Wonders of Tea

White Monkey Tea (Adagio)

White Monkey Tea, despite its name is actually a variety of green tea produced in the Taimu Mountains in the Fujian Province of China. This eastern seaboard province has a fine climate and a history of tea production to rival many of its compatriots. In appearance this tea lives up to the color of its name. The leaves are large, white tipped and covered in a fine down of hair. The area enjoys plentiful rainfall and temperate zone, coupled with a landscape that is well-suited to elevated tea plant cultivation. Tea grows best at altitude, and the cream of the crop is often grown at the highest of terraces and hand selected and picked by highly experienced female pickers.

The province is seen to be a repository of China’s considerable tea history and species, with over 330 hybrids currently grown in these coastal slopes. Fujian Province is the home of the world renowned oolong teas, along with the finest of green teas; their Tea Masters’ wealth of knowledge and experience in this tea growing province has ensured that all the teas produced in this area are of excellent stock and are processed in a refined manner.

Green teas are very high in a number of beneficial substances; famous for high levels of antioxidants, green teas add another hardy warrior to the body’s defenses against disease. Polyphenols, another beneficial biochemical group of compounds are also present in large amounts in green tea. Cancer reducing agents in green tea are supposed to be responsible for the fact that Japanese men, 75% of whom smoke cigarettes, have a much lower than average rate of esophageal and other digestive cancers. This flies in the face of world statistics and their only common denominator is that they drink lots of green tea. Research is still going on to see if other cancers can be treated with green tea extracts.

White monkey Tea has been carefully oven cured to bring out its full aromatic body and intricate flavor. With an earthy but fulsome taste, this fine green tea is a testament to quality hybridization and careful fermentation. There are no hints of bitterness even after the multiple infusions that can be made with these young leaves. It is best prepared at 175oF and not allowed to over-heat; White Monkey Tea can start your day, or finish the afternoon in refreshing luxury.

White Monkey tea is only available from Adagio Teas.

Score: 7/10

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This is by far the most famous of the gunpowder teas and also the best (I think so).  I first got Temple of Heaven Tea at a Nottingham Chinese supermarket several years ago.

If you’re unsure what gunpowder tea is I do a full introduction in a previous post.

I remember being concerned about the tightly rolled black pellets of tea leaves.  That was until I steeped them and they unfurled to create a fantastic, refreshing and slightly smoky brew.

I regularly top up my Gunpowder Tea stocks with this variety.

You can get some Temple of Heaven Gunpowder Tea from iHealthTree.

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Well its not exactly an easy question to answer due to the huge variety of teas out there and how exactly you want to measure health benefits.

If we say the health score of a tea is based on its levels of antioxidants (flavinoids, catechins) then we could draw up the following table…

Pos	Antioxidants	Tea
1	400-600mg	White Tea
2	300-400mg	Jasmine Tea[1]
3	300-450mg	Green Tea
4	130-200mg	Black Tea
5	60-80mg	Rooibos ‘Tea’[2]
6	? (low)	Instant Tea
7	20-110mg	Iced tea[3]

[1] Jasmine tea’s base is green tea and its total antioxidant content is boosted by the presence of jasmine.
[2] Although Rooibos isn’t of the same species and not strictly a tea it is commonly reffered to as a tea. Now although many have claimed it has a higher antioxidant content than tea this isn’t true although it does contain a variety of unique antioxidants.
[3] The general consensus is that iced tea is the most heavily processed and thus least antioxidant rich of the teas. However, Lipton do claim that their tea with lemon contains an unusually high amount of flavinoids. How much we believe this is up to you.

(Hakim IA, Hartz V, Harris RB, Balentine D, Weisgerber UM, Graver E, Whitacre R, Alberts D. Reproducibility and relative validity of a questionnaire to assess intake of black tea polyphenols in epidemiological studies. Cancer Epidem Bio & Prev 2001; 10:667-78).

