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The wide variety of teas available in the market — from matcha to Darjeeling tea and Earl Grey – can make it tricky to pick one. However, it must be known that all these varieties can broadly be divided into three main categories — black, green, and white, with everything else being a sub-category of them. Interestingly, all these teas come from the same plant, namely Camellia sinensis, and are categorised into three broad varieties depending upon the process of their production.
As such, let’s decode each type of tea and find out which comes packed with health benefits.
Black tea: Black tea, which comprises English Breakfast tea, Earl Grey, is completely oxidised. The four main processes involved in its production are withering, rolling, oxidation and drying.
Health benefits of black tea
Black tea has the highest caffeine concentration among the three categories, and hence, is considered the best for giving instant energy. “Black tea also has other benefits including lowering cholesterol levels, lowering the risk of strokes and cardiac arrests. This variety contains theaflavins and thearubigins, which are polyphenolic compounds exhibiting antioxidant properties. Black tea consumption caused a reduction in total cholesterol, LDL levels, triglyceride levels, and an increase in HDL (good) cholesterol levels, along with a decline in glucose levels, a study concluded,” Swati Bhushan, Chief Clinical Nutritionist, Hiranandani Hospital, Navi Mumbai – A Fortis Network Hospital, told indianexpress.com.
She added that another study noted that an increase in the consumption of black tea and green tea reduces the risk of death from cardiac events by 4 per cent, lowers the risk of stroke by 4 per cent, and the overall risk of death by 1.5 per cent. “Black tea also provides protection against oral cancer,” she shared.
Green tea: Green tea is non-oxidised and its production process involves pan-frying or steaming the leaves just after harvest, followed by rolling and drying them. Some varieties of green tea include matcha and sencha.
Health benefits of green tea
Green tea is rich in antioxidants, helps against inflammation, improves brain function and body metabolism, may help against bad breath, and also reduces the risk of endometrial cancer. “Green tea majorly contains catechins as phenolic compounds along with some amounts of flavonoids and phenolic acids. Since green tea polyphenols exhibit antimicrobial, disinfectant and deodorant properties, it helps in reducing oral bad breath. Green tea has proven to stimulate the growth of good bacteria while hindering the growth of bad bacteria and improving gut health,” Bhushan added.
White tea: White tea is the least processed tea. Its production process includes slight oxidation, and the leaves are neither rolled nor crushed. Silver needle and white peony are some popular types of white tea. “The thing to keep in mind while making a cup of white tea is that water used for preparation should be hot but not boiling/simmering. That way, the leaves can steep for one minute to 5 minutes. If brewed for a longer time or at very high temperature, it might turn bitter/astringent and tea might lose its freshness,” the expert shared.
Health benefits of white tea
White tea has a plethora of health benefits, like providing protection from osteoporosis, preventing mutation, and tumour formation and exhibiting anti-carcinogenic properties among others. As mentioned earlier, white tea undergoes minimal processing, it comes from newly grown buds and young leaves of the plant Camellia Sinensis, with no or slight fermentation. It has significant levels of polyphenols, namely catechins, which have the power to quench free radicals that keep causing harm to our bodies.
“Our skin gets damaged due to inflammation and exposure to ultraviolet radiation leading to untimely ageing, and in some cases, skin cancer. One study reported the anti-inflammatory effects of white tea extract on the skin, while another reported that topical application of white tea on the skin offered protection from UV rays. It can even help keep skin acne free. White tea is also good for bones and has shown to reduce bone loss, increase in bone mineral content, provide protection from osteoporosis and prevent aggravation of this condition,” Bhushan shared.
Further, the epigallocatechin gallate and methylxanthines found in white tea can help in “fat burning, increasing energy expenditure, fat oxidation, thus boosting metabolism and in this way aiding in weight loss and weight maintenance,” she said, adding that white tea also has anti-carcinogenic properties. “White tea extract has been shown to induce cell death in lung cancer cells, preventing mutation, tumour formation and exhibiting anti-carcinogenic properties. White tea hinders the proliferation of colon cancer cells and protects the DNA of normal cells as well,” she said.
Which one to choose?
While all three teas have L–theanine, an amino acid, which improves alertness, focus, memory and cognitive performance and also helps in decreasing fatigue, to reap the benefits of it, to reap maximum and long-term health benefits, the expert suggests “consuming them regularly.”
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