Green tea powder: Brewing instant
health
For some time,
I had been worrying about the fact that drinking green
tea from a teabag meant I was consuming more caffeine,
until I came across green tea
powder. That is not to say the powder
form is a modern discovery. Research tells me that the
Chinese invented powdered tea sometime in the
10th or 11th century, and the
discovery spread to Japan through Buddhism, only the
Japanese called it Zen. The Japanese were so enthusiastic
about the powder that a 16th century tea
master called Sen no Rikyu, who put together the rules of
Japan’s celebrated tea ceremony, specified that matcha
(green tea powder) was the only tea to use for
this ceremony.
How is green tea powder made? Glad
you asked, because I’m dying to tell. About three/four
weeks before harvest, the tea bushes are sheltered from
direct sunlight. Not only does this slow down the growth,
it also turns the leaves a darker shade of green and
generates amino acids that make the tea
sweeter.
After harvesting, when the leaves
are laid out to dry, they crumble and are known as
tencha. The tencha is then ground to the fine, bright
green powder known as matcha, which roughly has the
consistency of talcum powder. I found that the most
famous matcha-producing region in Japan is Nishio on the
island of Honshu. This tea is specifically called
Nishiocha.
Infusing green tea powder in water
involves pouring about 2 gm of the green tea powder in
about two cups of water, add yogurt or milk or sugar as
you like, and stirring for a short time. That’s it, and
in return, you get to drink one of the healthiest
beverages in the world. During my research, I came upon
a companys site that I've mentioned throughout
this site that offers a product called
GreenTea 300, which
uses green tea powder as one of its ingredients. I can
tell you that GreenTea 300 is an instant beverage that
will burn maximum fat when used in combination with The
GreenTea 300 Diet & Exercise Program.™ Naturally,
GreenTea 300 is zero calorie and is available in six
flavors: original, lemon, raspberry, plum, cider, and
peach. Sound delicious? It didn’t take me long to order
my supply online.
Research across the world has shown
that green tea offers numerous health benefits. To begin
with, green tea contains antioxidants that fight free
radicals, which cause cell damage and ageing. In
addition, green tea combats cancer-causing carcinogens,
and also reduces blood pressure and blood sugar levels.
Very importantly, the fat-burning abilities of green tea
make it an excellent weight loss aid. And green tea
powder is obviously the most concentrated form of the
beverage. So if you use green tea powder to supplement
your weight loss program, you can be absolutely sure of
zero side effects and clear results.
Green tea powder is finely
available from both Japan and China, and, as I mentioned
earlier, you can buy it as GreenTea 300.
Because it is so easy to
use, green tea powder is also used in various health food
recipes. In Japan, for instance, matcha is used to dye
foods green (e.g. soba noodles), and also to prepare
green tea ice cream and a lot of confectionery. Green tea
pastries, anyone?
So you see, green tea powder has
everything going for it. Did I mention that it is also
rich in vitamins C and E? Probably not, but I can’t stop
when I start talking about green tea powder so
don’t mind me.
Green tea weight
loss
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