Real fresh Chinese green tea is sweet, aromatic and very healthy. We will tell you about the varieties of green tea, the best brewing method and the beneficial properties of this wonderful drink.
Green tea is harvested in China in spring, and in May-June fresh green tea appears in Russia. In order not to create confusion, recall that the Chinese separate green tea from white (which is also outwardly light green or fawn in color), from yellow (which can be confused with some varieties of green tea) and from oolong, whose leaves twisted into lumps are green. … The topic of this article is only green tea.
Fresh green tea has several advantages at once:
• Light aroma
• Delicate taste
• Fresh cooling aftertaste
• Awakening action
• Cleansing and strengthening the body
It is fresh green tea that the Chinese have in mind when they talk and write about the benefits of tea. With the help of green tea and gymnastics, old people in Asia live to a ripe old age with a minimum of illness and remain active and clear-minded at a venerable age. Green tea perfectly cleanses and strengthens blood vessels, helps to avoid excess weight and nourishes the body with vitamins and microelements. It was green tea that helped thousands of Japanese people survive the aftermath of the atomic explosions in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Cases of complete cure of radiation sickness and removal of radionuclides are known. All this thanks to good green tea and regular and correct tea drinking.
How to brew green tea properly
When we speak of correctness, we mean the Asian way of brewing. Until the middle of the 20th century, Europeans could not taste fresh green tea, and all the main methods of brewing that developed in the 17-19 centuries refer to red or black tea and are completely unsuitable for green tea, as it becomes tasteless and completely unhealthy.
In Asia, green tea is brewed in a small container (teapot or gaiwan – a cup with a lid) with a volume of 80-120 ml, with non-hot water at about 80 degrees. The tea leaves are put in noticeably more than with the European method – from 15 to 35% of the volume of the teapot. And they brew tea for just a couple of seconds, immediately pouring the infusion into a cup.
The ideal vessel for brewing delicate green teas is the traditional Chinese gaiwan – a cup on a saucer with an unscrewed lid. For a small pre-warmed gaiwan, take about 1 tablespoon of tea. The time of the first 3 infusions is 2-3 seconds. For the next brews, you can increase the time up to 10 seconds. This method allows you to:
1. Drink less fluids
2. Brew tea five or more times
3. Get the most out of your tea
Taste and aroma of green tea
The aroma of fresh dry green tea is sweet with clear tones of fresh grass, July meadow grasses and flowers. The aroma of brewed green tea is fresh with a predominance of herbal notes. The aroma should be delicate and clear, and the smell of an empty cup can be noticeably stronger than the aroma of the drink itself. In an empty cup, it can smell of flowers – from lilac and jasmine to tropical flowers.
The taste of green tea is necessarily sweet and oily. There should be almost no bitterness and astringency in it, especially in the first brews. The infusion is light green with yellowness, almost transparent – this is absolutely normal. You shouldn’t try to achieve strength and rich color from green tea. Indeed, in order to get the usual red-brown color, the tea must be fermented, that is, brown, which is what happens with red or black teas.
How often to drink green tea
We count tea leaves, not mythical “cups of tea”. One infusion in a 100 ml teapot takes 3-4 grams (1 tablespoon) of dry tea. You can brew 5 times in a row and get 2 large European cups or 15 Chinese bowls (30 ml each) by volume. In China, green tea can be prepared 3-4 times a day, which means 10-15 grams of dry tea. In order for the active substances of the tea to start their work, and we felt the effect, we need to drink green tea at least 1 time a day. That is, once a day you need to brew 3-4 grams, make several infusions and get many cups of green tea. The noticeably perceptible effect of green tea begins when it is brewed in this way at least three times a day.
Green tea varieties
The most famous green tea in China is Long Jing (Dragon’s Well). For this variety, more than 40 varieties of tea bushes have been bred in China. Long Jing’s variety of flavors is amazing. The spread of quality is also quite large. In Russia, a good Long Jing, as a rule, costs from $ 20 per 100 grams. Long Jing is harvested in April, rather strongly and quickly fried in a special heated vat, pressing intensely against a hot surface. Due to this, Long Jing has a noticeable aroma of roasted pumpkin seeds with herbaceous nuances. But the taste is dominated by freshness and sweet notes.
Mao Feng (Fuzzy Peaks). This tea is harvested in early Chinese spring, that is, in mid-February. Tea is processed the same day and can be drunk almost immediately. This tea is the record holder for the content of invigorating and active substances. Fresh Mao Fen is quite expensive, but by the end of spring it becomes much cheaper, which allows you to buy it in Russia for $ 20 per 100 grams.
Tai Ping Hou Kui (Tai Ping Monkey Leader). The tea that the Chinese love to give. For example, in 2006, Tai Ping Ho Kui was presented to Russian President Vladimir Putin. This is a very fresh tea with a bright green color. The leaves are large and flat. The infusion is very gentle with the aroma of fresh herbs. Tai Ping Ho Kui is very healthy when fresh.
Lu Mu Dan (Green Peony) named for the resemblance of tea leaves to peony petals. The variety has been known since the 10th century. Its taste is refreshing, with a noticeable chill in the aftertaste.
Liu An Gua Pian (Pumpkin seeds). Tea is produced in the same place as the famous Tie Guanyin – in Anxi. The tea leaves are shaped like pumpkin seeds. The tea is very aromatic and tonic.
