea can help improve your quality of life and help combat disease.

If you have studies that prove that just drinking a hot cup of tea can help you combat Alzheimer’s, why wouldn?t you want to try it if you have a family history? Consider the cancer card as well. If consuming just a few cups of herbal green tea a day could help you prevent getting cancer, why wouldn?t you?

When you really look at the health benefits of herbal green tea, you should really take heed of what the researchers say. Those researchers say that green tea can help heal and/or alleviate the symptoms of some pretty serious diseases. Take a cup of herbal green tea every day and then you can thank me later!