Green Teas
Green tea comes from the same plant species, Camellia sinensis as white, oolong, black and pu’erh teas. Green tea is the original tea of China and its use dates back 5,000 years—both medicinally and enjoyed as a beverage. It has been produced as a loose-leaf tea for the past 800 years, and prior to that time was typically mashed and formed into cakes for easy transport and storage. The process that defines green tea is the post-withering step of de-enzyming by pan firing or steaming the leaves. This keeps the green color of the tea leaf and stops any oxidation from occurring (such as with oolong and black tea). Green teas are primarily produced in China, Japan and Korea, but have been produced in other countries and with non-traditional cultivars. Health benefits of green tea have been widely published. I refer any inquiries about tea’s health benefits to: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed. This website has numerous archives of published biomed studies involving green tea.
