WHAT IS IN TEA?

LIFE IS SO WONDERFUL, EVERYTHING HAS MORE THAN WHAT IS IN ITS SURFACE.

ONCE YOU GO DEEPER, YOU WILL DISCOVER MORE THAN WHAT ON ITS SURFACE.

TO ME, WHATEVER TEA IS IT.

IN TEA, I ALWAYS FIND THERE IS PEACE AND CALM.

HOW ABOUT YOU, MAY I KNOW WHAT YOU FIND WHAT IS IN TEA.

PLEASE SHARE THROUGH THE COMMENT COLUMN PROVIDED BELOW.

BEAUTIFUL JAPANESE TEA SET

FOR YOUR VIEWING PLEASURE. CAN SOMEONE TELL US MORE OF THIS TEA SET.

LOVELY ATTRACTIVE JAPANESE TEA SET

TRUST THIS IS MORE THAN VIEWING PLEASURE

DARJEELING TEA AND ENGLISH BREAKFAST TEA

Very warm welcome to this life enriching blog,

 

The Darjeeling tea, seen as photo below, is my wife's gift. Its original pack of three, Twinning pack with Classics English Breakfast Tea and Origins Darjeeling Tea, is very suitable to be used as a lovely gift. She received it from her friend who must had came out with such a gift after deep thought, I believed. It was displayed in one of the cabinets and only caught my attention recently, after looking for something to write for my tea blog. 

This tea reminded me of my online tea group of friends and I decided to blog it out to kick start of Darjeeling tea and English tea. I believe some of them will take this opportunity to share this tea or experience before I give them a try.

I urge all parties to make use of this platform to have a meaningful dialog. Perhaps we can also have deeper knowledge of Eastern and Western Tea, their differences in term of taste, aroma, their respective preparation and etc..in respect of these two teas.

I was made to understand that this tea is also known as Black tea among tea connoisseurs and it is increasingly gaining popularity. Raised and cultivated in the healthiest environment of the Himalayas, the young leaves are thought to have excellent health benefits from its rich source of antioxidants, vitamins and minerals. I will share with you its taste once I have tried out. For those who have tasted this tea, please share with us some of your experience. We definitely love to hear from you.

From my understanding this tea is naturally processed. The fresh leaves are carefully handpicked and immediately left to dry; this gives its taste much like of freshly picked leaves. It contains only a small amount of caffeine making it suitable for people with high blood pressure and heart ailments.

The tea is cultivated in the cold mountains of India; they are basically handpicked, air dried, steamed and rolled tightly almost immediately. Once these leaves are completely air dried, it will then be steamed or fired at around 80 degree Celcuis for 2-3 minutes. The leaves can be steeped 3 times, but each steeping thereafter needs a longer period of time. Be mindful not to let the concoction to boil or overheat because it will cause the taste to turn bitter.

Hope you find this article useful and please do not hesitate to put forward your view in this regard. Thanks and have a fulfilling weekend.

 

James Oh

Skype me at james.oh18

GREEN TEA; JAPANESE

Hello! Folks,


Recently I have just tried out the Japanese Green Tea, in Tea bag form, from the hotel I stayed during my boot-camp. I took 2 of the Tea bags for One-Cup; Net weight of 0.2g; New family teabag as shown in the photo below.

I found the OSK Japanese Green Tea which is slightly less than RM15.00 for 50 bags is fairly good in taste and value for the money spent. I was made to understand that you could get it from the major market chains such as Jusco, Carrefour and Cold Storage.


I then recalled my very first experience of the Japanese Green tea, given as a gift from a the late local Professor Yap Han Heng after his return from Japan. I had worked for him under several renowned institutions such as WHO and Sumitomo Chemical Ltd., though less than a year. I felt indebted to him as he is the person, apart from my sister who encouraged me to pursue my study in Form Six. We kept in touch for a number of years after I graduated with my first professional degree locally in 1987, until he passed away last few years ago. It turned out to be a horribly bitter experience for me at that time. I instantly vomited out immediately after my very first sip. I thereafter poured away the remaining tea, which was nearly almost a full glass of green tea. Such a waste, yet it gave me an unforgettable experience.


Below please find a copy of the testimony he had given to me after I met him at the University during my studying when he was there to give a talk on his area of expertise.

