If there is a lot of bad cholesterol in the body, it may cause cerebral infarction and arteriosclerosis.

Green tea is a beverage with the effect of lowering bad cholesterol.

In this article, I’m going to introduce some of the ingredients you can use to lower your cholesterol levels and how to take them effectively.

The risk of high cholesterol levels

Cholesterol is divided into so-called “good (HDL cholesterol)” and “bad (LDL cholesterol)”.

High levels of bad cholesterol increase the risk of serious diseases such as cerebral infarction and atherosclerosis.

This is because bad cholesterol has tendency to stick to the inside of blood vessels, making them more prone to clogging.

In other words, reducing bad cholesterol is one of the most important issues in maintaining good health.

The cause of high cholesterol

Some of the causes of high cholesterol include the following; heredity, a western-style fatty diet and lack of exercise.

In addition, men tend to have particularly high levels of bad cholesterol around age 40 to 50, and women around the time of menopause.

Green tea lowers cholesterol levels

Cholesterol causes a lot of harm to your body, but you can lower your cholesterol level by drinking green tea.

This is because green tea is rich in “epigallocatechin gallate” that lowers cholesterol levels.

Epigallocatechin gallate is a type of catechins that helps inhibit the oxidation of bad cholesterol.

As a result, blood vessels are less likely to be clogged and the risk of cerebral infarction and arteriosclerosis is reduced.

How to drink green tea to lower cholesterol levels

As mentioned above, a type of catechins plays a role in lowering cholesterol levels.

Therefore, I will introduce some ways to drink green tea that are rich in catechins.

Use hot water

Catechin is an ingredient that is easy to dissolve in hot water.

Therefore, if you drink green tea as part of your cholesterol control measures, it is a good idea to brew tea with hot water.

On the other hand, if you brew green tea with cold water, catechin won't dissolve easily, so please be careful when brewing it.

Choose Nibancha or Sanbancha.

Green tea leaves are classified as Ichibancha (first picked tea), Nibancha (second picked tea) and Sanbancha (third picked tea) depending upon the harvest time.

While Ichibancha is generally said to have good quality and aroma, it is the Nibancha and Sanbancha that provide a good dose of catechins.

This is because catechins, which are produced by the action of light, are abundant in Nibancha and Sanbancha that grows during long hours of sunlight.

So, if you want to lower your cholesterol level, I recommend you to choose Nibancha or Sanbancha, not Ichibancha.

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Do you know what kind of ingredients Hojicha contains?

Hojicha is created by heating green tea leaves and stems, and the ingredients are changed through this process.

How do that brown color, roasted aroma and the unique taste stand out with astringency and bitterness are created?

Let’s see what’s contained in your cup of Hojicha!

The Ingredients of Black Tea

The most unique feature of Hojicha is roasting. By roasting, the aroma is added, and also the taste become clear and smooth.

Of course, the ingredients also changed before and after processing.

Caffeine

Maybe, some of you have heard that Hojicha doesn’t contain caffeine. However, it’s not true.

Caffeine sublimates with high temperature, but its sublimation point is 178℃. During the process of Hojicha, it is heated to around 200℃, so some of Hojicha is heated to below the sublimation point. That’s why caffeine remains in Hojicha, in that case the same amount of caffeine as black tea and green tea remains as well.

Catechin

Catechin is a one of polyphenols and also called as tannin. It is a typical ingredients of tea, the astringency taste is coming from catechin.

Because catechin doesn’t break by heating, Hojicha has almost same amount of catechin as green tea. 

Melanoidin

Hojicha has an unique brown water color, it is caused by melanoidin.

This ingredients don’t exist in fresh leaves and other tea, but exist in Hojicha because this ingredients are created by maillard reaction, which is the chemical reaction with amino acids and sugars by heating.

Saponin

Saponin is also an ingredients that consist the bitterness of the tea, but the amount is quite small. Because saponin has a property as a surfactant, it causes tea to foam.

The amount is too small to expect the saponin’s effect, but it is a constitution of bitter taste of Hojicha.

Amino acid

Amino acids are the ingredients that consist umami of the tea.

There are some kinds such as theanine, glutamic acid, aspartic acid, arginine, serine etc… in particular, theanine occupies about 50% of total amino acid, and is typical ingredients of tea.

