Tea and Health
Types of Tea and Health Benefits - Understanding the science behind tea's therapeutic properties. Discover how real tea from the Camellia Sinensis plant provides numerous health benefits through its natural antioxidants and compounds.
Understanding Real Tea
VP Clonal Tea Varieties showing the different types of tea bush varieties
Real tea as I call it, derives only from the bush named - Thea Camellia Sinensis. Originally there were two distinctive tea Jats that were identified:
Growing wild in India - large fleshy leaf variety - Basis of the many high yielding Vegetative Plant cuttings = V.P.
Growing in China - small tough leaf variety - basis of the Darjeeling area and the leaves whilst small and lower yielding produce greater character in manufacture.
From these two Jats seed & cuttings taken from these original jats were transferred to different districts in China, India, Ceylon and later to other countries. These jats then adapted & mutated to different types of those jats, changed by soil, weather & elevation influences on the plants.
Other Infusions Called Teas
Unfortunately a number of commercial names have probably confused consumers but I will list here some of the names used and the variety of products erroneously termed teas:
In France the word Tisane is used to identify what are often called Herbal teas such as Chamomile, Peppermint and Rooibos or Red bush.
The trade also invented another word - Speciality Teas - These are either teas that have pieces of fruit or flowers added to them and often in the case of tea bag teas merely have a flavour added to the leaf by mist spraying in a revolving drum. To me Speciality teas are one that are created in very special weather periods such as 1st. flush Darjeeling or Western & Uva Seasonal quality teas.
These are created without any tea whatsoever and are merely pieces of fruit or fruits that will create an infusion with the addition of hot water.
Flavouring of Teas
In the flavouring of a tea such as Earl Grey it is very important to understand the different qualities of flavouring used.
The cheapest, are created from extracts taken from insects and some unrelated plants.
More expensive and a combination of artificial and Natural flavour sources.
Taken from the natural fruits that they relate to such as Bergamot which is extracted from the skin of a fruit rather like a pear in Turkey. We always use Natural flavours in all our flavoured teas.
White Tea - Silver Tips or Silver Needles
The purest form of white tea is the Silver Tip. Ideally a special variant of the tea bush should be used which has slightly purple leaves instead of light green leaves. This variant has been adapted to grow excellent long fat buds and only these buds are harvested by specially skilled pluckers who are sent into the small plots where this expensive form of tea is grown early in the morning whilst the mist is still lying over the tea fields.
The mist which is damp & cold makes the bud raise the long silvery hairs that lie around the bud to protect it until they are erect. The buds are then placed in special trays and usually sun dried. The caffeine level is at this stage low.
Whilst the processing sounds simple, the plucking is very expensive as normally a plucker can pluck some 40 to 50 kilos of green leaf in good growing conditions and she will receive a bonus above a decreed Norm or weight. With the buds it is hard for the good pluckers to achieve 750g to 800g of buds in a days plucking before the sun rises and therefore they have to be compensated with a bonus.
The problem that arises with the marketing of White tea is that there are different types of White and some forms of White include the first leaf below the bud such as Pai Mu. The consumer needs to understand these variants of White tea and the fact that some are cheaper than others to produce.
Health Related Research
Early Research Findings
In the first early research projects about tea and several of these were conducted in Japan, it was the green tea that was carefully looked into and green tea was found to have a high level of antioxidants known as catechins. These Catechins were over time shown to have beneficial effects on the human body eventually showing that they in some way could protect the body from developing certain cancers. This research started some 30 years ago.
At that time it was supposed that because black tea went through a different process with longer fermentation & firing, that black tea was inferior to green tea. Later researches showed that black teas did in fact have lower levels of catechins but they had high levels of other flavanoids such as Theaflavins (TF's) & Thearubigins (TR's) which are converted from Catechins in black tea production.
Current Scientific Understanding
It was then shown by Yoshino et al (1994) & Catterall et all (1998) that these TF's & TR's were even more beneficial in certain health conditions. The result is that today both Green and black teas are now declared to be equally beneficial to the human system. TR's in particular reduce the damage to DNA by chemical carcinogens Lodovicci et al (2000) and Gupta et al (2001).