Antioxidant Activity of Black Tea vs. Green Tea (Ki Won Lee and Hyong Joo Lee) Department of Food Science and Technology School of Agricultural Biotechnology Seoul National University Suwon 441–744, Korea

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Tea

Not many people know this but there’s an organisation in China called the Chinese Tea Culture Research Centre and they have an official list of the 10 famous and premier Chinese teas.  Without further ado – here they are:

Puerh

• Yunnan Puerh – One of China’s oldest teas and also one of its favourites due to its health benefits.

Green

• Xi Hu Longjing – a green tea from Zhejiang province.
• Dong Ting Bi Luo Chun – green tea from Jiangsu province.
• Huang Shan Mao Feng – green tea from Anhui province.
• Tai Ping Hou Kui - another from Anhui province.
• Lu An Guapian – and a third green tea from Anhui province!
• Xin Yang Mao Jian – from Henan Province.

Oolong

• Da Hong Pao – an Oolong tea from Mount Wuyi, Fujian Province.
• Tieguanyin – an Oolong tea from Fujian Province.

Black

• Keemun – the only black tea in the list from Anhui province.

Yellow

• Junshan Yinzhen – a yellow tea from Hunan.

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Gunpowder Tea is a variety of Chinese green tea which is produced in the Zhejiang province of the PRC.  The tea has a distinctive appearance due to the leaves being tightly rolled into small dark pellets after pan-frying them at high heat.  These pellets expand in the water as they steep releasing their flavour in stages.
The tea was first produced way back in the Tang Dynasty (618-907) when the rolling method was used to protect the tea leaf from damage and hold the flavour for longer.

Name

The origin of this tea’s name is open to debate but here’s some of the more plausible explanations:

• When rolled into pellets as is the custom then the tea resembles that of gunpowder pellets.
• The Mandarin Chinese for this tea is gang pao – which sounds similar to “gunpowder”.
• The steeped tea can have a smoky aroma.

In China the tea is more often referred to as zhu cha – literally translated as “Bead Tea”.

Checking for Quality

Gunpowder tea should always be rolled into small shiny pellets.  If they are dull, broken or unfurled then they are to be avoided. Quality brands will be hand rolled rather than mass-produced varieties which are machine rolled.

Brewing

When brewing Gunpowder tea its important to not use too much because with it being tightly rolled it will expand quite a lot and a teaspoonful can easily fill a cup!

Two teaspoons of Gunpowder will nicely fill a teapot and generally keeps for quite a while as the flavours slowly infuse.

Varieties

There are 3 main varieties of Gunpowder although only one has the status as the original.

• Pingshui Gunpowder – This is the original and (in my opinion) the best variety.
• Formosa Gunpowder – This variety is grown in Taiwan and is more often sold as an Oolong rather than a straight green tea.  It has its own distinctive taste.
• Ceylon Gunpowder – Gunpowder in name only this tea was inspired by the Chinese varieties but is grown in Sri Lanka at high altitude.  It has very little resemblence in taste or aroma.

What I Say

For what little my opinion counts I would like to say I love this tea! I bought a box of this called Temple of Heaven Gunpowder from a Chinese supermarket in Nottingham, UK.  It served some of the finest green tea I’ve ever tasted, but unfortunately I lost it during a house move last year.  Ever since I’ve been unable to find a replacement to my Temple of Heaven tea.  I will soon be trying one of the varieties from an online merchant and will then provide a review.