However, this powder teabag form of Japanese green tea today gives me a very pleasant taste and I truly enjoyed it. The smell is just like a sort of 'greenish-fishy'. Tell us more how you find its aroma and taste? What is the best quality of Japanese Green Tea that you had tasted? I must admit I know very little about it? Can someone tell me the difference between Chinese, Korean and Japanese green tea.Thanks and look forward to hearing from you soon,




To read other green tea, please click the link below:-


http://teaartblog.blogspot.com/2011/03/low-fat-green-tea-latte.html



http://teaartblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/green-papaya-cubes-with-green-tea.html





James Oh

GREEN TEA HEALTH BENEFITS - REDUCE STROKE RISK

Green, black tea can reduce stroke risk


By Enrique Rivero


Drinking at least three cups of green or black tea a day can significantly reduce the risk of stroke, a new UCLA study has found. And the more you drink, the better your odds of staving off a stroke.


The study results, published in the online edition of Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association, were presented Feb. 19 at the American Heart Association's annual International Stroke Conference in San Diego, Calif.


The UCLA researchers conducted an evidence-based review of all human observational studies on stroke and tea consumption found in the PubMed and Web of Science archives. They found nine studies describing 4,378 strokes among nearly 195,000 individuals, according to lead author Lenore Arab, a professor of medicine in the division of general internal medicine and health services research at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.


"What we saw was that there was a consistency of effect of appreciable magnitude," said Arab, who is also a professor of biological chemistry. "By drinking three cups of tea a day, the risk of a stroke was reduced by 21 percent. It didn't matter if it was green or black tea."


And extrapolating from the data, the effect appears to be linear, Arab said. For instance, if one drinks three cups a day, the risk falls by 21 percent; follow that with another three cups and the risk drops another 21 percent.


This effect was found in tea made from the plant Camellia sinensis, not from herbal teas.


There are very few known ways to reduce the risk of stroke, Arab said. And developing medications for stroke victims is particularly challenging, given that the drug has to get to the stroke-damaged site quickly because damage occurs so fast. Arab said that by the time a stroke victim gets medical care, it's nearly too late to impede the damage.


"That's why these findings are so exciting," she said. "If we can find a way to prevent the stroke, or prevent the damage, that is simple and not toxic, that would be a great advance."


Though no one is certain which compounds in tea are responsible for this effect, researchers have speculated that the antioxidant epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) or the amino acid theanine may be what helps. Antioxidants are believed to help prevent coronary artery disease.


"And we do know that theanine is nearly 100-percent absorbed," Arab said. "It gets across the blood-brain barrier and it looks a lot like a molecule that's very similar to glutamate, and glutamate release is associated with stroke.


"It could be that theanine and glutamate compete for the glutamate receptor in the brain," she added.


Although a randomized clinical trial is needed to confirm this effect, the findings suggest that drinking three cups of green or black tea a day could help prevent an ischemic stroke.


Study co-authors with Arab are Weiqing Liu, a senior statistician in the UCLA Department of Biomathematics, and David Elashoff, associate professor of medicine in the division of general internal medicine and health services search at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.


The Unilever Lipton Institute of Tea funded this study.


The General Internal Medicine and Health Services Research Divison in the department of medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA provides a unique interactive environment for collaborative efforts between health services researchers and clinical experts with experience in evidence-based work. The division's 100-plus clinicians and researchers are engaged in a wide variety of projects that examine issues related to access to care, quality of care, health measurement, physician education, clinical ethics and doctor-patient communication. Researchers in the division have close working relationships with economists, statisticians, social scientists and other specialists throughout UCLA and frequently collaborate with their counterparts at the RAND Corp. and the Charles Drew University of Medicine and Science.

PS TO READ OTHER RELATED ARTICLE, PLEASE CLICK AT THE TITLE OF THE POST

JAPANESE GREEN TEA

Dear readers,

Green tea makes life easy. There are Green Tea teabags that comes with powder form, very suitable for the city folks who have hectic daily lifestyle. You may purchase it at any supermarket, Japanese  Tea Shops and virtual tea shops.

For the best brew, Japanese Green Tea should be steep in water that is boiling around 150-180° F for 1-4 minutes depending on the grade of the tea. You just take out one teabag and place it at a transparent glass cup before adding the appropriate boiling water into the cup and steep it for appropriate time frame. Thereafter, you will enjoy best brew quality green tea at your pleasure at your selected place.

For those who love high quality green tea, you may opt for Premium Green Tea teabags which are made of spring-to-early-summer selected young leaves. The use of early spring leaves together with the gentle processing give  rise to an outstanding taste without a trace of bitterness. The young leaves, after its harvest, are then steamed before being dried. This process is said to keep the abundant polyphenols from being destroyed, as opposed to the fermentation process used for black tea.

Generally, the Japanese Green Tea is a light and smooth tea. They are often used in the Japanese Tea Ceremony. The initial steaming step distinguish Japanese green tea from Chinese tea.

James Oh