In case of Hojicha, the total amount of amino acid is smaller than green tea because amino acids turn into melanoidin by maillard reaction. In addition to this, 2nd or 3rd flush tea leaves are usually used for Hojicha, therefore the initial amount of amino acids is smaller than green tea.

Pyrazine(Aroma Component)

Roasted aroma is one of the most unique features of Hojicha, and it is caused by pyrazine.

This is also an ingredient created by maillard reaction, and is also exist on other roasted food.

Pyrazine mostly consist of the roasted aroma of Hojicha.

Vitamin

Fresh tea leaves contain a lot of vitaminA,C,E,B and so on. However, they are oxidized and changed to other ingredients during the heating process of tea leaves, almost no vitamins remain in Hojicha leaves.

Chlorophyll

Chlorophyll is contained in fresh tea leaves, and also Hojicha leaves because it doesn’t destroyed by heating. However, chlorophyll is fat-soluble ingredient, only little chlorophyll extract in the tea.  

Many ingredients are contained in Hojicha

Like this, the taste, aroma and color is consisted from many ingredients. In particular, Hojicha ingredients are very unique since the process of heating, and the health benefit is also different with other types of tea.

If you want to know about the health benefits of Hojicha, let’s check this article.

Dementia is a one of the major social problems.

Once you get it, it will cause symptoms such as memory disorder and poor judgment.

Green tea is one of the beverages that has ingredients to prevent such dementia.

In this article, I’m going to introduce the ingredients of green tea to prevent dementia and how to drink it effectively.

The risk and causes of dementia

According to a survey by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, the incidence of dementia among people aged 65 and over in Japan is about 15%.

The number is increasing every year and about 6 million people are expected to be affected dementia by 2020.

I will explain the risks and causes of dementia.

The risk of dementia

People with dementia may have the following problems;

• Memory impairment,
• Impaired understanding and judgment
• Unable to plan and act
• Lose touch with time, place, or people.

They may also become violent or depressed because they are frustrated at not being able to convey their feelings to others.

The causes of dementia

There are different types of dementia, such as “Alzheimer type dementia” and “cerebrovascular dementia” and their causes include the following.

• Accumulation of abnormal proteins in the brain (Alzheimer type dementia),
• Lifestyle-related diseases such as high blood pressure and diabetes (cerebrovascular dementia),
• Loss of nerve cells (anterior temporal lobe type dementia), and
• Destruction of nerve cells in the brain by Lewy bodies (Lewy body dementia).

In particular, “Alzheimer type” is the most common dementia in Japan, accounting for slightly less than 70% of the total.

Green tea prevents dementia

Green tea is an effective beverage to prevent dementia.

Specifically, the following studies have demonstrated its effectiveness.

• People who drink more than two cups of green tea a day are less than half the rate of cognitive impairment compared to those who drink less than three cups a week.
• In experiments with mice, the ingredients in green tea suppressed atrophy of brain tissue and memory loss.

In other words, drinking green tea regularly prevents memory and cognitive impairment.

Green tea ingredients to prevent dementia

The ingredient of green tea that prevent dementia is “catechins”.

According to one American study, catechins are particularly effective in Alzheimer's dementia.

As mentioned above, the most common type of dementia in Japan is Alzheimer's, so green tea has a very high possibility of preventing dementia.

How to drink green tea to prevent dementia

As mentioned above, the ingredient of tea that prevents dementia is catechins.

Therefore, I will introduce some ways to drink green tea that are rich in catechins.

Use hot water

Catechin is an ingredient that is easy to dissolve in hot water.

Therefore, it is possible to take in more catechins by brewing tea with hot water.

Choose Nibancha or Sanbancha

Green tea leaves are classified as Ichibancha (first picked tea), Nibancha (second picked tea) and Sanbancha (third picked tea) depending upon the harvest time.

While Ichibancha is generally said to have good quality and aroma, it is the Nibancha and Sanbancha that provide a good dose of catechins.

This is because catechins, which are produced by the action of light, are abundant in Nibancha and Sanbancha that grows during long hours of sunlight.

So, if you drink green tea to prevent dementia, I recommend you to choose Nibancha or Sanbancha.

Have green tea to prevent dementia

In this article, I have explained the ingredients of green tea to prevent dementia and how to drink it effectively.

