Tea has penetrated so deeply into our culture and cuisine that many simply cannot imagine a modern feast without this delicious drink. Tea can be sweet, tart, strong, black and green, invigorating and relaxing, and it can also be useful and not very good. We will talk about the main properties of tea.
The main property of tea is that if you brew good tea correctly, it will be beneficial, but at the same time, if you brew the same tea incorrectly, it can be unhealthy and even harmful. We will tell you about the important properties of tea and what substances are contained in tea, how tea is brewed in his homeland, which is why there are more healthy and slender old people in China than anywhere else, and we will also tell you why you cannot leave the tea leaves overnight and is it possible drink tea for hypertensive patients and heart patients.
List of useful substances of tea
Vitamins found in tea
- Vitamin A: Essential for good vision.
- B vitamins: needed for the proper functioning of the endocrine glands, nervous system, muscle growth, hair and skin health, emotional and mental balance.
- Vitamin C: antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory, catalyzes the work of other vitamins. In tea, vitamin C is associated with tannin and is almost not destroyed at high temperatures.
- Vitamin D: Needed for the absorption of calcium (works in tandem with vitamin C), essential for bone health.
- Vitamin E: antioxidant, immunomodulator, supports the health of the skin and the whole body at the cellular level. It is necessary for the body’s natural self-defense against many diseases.
Vitamin PP (nicotinic acid): participates in the metabolism of fats, proteins and amino acids, dilates the small vessels of the brain, improves microcirculation and increases blood activity.- Vitamin P (rutin): together with vitamin C, it has the ability to reduce the permeability and fragility of capillary vessels.
- Vitamin K: essential for the proper development of bone and cartilage tissue, vascular health and good blood clotting.
Soluble substances in tea
- Carbohydrates: glucose, sucrose, maltose and fructose.
- Essential oils: aromatic substances, it is they that give a great aroma to tea and at the same time help to cope with inflammation.
- Pigments: coloring substances of tea, thanks to which tea has a different color, pleasant to the eye.
- Alkaloids: stimulating substances, in tea it is primarily theine, a substance similar to caffeine, but discovered a little earlier. Theine is milder, but longer than caffeine.
- Proteins: During the tea production process, many proteins become amino acids. Green tea contains the most protein.
- Tea amino acids: about 17 substances that affect the aroma and nutritional value of the drink.
- Tannins: have anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antimicrobial and disinfectant properties.
Insoluble substances in tea
- Enzymes: more than 10 different substances that catalyze tea chemical reactions.
- Pectins: these are the substances that remove radionuclides from the body. Most of the surviving victims of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki drank large quantities of green tea. Under normal conditions, tea copes well with the level of typical pollution in modern cities.
Does tea invigorate or relax?
Doctors are well aware of the property of alkaloids in small concentrations to strengthen and heal. At the same time, many healthy and harmless foods can be harmful if consumed excessively. Tea is the best proof of this by its own example. There are two extremes here: a weak infusion or old stale tea is more likely to relax than invigorate, and overbrewed tea, bitter and strong, and even if the tea is fresh and of good quality will bring excessive and exhausting sleepless vigor.
The active invigorating substance of tea is called theine, it is similar in properties to caffeine, but in tea it binds to polyphenols and other active substances and therefore acts on the body much softer than caffeine. In addition, theine does not accumulate in the body and does not cause heart problems. Tea is definitely safer than coffee, but within reasonable limits.
Known in narrow circles, “chifir” can cause serious harm to health, and not only because of the large amount of active substances. When brewing for a long time, harmful substances that are completely unnecessary for a person come out of tea leaves. That is why tea is brewed in his homeland for a short time, and cooled tea is not brewed again, and even more so, the tea leaves are not left overnight.
Can you drink yesterday’s tea?
A Chinese proverb says “yesterday’s tea is like a snake,” in Japan, daily tea is compared to a snake bite. And this is really very important: the same tea can help or harm. It depends on how we brew it.
Over-brewed tea becomes cloudy, loses its aroma and acquires a thin film on the surface. When brewed for a long time, valuable vitamins and amino acids are oxidized, and the tea loses its transparency, taste and aroma. Instead, astringency and an oxide film appear. At the heart of this film are protein molecules, nitrogenous bases in the form of guanine, a substance that is completely unnecessary for us. Once in the body, this insoluble film envelops the lining of the stomach and intestines, interfering with the absorption of nutrients and irritating the entire gastrointestinal tract. This leads to poor peristalsis activity and the accumulation of “undigested” food in the intestines. This is followed by fermentation, decay and the development of a breeding ground for fungi and disease-causing bacteria. In the worst cases, ulcerative and erosive processes may appear. Don’t drink old re-brewed tea!
