Green tea is the least processed of all teas.  It produces a light, fragrant and very refreshing beverage, which is particularly enjoyable during warm weather.   Because of its minimal processing, green tea doesn't keep for very long, losing most of its flavour and aroma after about six months unless carefully packed and stored in an airtight container in a cool dry location.  Since the introduction of modern packaging - such as laminated foil packs and vacuum-sealing, it is now possible for more people to experience green tea's pleasures.  Green tea produces several infusions from the one serve of dry leaf, making it more economical than it might at first appear!

How to Prepare Green Tea
There are many types of green tea, yet they all share one thing in common: NONE are prepared with boiling water! Any green tea worthy of the name will turn bitter if it is infused at too high a temperature. All spring green teas should be infused at between 80 deg C and 90 deg C. Two convenient methods for achieving this are: (a) let the kettle sit for five or so minutes after boiling, before you pour the water; or (b) first add a dash of cold water over the dry leaf before adding the freshly boiled water. There is one other very important point to remember: NEVER OVER INFUSE! Green tea only needs one or two minutes to infuse at most (depending on the type of green tea and the personal preference of the tea drinker). If you leave the green tea to infuse for too long, it will become bitter. The exception is when making Iced Tea. Here, use double the amount of leaf, and add to cold water two or three hours in advance. Just before drinking add some ice and a little honey or brown sugar to taste if desired! Finally, please note that green tea-leaves can be re-used In fact, the Chinese believe that the second infusion makes a better cup of tea than the first! A good green tea will provide at least three infusions. Just bear in mind when making subsequent infusions leave the water in contact with the leaf 20 seconds or so longer each time.

Health Benefits of Green Tea
Recently published studies in Australia by the CSIRO, as well as the USA and Europe, have confirmed what Chinese and Japanese scientists & doctors have known for years - green tea is good for you! The tea plant is a rich source of polyphenolic antioxidants. Even after the most intensive heat processing, most green teas will still retain up to 15% dry mass of their original catechin, the most potent class of tea antioxidant. Both gallated and non-gallated catechins exist. Epi-gallocatechin gallate or EGCG being the most widely examined in laboratory and clinical studies. The tea catechins have a broad range of reductive (antioxidant) properties, cell & membrane solubilities and efficacies.

Green Tea Drinking & Dementia
The results presented for the most recent Japanese study suggest that green tea, with its strong and selective antioxidants may be able to help people with Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia. The study, conducted by the Saga Medical School in Japan published its preliminary findings to an international conference on dementia held in London last November (2000). The Saga researchers studied a group of 485 people over the age of 80. All of the members of the group were lifelong green tea drinkers. The study followed the group for a period of two years and monitored their mental aptitude with standard memory tests. Of the sample, 96 per cent of those who drank ten cups of green tea each day did not show any signs of cognitive impairment. In contrast, 12 per cent of those people who drank less than three cups of green tea a day showed a cognitive decline over the period of the study. The mechanisms by which tea catechins prevent free radical damage in cancer and vascular diseases are still being elucidated. These same molecules may offer protection for nerve tissue by impairing the growth of amyloid plaques. If the catechins are offering some protection, the results would indicated the importance of maintaining high blood levels of antioxidant. In the case of the group drinking ten cups of green tea per day, this would correlate to more than 1g of catechin being ingested daily and would correspond to 10s mg of catechin in the body's circulation at all times.

Recommended Reading
There are a number of good books on green tea currently in print.  To read our unbiased reviews of a number of these books, you can click here to go to our book review page, which in turn has links to Amazon.com if you'd like to buy or find out more about the book in question.  We also offer our opinions on general tea books, and books on teapots, which you can read by clicking here