Since it is important to take action at an early stage, why don't you take this opportunity to try a healthy method against dementia making use of green tea?

Obesity increases the risk of diseases such as high blood pressure and diabetes.

For this reason, it is very important to prevent obesity in advance in order to have a healthy body.

In fact, drinking green tea is an effective way to prevent obesity.

In this article, I’m going to introduce the ingredients and how to drink green tea to prevent obesity.

The risk of obesity

Obesity increases the risk of the following diseases: high blood pressure, hyperlipidemia, diabetes, gout, and cholelithiasis.

They are all horrible diseases, but the causes of obesity are hereditary constitution, overeating and lack of exercise.

Although it is true that the “obesity gene” does exist, the ratio between environment and heredity is said to be “7: 3”.

In other words, there is a lot of potential to improve obesity through diet.

Green tea ingredients to prevent obesity

The catechins contained in green tea have the effect of suppressing obesity.

This is because catechins have a function to inhibit the production of “glucose” which is the cause of obesity.

For example, when obese men with a high BMI were asked to drink multiple green teas with different amounts of catechins, studies have shown that those who continued to drink the higher catechin green tea lost fat faster.

This means drinking green tea that is high in catechins can effectively prevent obesity.

It’s not just the catechins!

Catechins are effective in preventing obesity, but they do not have such a great effect on their own, and it is thought that the synergistic effect with caffeine improves the preventive effect.

Therefore, if you drink green tea to prevent obesity, be sure to choose a green tea that has caffeine in it.

How to drink green tea to prevent obesity

Here are three ways to drink green tea that can help prevent obesity.

Use hot water

The obesity-inhibiting catechins and caffeine are easily soluble in hot water.

Therefore, when drinking green tea to prevent obesity, it is a good idea to brew tea with hot water.

Choose Nibancha or Sanbancha.

Green tea leaves are classified as Ichibancha (first picked tea), Nibancha (second picked tea) and Sanbancha (third picked tea) depending upon the harvest time.

While Ichibancha is generally said to have good quality and aroma, it is the Nibancha and Sanbancha that provide a good dose of catechins.

This is because catechins, which are produced by the action of light, are abundant in Nibancha and Sanbancha that grows during long hours of sunlight.

Their astringency is stronger than that of Ichibancha, but it is recommended that you choose Nibancha or Sanbancha when drinking tea to prevent obesity.

Make use of FOSHU tea

Some teas that are designated as Food for Specified Health Uses (FOSHU) by the Secretary General of the Consumer Affairs Agency also have an effect on obesity.

Since FOSHU teas are only approved if they are scientifically recognized as having health benefits, they are only commercialized if they have already been proven to be effective.

When drinking FOSHU tea to combat obesity, it's a good idea to choose a product such as Lemon Tokucha (Suntory), which is described as “helping to reduce fat”.

Have green tea to prevent obesity

In this article, I have explained the ingredients of green tea to prevent obesity and how to drink it effectively.

If you are suffering from obesity, how about trying these healthy preventative measures.

High blood pressure is a problem that one in two Japanese people over the age of 20 has.

However, you can prevent your high blood pressure by drinking green tea.

In this article, I’m going to introduce the basic knowledge of high blood pressure and how to prevent it by drinking green tea.

The risk of high blood pressure

High blood pressure can cause diseases such as thyroid and adrenal glands, and is at risk of death in the worst case.

The causes of such high blood pressure are drinking, excessive salt intake and stress. Some people are also more prone to high blood pressure due to heredity.

According to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, one in two Japanese people over the age of 20 currently suffer from high blood pressure.

Green tea prevents high blood pressure

Green tea contains following ingredients that prevent high blood pressure.

Catechin

Catechins in green tea have the effect of suppressing the action of “angiotensin I converting enzyme” which causes high blood pressure.

In fact, one study found that people who drink green tea are 35% less likely to die from a stroke in men and 42% lower rates in women than those who don't drink it.

GABA

GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid) is an ingredient that is formed by changing glutamic acid contained in tea leaves.

GABA has the function of inhibiting a substance called “noradrenaline” that constricts blood vessels, and prevents the rise of blood pressure.

Theanine

Theanine is a type of amino acid that is specific to green tea and helps prevent high blood pressure by dilating blood vessels.

