Tea health benefits

Antioxidant activity of Flavonoids in your cuppa can help you fight viral diseases and help prevent several chronic diseases. While plant-based food ranging from fruit and vegetables contain antioxidants, tea in comparison has been found to contain 10 times more units of antioxidants!

Single Origin Tea, handpicked and packed where it’s grown, seals in freshness and protects the natural goodness of antioxidants & flavonoids in your cuppa. Experts recommend drinking 3 – 4 cups of fresh tea daily to obtain the health benefits of tea.

Both green tea and black tea are made from the tender shoots of the tea plant (Camellia sinensis). The differences in the final product are due to the different methods employed in the processing of the tender shoots. In black tea the predominant class of water soluble polyphenolic compounds in tea shoots known as catechins is converted to theaflavins and thearubigins during processing while in green tea it remains unchanged. This is the major difference in the composition of green tea and black tea and the composition of other components are similar. Most of the beneficial properties of tea are due to the presence of high amounts of these polyphenolic compounds in tea. Research carried out so far indicate that polyphenolic compounds in both green tea and black tea have similar beneficial effects. Hence regular consumption of green or black tea will have similar benefits.

Amount of caffeine in a cup of tea or coffee could vary due to many reasons such as the variety of tea or coffee, method of processing, brewing etc. However, in general coffee contains higher amounts of caffeine than tea. An average cup of tea could contain 15 – 60 mg of caffeine while in coffee it could be 60 – 150 mg.

Most of the beneficial properties of tea are due to the presence of high amounts of polyphenolic compounds in tea. When a cup of tea is consumed these polyphenols have to be absorbed from the digestive tract into the blood stream to impart the beneficial effects. Research carried out to find the absorption of polyphenols in tea with and without milk indicate that addition of milk does not alter the absorption of polyphenols. Therefore, addition of milk does not reduce the health benefits of tea.

Many research studies had been carried out to find whether tea components could improve the cognitive function (all mental abilities and processes related to knowledge, which includes; attention, memory, judgment and evaluation, reasoning, problem solving and decision making, comprehension etc.). These studies have found that tea components especially caffeine and theanine could improve the cognitive function. Further, research studies have shown that tea components may have beneficial effects on Alzheimer’s disease which is a prevalent disease of the elderly. However, from the studies carried out so far it is difficult to conclude whether tea consumption would actually improve the memory in old age.