Whilst the press media and certain commercial interests who have access to cheaper green teas still maintain that green teas are more beneficial, the scientific community promote both teas as highly beneficial.
Antioxidant Capacity Comparison
Dr. Tissa Amarakoon in his summary of 'Tea for Health' booklet gives the total Anti-oxidant capacity of teas expressed as the Oxygen Radical Absorance Capacity (ORAC) as micromol of Trolox equivalent per g of dry matter:
White teas do appear to have a high antioxidant level and there is some suggestion that they have lower levels of caffeine.
"These findings have been clarified by the demonstration that green and black tea contain specific polyphenols that can act as powerful antioxidants. The effect in lowering the risk in heart disease and many types of cancer is based on the raised antioxidant level in the body in individuals who drink tea, whereas the conditions leading to these diseases involve abnormal steps of oxidation."
Tea Council Research Report
A report called 'The Tea and Health Report' was headed by Professor Vincent Marks of the University of Surrey. It was undertaken to bring together many reports appearing world-wide and make an informed comment on those findings by the Tea Council of the U.K.
Research evidence that drinking 4 to 5 cups of tea a day may have a beneficial effect on high blood cholesterol and high blood pressure.
Tea consumption is likely to have beneficial effects in reducing cancer risk in certain populations through Laboratory and Epidemiological studies.
Much of the work on tea was instigated because of research on Flavonoids. In tea their antioxidant properties are significant.
High popularity of tea (Black and Green), and its important contribution to our overall intake of fluid. Tea on its own has no calories.
Research Contributors
- Professor Vincent Marks, University of Surrey
- Professor Ron Walker, University of Surrey
- Dr. Simon Maxwell, University of Leicester
- Professor David Forman, University of Leeds
- Professor Anne Murcott, South Bank University of London
Caffeine Content by Tea Grade
| Grade of Tea | % wt/wt | Mg per 120ml |
|---|---|---|
| O.P (Orange Pekoe) | 1.3 | 33.7 |
| B.O.P. | 2.2 | 56.1 |
| B.O.P.F. (Quality Tea bags) | 3.1 | 77.6 |
| Dust No.1 | 2.9 | 72.8 |
Caffeine Content by Production District
| Region/District | % wt/wt |
|---|---|
| Nuwara Eliya (High grown) | 2.7 |
| Up Country e.g Dimbula | 3.3 |
| Mid Country e.g. Kandy | 3.7 |
| Low Country e.g. Ruhunu & Sabragamuwa | 4.9 |
Ceylon Tea achieved another first after its move to 'Bio' in its tea fields when the United Nations awarded the industry the 'Ozone Friendly Tea' status in 2007 and the Sri Lankan Tea Board (SLTB) developed an 'Ozone Friendly Pure Tea' logo. This Logo can only be applied to all Ceylon tea packs that are packed within the island.
In 1997 at the 17th meeting of the International Standards Organisation (I.S.O) seminar. Dr Collier, chairman of the European Tea Technical Committee at that time declared that 'Ceylon' teas were the cleanest teas in the world, with special reference to spray residues.
Key Health Research Areas
Summary provided by Tissa Amarakoon - Biochemistry division of T.R.I. (TRI = Tea Research Institute, S.L): These researches have concentrated on three main areas:
Studies showing tea's role in preventing cancer initiation and progression through antioxidant mechanisms.
Research on heart disease and stroke prevention through cholesterol reduction and blood pressure management.
Studies on tea's natural antimicrobial properties and immune system support.
Studies have shown that not only fluoride but polyphenols found in tea have an effect on cariogenic bacteria (which cause tooth decay), by reducing their numbers and their ability to attach to the surface of teeth. Ceylon teas from different regions contain 0.8 - 2.2 mg/Litre of fluoride.
The conclusion is that tea is a health promoting beverage strengthened by these researches and tea could be considered a pleasant natural beverage with health benefits.
This Summary has been made by Robert Wilson of Robert Wilson's 'Ceylon' Tea and is his own interpretation of certain papers presented to him and may not be reproduced without his express permission.