Taking theanine relaxes your body and improves your blood circulation, which can be beneficial when you want to concentrate on your work or studies.

How to drink green tea to prevent high blood pressure

I will introduce how to drink green tea effectively to prevent high blood pressure.

Use hot water

Catechins, which prevent high blood pressure, have the property of being easily dissolved in hot water.

Therefore, it is possible to take in more catechins by brewing tea with hot water.

On the other hand, water makes it difficult for catechins to leach out, so if you want to get a lot of catechins, you should avoid brewing tea with water.

Choose Gyokuro or Matcha

Theanine, an ingredient that prevents high blood pressure, is contained a lot in fine teas such as Gyokuro, Matcha and high grade Sencha (steeped green tea).

This is because theanine is also an ingredient of the umami, and it is found in fine teas where the umami is important.

Brewing them with ice water will help reduce the leaching of the stimulant caffeine. So you'll feel the effects of theanine more clearly.

Choose Gabalong tea

GABA, an ingredient that prevents an increase in blood pressure, is produced by leaving raw tea leaves in an anoxic conditions for several hours.

Green tea made in this way is called “Gabalong tea”.

If you choose Gabalong tea, you can take in more GABA, so it is recommended when you are worried about your blood pressure.

Methylated catechin, an ingredient in green tea, is effective in relieving allergy and hay fever (pollen allergy).

In this article, I’m going to introduce the basic information and efficacy of methylated catechins, as well as green tea cultivars that contain a lot of methylated catechins.

Green tea health benefits: the effect of anti-allergy

Green tea has various health benefits, but some tea has an effect of anti-allergy and good effect for hay fever (pollen allergy).

Green tea has such effects because it contains an ingredient called “methylated catechins”.

What are methylated catechins?

“Methylated catechins” are a kind of catechins.

Green tea contains several kinds of catechins, such as “epigallocatechin gallate” and “epicatechin”.

Methylated catechins refer to compounds in which the “epigallocatechin gallate” contained most in green tea has changed.

Efficacy of methylated catechins

Methylated catechins have the effect of preventing the release of histamine and other substances that cause allergic symptoms.

This is because methylated catechins prevent the brain from receiving signals that trigger allergic reactions.

For example, there is even an experimental data showing that when green tea containing methylated catechins is given to animals with allergies, nasal discharge, tears, edema, etc. are improved (SAITO Kieko (2018) ‘Characteristics of Tea Catechins and Their Effective Utilization’ Agriculture and Horticulture. No.932, pp.108 -115).

In other words, if you take green tea that contains a lot of methylated catechins, you can effectively relieve allergic symptoms.

Green tea containing methylated catechins and its drinking method

Green teas that contain a lot of methylated catechins include “Benifuki”, “Benifuji” and “Benihomare”.

All of cultivars were originally developed for black tea, but when processed into black tea, methylated catechins change into other compounds.

For this reason, in order to take methylated catechins efficiently, you should buy those labeled “green tea” instead of “black tea”.

When having these green teas, it is best to brew them for about 5 minutes before drinking them to take in more methylated catechins.

Aren't methylated catechins water-soluble?

Methylated catechins are not water-soluble, so it has no effect unless you take in whole tea leaves into your body.

For this reason, most of the Benifuki available on the market as a “measure against hay fever (pollen allergy)” is made from powdered tea leaves.

Does "Yabukita" contain methylated catechins?

"Yabukita" is a representative cultivar of green tea, but it does not contain much methylated catechins.

I recommend you to choose a different tea such as "Benifuki" because you can't expect much effect on allergy and symptoms of hay fever (pollen allergy).

Green tea has a good effect for hay fever

I have introduced “methylated catechins” which are effective in alleviating the symptoms of allergies and hay fever (pollen allergy).

Why don't you have green tea containing methylated catechins in the season when you are suffering from hay fever?

Tea antioxidant effect is one of the health effects of tea. Tea can reduce the risks of Alzheimer's, rheumatism, cancers, etc. This article introduces the basic information and process of tea antioxidant effect and the types of tea that have strong antioxidants.

What are antioxidants?

The health functions of tea include antioxidant effects. Tea can prevent cancers, rheumatism, tissue aging, etc., and maintain immunity.