The benefits of yesterday’s tea
Yesterday’s tea also has a healthy side. It has good wound healing properties, they rinse the mouth (but do not drink!) With bleeding gums, inflammation and ulcers, wash the eyes with old tea, reducing redness, and even relieve the symptoms of conjunctivitis. Daily or just standing tea is used exclusively externally.
Can you drink tea with high blood pressure?
Continuing the topic of the benefits of tea, this question is easily rephrased as “can I drink strong tea in a pre-infarction state?” or “will tea save me from a heart attack?” and each core secretly wants to be told “yes you can, drink as much as you want”, “save and help”, but here, as above, proportions and measure are important. Tea can help if you drink it in moderation, in small portions, only fresh and throughout your adult life. Old people in China surprise scientists with extremely low rates of heart disease for precisely these reasons. However, the same tea, brewed stronger, for about 10 minutes, and with 4 tablespoons of sugar (did you not know that sugar increases blood pressure?) May well seriously worsen your well-being. Therefore, when some say that tea brings benefits to hypertensive patients, and others – that harm, everyone is right. There are too many details to consider when talking about the benefits of tea. But we can choose what tea to drink and how to brew it.
What is the healthiest tea
Fresh, in a low concentration (weak), in a small amount, without sugar, after a meal, green tea stimulates the whole body, giving a reasonable load, training the heart muscle and strengthening the walls of blood vessels. It’s this simple workout, almost a habit, that helps people in Asia stay healthy longer. Moderation, freshness and regularity are the main conditions for healthy tea.
Tea stimulates digestion
This is without a doubt so, tea can help to find lightness after a plentiful meal, and the constant bowl of hot green tea after fatty pilaf in Central Asia is a vivid example of this. And again, it is worth taking a closer look: what kind of tea it is, and how it is brewed. Before and after meals, they drink coarse green tea, brewed weakly, sweetish and fragrant, without sugar. Green tea works here similarly to wine in European culture, it increases acidity and temperature, forcing the stomach to cope with food more intensively. In the case of heavy animal fat, such as lamb, tea greatly relieves the sensation after eating. In addition, tea’s own vitamins are better absorbed in a fatty environment, and the benefits are double.
There is also a downside or a complete misunderstanding of the effect of tea. For example, if you drink black strong and sweet tea, and even brewed for a long time, then you can bring yourself a real torture by eating dense fatty food after that. We remember that this tea envelops the walls of the stomach and intestines, interfering with the absorption of food. The situation is no better with sweet black tea after meals. After the same pilaf or fried pork, it will take at least an hour for the stomach to take sweet tea and dessert. Tea is quite good “friends” with sweet, neutralizing its influence, but only if the tea itself is unsweetened. But sweet tea with a sweet piece of cake, and after a hearty dinner, is completely unable to cope. The same tea, and completely different results.
To summarize: tea perfectly invigorates, improves mood, saturates with vitamins, helps to digest heavy, fatty and sweet foods, strengthens the heart and blood vessels, nourishes with important vitamins, strengthening immunity and general health, preserves youth. But all these beneficial properties of tea are manifested only when brewed correctly.
How to brew tea correctly
Regardless of the type and type of tea, the rules for its preparation are simple. In a nutshell: you need fresh tea, the brewing utensils are warmed up, put more tea, brew for a short time, do not dilute the brew with water, do not add sugar, do not leave the tea to over-brew, and even more so do not drink tea on the second day.
In Asia, tea is drunk like this: on a small porcelain teapot with a volume of 100 ml (or any other dish of a suitable volume), take 7-10 g of dry tea (a little more or less than 1 tablespoon), put the tea in a heated teapot, pour it hot, but not boiling water, insist for a few seconds and pour into cups. The brew can be repeated 5-10 times as long as the tea retains its flavor and aroma. The water is not left in the teapot for a long time, the tea is not allowed to cool, the cooled tea is not re-brewed. Correctly brewed green tea should be sweetish, may be slightly bitter or slightly bite the mouth, the color of the green tea infusion is very delicate, the tea is almost transparent, this is absolutely normal. Black tea, when properly brewed, is very aromatic, slightly tart, but without bitterness, with a bright and transparent infusion.
Drink only high quality fresh tea, and all its beneficial properties will be yours. Be healthy!
Alexey Borodin