Bi Lo Chun (Emerald Spirals of Spring). This is a very delicate tea with white hair. bai hao on the pieces of paper. This type of tea was supplied, among others, to the Emperor’s court. Bi Luo Chun is sorted and processed on the day of harvest to preserve a record amount of valuable amino acids. The tea has a delicate emerald infusion color, thick aroma and delicate taste.
Sencha – Japanese tea, which is drunk daily in the Land of the Rising Sun. It quenches thirst, improves digestion, invigorates and helps to withstand heat.
Gunpowder (Powder). It is inexpensive everyday 
Chinese tea. It can be drunk as an aperitif or digestif before meals and after spicy food.
Fragrant green tea
Very often, green tea is flavored with natural aromas. There are few of them and they are all traditional for China and Asia in general. For example, jasmine tea is an inexpensive tea with the addition of jasmine flowers. There are premium jasmine teas, and here the tea was simply dried over a layer of jasmine flowers. This is the grade Jade rings or Jade rings… The second most popular supplement is osmanthus flowers (cinnamon tree)…
Teas with floral and fruit additives smell very nice, but the raw materials for them are always inexpensive. The bright non-specific aroma in green tea speaks of artificial additives. Such tea is unlikely to be beneficial, as the additives usually mask old age or low grade tea.
Oolong tea – turquoise tea
Oolongs are green in appearance, give a green-yellow infusion, therefore they are often referred to as 
green tea. This is not true because oolong tea is quite dense in taste and can even resemble some red teas. The aroma of oolong tea is not herbal and fresh-cool, but rather floral and denser and thicker than that of green tea. Oolongs are used in the classical Chinese tea ceremony and are brewed 10 times or more. Oolong tea is an intermediate link between green and red (black) tea.
Properties of green tea
In ancient China, tea was perceived more as a medicine than a drink. The tea was ground into powder, mixed with other herbs and obtained a rather bitter infusion. They drank such a drink without pleasure and only in order to get the desired effect. But later it was noticed that if tea is brewed carefully, regularly and in sufficient quantity, then the beneficial properties of tea are manifested even better. It is much more pleasant to drink delicious tea often than to brew a bitter green broth.
The benefits of green tea
How is green tea good for you? For the Chinese, this question invariably raises a smile, since all the main books on the benefits of green tea were written in China more than a thousand years ago, and the inhabitants of the Celestial Empire have no doubts about its benefits. It is green tea that the Chinese drink daily and often. This green tea is meant when they talk about the benefits of tea, about a variety of diseases that tea lovers simply do not have. Dry cold statistics tell us that China has the least number of deaths from heart attacks and strokes. One small detail can change attitudes towards both tea and medicine in China in general: traditional medicine in China they call it not a pill, but as we would say, traditional medicine… And the main direction of Chinese and Asian medicine is traditional ancient methods of treatment and prevention of diseases.
Tea removes toxins, radionuclides, toxins, cleanses and strengthens the walls of blood vessels and capillaries, thereby equalizing pressure and eliminating problems with the cardiovascular system. Green tea contains a large amount of vitamins and minerals. According to numerous studies, tea contains from 300 to 700 active substances useful to humans.
The harm of green tea
The main harm from green tea comes from the poor quality of tea, from excessive drinking, thoughtless brewing and non-observance of recommendations and age-old traditions of drinking tea. It is known that any medicine in large quantities becomes poison. Recall that you can die from plain water if you drink more than 10 liters at a time. And the lethal dose of salt is only 250 grams. Green tea in moderation is absolutely harmless, you should not be afraid of it.
Green tea and pressure
We recommend that you be careful and discreet when drinking green tea with increased pressure. In these cases, you need to make a test tea and drink a small cup of tea, wait 15 minutes and assess your health. If the pressure does not rise, then you can continue to drink tea in moderation. Subsequently, regular tea drinking will reduce the amplitude of pressure surges, reduce the frequency of increases, and over the years will completely eliminate this problem.
Green tea and diet
Any tea effectively helps to fight excess weight. Of course, if the diet consists of pies and cakes, then no tea will help. Tea helps to better cope with heavy food, removes toxins and generally increases the tone of the body. With tea, any diet seems especially enjoyable, and the results are even more pleasing to the eye. But green tea is not a panacea, and you should not seriously expect that tea will cope with sweet soda, mayonnaise salads, rolls, sweets and fatty sausages.
Best Green Tea
The best tea is fresh tea. In green tea, its freshness is appreciated first of all. It may be of a small variety, unelite and inexpensive, but it must be fresh, harvested this year.
Taste differences between varieties sometimes give rise to controversy about which green tea is the best, but this is outside the boundaries of tea culture. China has its own preferences. The most popular green tea in China is Long Jing (Dragon Well). A huge number of tea growers are engaged in the cultivation and production of Long Jing, and it is no coincidence that they drink it throughout the day. But Mao Feng (Piley Peaks) and Tai Ping Ho Kui (Leader of the Monkeys from Hu Kui) “compete” with Long Jing in taste and health. Fans of tea Lü Mu Dan (Green Peony) or Liu An Gua Pian (Pumpkin Seeds) may disagree and consider their tea to be the best. And here only taste preferences intervene.
Green tea with milk
Milk green tea is nothing more than milk oolong, which, although green, belongs to turquoise teas. Milk oolong tea has a naturally bright creamy aroma and a clear sweet taste, reminiscent of green and high-grade red tea, such as Indian darjeeling… It is not customary to add milk to green tea.
Good and fresh green tea is a very healthy drink that has been proven for centuries. Drink green tea often, take only the best and freshest tea, brew it correctly, and you will get a delicious, aromatic and very healthy drink.
Alexey Borodin