Mechanism of antioxidants

Let us take a brief look at the process of antioxidant activities. As you know, the human body has the natural mechanism of “inhaling oxygen and exhaling carbon dioxide.” However, if this cycle stops well-functioning due to mental stress and smoking, oxygen remains in the body as “active oxygen.” Active oxygen is also called bad oxygen because it is one of the factors to damage cells and cause diseases such as rheumatism, hepatitis, and arteriosclerosis. Antioxidants play roles of preventing the generation of active oxygen, which behaves badly, and eliminating existing active oxygen.

How do antioxidants benefit the body?

Antioxidant effects are important functions so that it is said “they lead to the prevention of all diseases.” They can reduce the risks of acquiring the following diseases:

• Rheumatism
• Hepatitis
• Cancers
• Arteriosclerosis
• Alzheimer’s

*Reference: Kyoji Yoshino et al. (2017). Antioxidant Activities of Various Health Beneficial Teas. National Institute of Technology, Numazu College Research Annual.

Any of these diseases sounds scary, but you can reduce the risks of them by drinking tea. Also, antioxidants can prevent the aging of cells themselves and maintain immunity.

Tea ingredients with antioxidant activities

Among tea ingredients, “catechins” have the strongest antioxidant effect. Vitamin C and vitamin E also have antioxidants, but the antioxidant effect of catechins is several times or even dozens of times stronger than them. Catechins are unique to tea, and drinking tea benefits you with efficient antioxidant activities.

Which tea has strong antioxidants?

Now, let’s think about what kind of tea we should choose to enjoy the benefits of antioxidants more efficiently? Here are two choices:

Choice 1: Second picked tea, third picked tea

The tea picked with fresh buds is called first picked tea (Shincha). The tea picked afterward is called second picked tea, third picked tea and so on in sequence. In general, first picked tea gives off the best aroma and is considered high-graded. However, second and third picked teas have stronger antioxidants. It is because they contain a lot of catechins, which act as tea antioxidants.

The catechin content of tea leaves depends on the length of sunshine hours, so second and third picked teas, which are cropped late, contain more catechins. For this reason, it is recommended to choose these teas if your priority is antioxidants.

Choice 2: Persimmon tea, loquat tea

The research by Kyoji Yoshino’s team compared the strength of antioxidant activities of 9 kinds of commercial health beneficial teas. The results showed persimmon and loquat teas have particularly strong antioxidant activities. In contrast, Job's tears tea had weak antioxidant activities. It is written that some types of teas including green tea, rooibos tea, and ashitaba tea showed a consistent relationship between the weight and antioxidant activity strength. This means an increased amount of tea leaves actually strengthens the antioxidant activities of green tea and rooibos tea. Overall, it is recommended to choose persimmon tea or loquat tea, or you can brew tea with an excessive amount of leaves.

The aroma compounds contained in tea can be described as the compounds that create a variety of aromas such as aromas of roasted tea leaves and young leaves.

Surprisingly, there are more than 300 different aroma compounds like these in tea.

This time, we are going to introduce the major aroma compounds and how each compound creates aromas.

Tea aroma is subtle and complex

Tea aroma can include many different aromas such as aromas of roasted tea leaves, young leaves and sweetness.

In fact, these aromas are created by compounds called “aroma compounds”.

Tea is the beverage that contains more than 300 different aroma compounds.

The harmony of these aroma compounds is where the subtle and complex tea aroma comes from.

Difference between Black Tea & Oolong Tea and Green Tea

Black tea, oolong tea and green tea are all produced from the same tea leaves.

However, each one of these teas has their own characteristic aromas as if they are not from the same tea leaves.

This is because each tea is produced in different processes that create different aroma compounds.

Now, let’s see the 3 different tea producing processes and the aromas created in those 3.

Green tea

At the beginning of producing green tea, there is a process called “sassei” that is to steam and heat freshly picked tea leaves.

This process deactivates enzymatic fermentation (oxidization) in the leaves from producing aroma compounds, which keeps refreshing aromas of tea leaves.

But, this doesn’t mean that green tea has few aroma compounds: even though the fermentation stops, there are still more than 200 aroma compounds contained in green tea.

Black tea / oolong tea

Black tea and oolong tea leaves would first be withered, instead of the heating process like the green tea’s.