You can get Gunpowder Tea from: Teavana

Technorati Tags: tea, green tea, gunpowder tea

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Green teas health benefits are well documented but its sometimes hard to remember exactly what it can do to help your health so here’s 7 of the top reasons to drink green tea:

1. Cut Cancer Risk – Tea’s cancer fighting properties have been much touted and it’s all about the polyphenols in tea which help fight cancerous cells. Especially in the mouth, throat and stomach.
2. Clear the Skin – Tea has amazing antibacterial and antiviral properties and a wet bunch of brewed tea leaves or a used tea bag on a cut, graze or infection can do wonders. I’ve even had it recommended by my doctor as an aid to conjunctivitis recovery!
3. Protect Memory – The free radicals that cause the brain to develop diseases like Parkinsons and Alzheimers can be fended off by teas powerful anti-oxidants. Again – polyphenols!
4. Protect Skin – Not only is tea put in skin products for its anti-bacterial properties but its also been found to be useful in protecting against UV light triggered skin cancer.
5. Immortality – Well not quite 100%-live-forever but it has been shown on numerous occassions that it fights age-related illnesses such as furry arteries, heart disease, free radical damage and much more.
6. Lose Weight – Green tea gives your metabolism a boost meaning it helps you to keep your ideal weight.
7. Lower Blood Pressure – People who regularly drink tea have been shown to be 50% less likely to develop hypertension.

Teavana:
ChocoNut Green Tea

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I’m always on the look out for information like this – as a big fan of black tea I’ve always been weary of the constant good press of green tea over its black cousin. I’ve always believed there’s a place for both in a healthy diet.

So I was very happy to read a recent newsletter from the UK Tea Council stating: “Black tea has the same effect on endothelial function as green tea”.

It goes on to say:

British Journal of Nutrition has shown that black tea improves endothelial function to the same degree as green tea despite having a lower catechin concentration.

In laymans terms? Black tea is just as effective an antioxidant as green tea!

For women during pregnancy then its best to go for the green tea as this contains less caffeine overall and its been shown caffeine can be a risk in larger quantities.

Good news for black tea fans!

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If your going to drink green tea then never, NEVER get it in bag form. The only exceptions are when its Jasmine or Lemon & green tea.
Reason? I’ve tried numerous different green teas (Clipper, Twinnings, Whittards, etc) and NONE of them taste of green tea!! They normally taste of BAG! Tea bag that is. No matter which you get. No matter how long you brew them for. They always taste of bag. I reckon this is because green tea has a much lighter taste and so the paper of the bag can easily overpower it.

Your much better with leaves. Granted, it can be more awkward as you end up with leaves in the bottom and sometimes swallowing them – unless of course you use a strainer but I can never be bothered with that malarky.

Now WHICH green tea is best? Well I’m going to have to come across as pretentious here and say genuine Chinese green tea……..from China. I’ve currently got two which I use. One lot I got as two big bags from a friend who brought them over from China. The freshest most crisp tasting green tea I’ve ever tried. The Chinese really know how to do green tea well.
The other came in a little box from a Chinese supermarket in Nottingham. Gunpowder tea its called and it the leaves seem to be all curled up. Not sure why. The tea seems darker and ‘dirtier’ too with more bits. But don’t let this put you off as it tastes fantastic. In large doses it takes on a smoky taste which leads me to believe it may well be lightly smoked green tea.

Anyway enough about green tea.

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Some believe green tea to be ‘healthier’ than black tea. Personally I’m undecided on the subject, but what I do know is black tea has a much superior taste. This isn’t to say green tea isn’t good its just I prefer my tea black – preferablly Yorkshire.
Every now and then I do feel its necessary to have some green tea. Just to cover all the bases and make sure that, if green is healthier, I’m getting a good dose of it.

So today has been a green tea day. More specifically I’ve been having some fine tea all the way from China that a work friend got for me about a month ago. Its VERY refreshing but it still doesn’t have the same “aaaaarrrrrrrrrrr” effect that Yorkshire has.

Incidentally I wouldn’t recommend anyone tried green tea in bags! Every brand I’ve tried (Clipper, Twinnings) has ended up tasting more of tea bag than of tea! This just isnt on and so I’ve rebelled against the green bag and gone for the green leaf. Loose leaf green tea has always given a much nicer result and is often fresher than the bagged variety.

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