When tea leaves are not heated at the beginning, oxidation would get enhanced to produce a variety of aroma compounds.

As a result, black tea / oolong tea contains about 600 aroma compounds, while green tea’s is about 200.

This is how floral and fruity aromas are produced in tea leaves to make the taste of black tea / oolong tea.

In other words, the types and volume of aroma compounds produced from the same tea leaves would vary according to the time length of oxidation.

Major aroma compounds

Now, let’s see the major aroma compounds contained in tea.

Linalool

Linalool is an aroma compound with the light and refreshing odor like lily of the valley.

It has effects of antibacterial, antivirus and immunity booster.

Geraniol

Geraniol is an aroma compound with the rose-like odor.

It is used to produce the artificial citrus flavor and vitamin E and A supplement.

Leaf alcohol

Leaf alcohol is an aroma compound with the refreshing odor of young leaves.

It is used to produce artificial flower essential oils and food flavors.

Cis-jasmone

Cis-jasmon is an aroma compound with the sweet and thick odor like jasmine and gardenia.

It is mainly contained in black tea and used to produce fruity or floral compounded fragrances.

Dimethyl sulfide

Dimethyl sulfide is an aroma compound with the odor of green seaweed.

It is contained in nori seaweed and wasabi, and it can cause bad smells when using a big amount.

However, since only a small amount is contained and blended with other aroma compounds in tea, it only plays a role to create refreshing aromas.

Indole

Indole is an aroma compound with the grassy, bitter and heavy odor.

It is also contained in jasmine oil and coal-tar

Indole itself can cause bad smells like dimethyl sulfide, but it would have the floral odor when low-concentrated.

Pyrazine

Pyrazine is an aroma compound with the roasting odor created by heating.

Particularly, the roasting aroma of Japanese tea comes from pyrazine.

Tea is a beverage with rich vitamin C.

Vitamin C is an important component that helps you maintain your immunity.

In this page, we are going to introduce the basic information and detailed effects of tea, and tips to effectively ingest vitamin C from tea.

Vitamins contained in tea.

Vitamins contained rich in tea are listed below;

• Vitamin C
• Vitamin A and
• Vitamin E

The 13 vitamins are classified as water-soluble and fat-soluble: vitamin C is water-soluble, vitamin A and E are fat-soluble.

These terms “water-soluble” and “fat-soluble” may not sound familiar to you but, it can simply be described that water-soluble is a type that easily dissolves in water and fat-soluble is not quite.

Therefore, when drinking brewed tea, water-soluble vitamin C can effectively be ingested, whereas, fat-soluble vitamin A and E cannot be ingested much.

Effects of vitamin C

According to the research done by Incorporated Administrative Agencies and General Research Organization of Agri-Food Technology, vitamin C contained in tea has effects listed below;

• Anti-scurvy
• Cold prevention
• Cataract prevention
• Anti-allergy
• Immunity booster
• Antioxidant and
• Prevention of nitrosamine formation

You may be familiar with some of these effects such as anti-allergy and immunity booster, on the other hand, the terms like antioxidant and nitrosamine may not ring the bell.

Thus, we are going to explain these two effects.

Antioxidant effect

Antioxidant effect is a function that detoxifies extra substances in your body.

This is considered as an important function that can prevent all types of diseases, and it works to inhibit tissues from aging.

Prevention of nitrosamine formation

Nitrosamine is a chemical compound that is strongly carcinogenic.

Ingestion of vitamin C can prevent formation of nitrosamine, which eventually leads to cancer prevention.

Tips to effectively ingest vitamin C

Sencha is recommended for those who want to ingest rich vitamin C.

Since vitamin C is formed by sunshine, sencha that soaks up lots of sunshine while cultivated contains rich vitamin C

On the other hand, Gyokuro and Matcha cultivated in shades don’t have as much vitamin C as sencha’s

Also, oolong tea and red tea have little vitamin C as most of it in those teas changes while in the process of fermentation / oxidation.,

Tips to ingest other vitamins in tea.

As mentioned at the beginning, tea also contains fat-soluble vitamins E and A.

These vitamins can hardly dissolve in water, while tea powder makes the ingestion possible.

As tea powder is ground tea leaves, the whole ingredients of tea leaves can be ingested in your body.

Since vitamin E has a strong antioxidant effect and vitamin A has an effect to maintain your skin in healthy condition, tea powder is recommended for those who want both health and beauty effects.

FYI, make sure to purchase “tea powder”, not “instant tea powder” that looks like tea powder.

Catechin is a type of polyphenol. It is a unique ingredient of tea with health effects such as reduction of bad cholesterol and stress relief.

In this page, we are going to introduce the basic knowledge of catechin and tips to effectively ingest catechin from tea.

What is Catechin?

Catechin is a type of polyphenol. It’s a unique ingredient of tea, which attributes bitterness and astringency in tea.

Many of you may have heard that polyphenol is good for your health, likewise, catechin is also one of the ingredients whose health effects are clinically proven.

There are four main catechins in tea that are;

• Epicatechin
• Epicatechin gallate
• Epigallocatechin and
• Epigallocatechin gallate

Each catechin has their own effects, and they also commonly have basic effects such as reduction of bad cholesterol.

Catechin attributes astringency in tea.

Astringency in tea mainly comes from catechin and caffeine.

Specifically, catechin contains astringency with bitterness, caffeine includes light and refreshing astringency.

Health effects of catechin

Health effects of catechin are listed below;

1. Antibacterial / Detoxification
2. Antioxidant
3. Reduction of bad cholesterol
4. Deodorization
5. Stress-relief

Let’s see in order:

Antibacterial / Detoxification

Catechin has effects of antibacterial and detoxification.

Specifically, it can be active against bacteria that cause O-157, flu, mycoplasma pneumonia. Besides, catechin has an effect of detoxification as it can easily be bonded to alkaloid that is a toxin found in many plants.

Antioxidant

Catechin has an antioxidant effect.

Antioxidant is simply described as a function that detoxifies extra substances in our body.

It is an important function that can prevent all types of diseases as it plays a role that prevents tissues from aging and maintains the immune system.

Surprisingly, it is said that antioxidant in catechin is tens of times more effective than Vitamin C’s and E’s.

With the data, no wonder it is said that tea is good for your health.

Reduction of bad cholesterol

Reduction of bad cholesterol is also an effect of catechin.

Cholesterol has 2 types that are “HDL cholesterol (good)” and “LDL cholesterol (bad)”. Catechin has an effect that reduces LDL cholesterol.

Particularly, it is said that epigallocatechin gallate rich in tea has more of the effect.

Deodorization

You may have heard that tea leaves have an effect of deodorization.

This deodorization actually comes from catechin.

For instance, research done by Miki Ui et al. (1991) reports that chewing gums that contain catechin have an effect of oral deodorization.

Stress-relief

You may feel relaxed while drinking tea.

In fact, the effect of drinking tea that relieves stress and tension is scientifically proved.

Research done by Takako Yamato et al. (2012) indicates that drinking tea and catechin tea on the market brings these effects of;

• stress/tension relief
• counteraction of fatigue and mood enhancement

Also, drinking catechin-rich tea on the market has an effect of anti-depression and decrease of low mood.

This shows that ingesting catechin by drinking tea can relieve your stress.

It is surprising that ordinary tea that we casually drink actually brings a variety of effects.

How to ingest catechin in tea

Here are 2 tips to ensure the ingestion of catechin in tea;

1. use hot water at a high temperature
2. purchase second / third flush tea

Let’s see in order.

Use hot water at a high temperature

Catechin has a characteristic that hardly dissolves at a low temperature. Whereas, it can dissolve well in hot water at a high temperature.

Although high temperatures can cause astringent in tea, we recommend brewing tea at a high temperature for the purpose of rich catechin.

Purchase second / third flush tea

Tea leaves are classified as first/second/third flush teas by the harvest times of year

First flush is considered as the most premium and flavorful tea, but second and third flush teas are recommended when expecting the ingestion of rich catechin.

Second and third flush teas grow in the times that the daylight hours are long, which results in rich catechin produced by sunlight.

Therefore, try second / third flush teas when you want to take rich catechin.

Caffeine is a type of alkaloid with effects that keeps you awake and promotes your digestion and absorption.

In this page, we are going to introduce the basic knowledge, detailed effects and tips for effective ingestion of caffeine.

Hope this article will help you benefit from caffeine in your life.

What is caffeine?

Caffeine is a type of compound called alkaloid that is contained in tea.

It is contained in tea and coffee, also used for medicine for cough and headache.

Caffeine causes bitterness in tea

Caffeine is an ingredient of bitterness as well as catechin contained in tea.

Caffeine attributes light bitterness, while catechin has astringency.

Who discovered caffeine?

Caffeine was discovered by a German doctor named Runge in 1819.

The year 1819 is in the late of the Edo period in Japan, which means that caffeine had been known very early in Europe.

Caffeine was first discovered in coffee, then also discovered in tea in 1827.

After, a lot of effects of caffeine got to be confirmed.

Effects of caffeine

Ingestion of caffeine has effects that;

• keep you awake
• stimulate heart and kidney to promote urination
• promote secretion of gastric acid that helps digestion and absorption of food
• promote fat burning in your body

Also, the highlight of caffeine is that caffeine effects are expected immediately as caffeine gets absorbed in your body right after ingestion.

Pay attention to the amount of your caffeine ingestion!

Taking caffeine has many effects, but it is confirmed that taking too much caffeine can cause some health risks.

For example, a study done by Hisashi Kurihara in 2015 reports that;

• taking more than 100mg caffeine may cause insomnia
• a risk of heart attack would be increased for 1 hour after taking more than 200mg of caffeine

However, as a cup tea in general (60ml) only contains about 16mg of caffeine, there would be no health problem as long as you simply enjoy tea.

Which one of tea and coffee has more caffeine?

Caffeine may remind you of coffee, but when comparing the same amount of tea leaves and coffee beans, tea leaves actually contain more caffeine than coffee beans.

For instance, sencha contains 1.7 times, Gyokuro has 2.7 times more caffeine than coffee beans.

However, when comparing the amount of caffeine per cup, more caffeine can be ingested in coffee than tea due to the amount to use of coffee beans.

For example, when comparing 100ml of coffee and tea, the amount of caffeine of each is ;

• Regular coffee: 60mg
• Sencha: 20mg

*Coca Cola Official Website

Therefore, those who want to effectively ingest caffeine should drink coffee rather than sencha.

Tips to effectively ingest caffeine in tea.

Since caffeine is likely to dissolve in hot water at a high temperature, brewing tea with hot water at a high temperature would be recommended. Whereas, there is not much caffeine in cold brew tea.

Thus, pay attention to the temperature of water when brewing tea.

Theanine is a type amino acid that has effects such as stress-relief and improvement of blood flow.

In this page, we are going to introduce the basic knowledge, detailed effects and tips for effective ingestion of theanine.

Hope this article will encourage you to drink tea for your health.

What is theanine?

Theanine is a type of amino acid contained in tea. This may surprise you but, tea contains amino acids below;

• Gultamine acid
• Arginie
• Asparagines acid
• Theanin
• Other

Particularly, theanine is the most contained amino acid that is about 50% of all types of amino acids in tea.

Theanine attributes sweetness and umami in tea.

Theanine is a unique ingredient of tea that attributes sweetness and umami.

As it is not contained in coffee or cocoa, tea is the only one that can taste refreshing sweetness and umami of Theanine.

Thenine was discovered by Japanese.

Theanine is an ingredient discovered in Gyokuro by Yajiro Sakato in 1950.

In fact, theanine is named after tea: It was named after the old scientific name of tea “thea sinensis”.

Effects of theanine

Theanine has an effect that releases alpha waves in brain.

“Alpha wave” may not sound familiar, but it is simply described as a brain wave that is released when relaxed.

When alpha waves are released in brain, these effects can be expected;

• Increase in memory
• Increase in concentration
• Tension-relief and improvement of blood flow
• Stress-relief

Isn’t it great to gain these effects only by drinking tea?

How to ingest theanine in tea

Theanine tends to be contained more in high-end tea with rich umami such as Gyokuro, Matcha and high-end Sencha.

Therefore, those who want to ensure enough theanine are recommended choosing higher ranked tea than they usually take.

Also, brewing tea with iced water can suppress catechin that causes astringency and caffeine that boosts your mood.

So, relaxation effects and umami of theanine can be more in ice-cold brewed tea than hot brewed tea.