Tea Blog Menu

When the Camelia sinensis plant gave birth, she produced a similar yet very distinctive set of quadruplets: green, white, oolong and black. The siblings that shine the most are the oldest and the youngest...green and black. As the youngest, black tea has for many generations been the spoiled, all American favorite especially in southern households as it is welcomed with every meal, iced. Green tea, although it chose to go backpacking around the world and thus developed a finer sense of appreciation, has far lived in the shadow of its youngest sibling at home.  Brewing with jealousy, green tea rebelled with a vengeance, ostentatiously serving its world-renowned health benefits at the family dinner, thereby securing its birthright. Thriving off of the fierce competition, black tea did some soul searching and discovered that it too, is more than just the little favorite. Below is a scoreboard of health categories to square away the sibling rivalry and to reveal where their respective talents lie.

Healthy Heart. Black tea wins. Black tea contains flavinoids which is a phytonutrient that contains anti-oxidant benefits. The consumption of black tea, with the aid of the flavinoids, can lead to the reduction of stoke and heart disease risk because it reduces the levels of bad cholesterol (LDL) that is associated with helping to cause these two diseases.

Fights Cancer. Green tea wins. Green tea has high levels of EGCG which has been found to inhibit experimental tumor growth in animals.

High in Anti-oxidants. Green tea wins. The main benefit of green tea is that it is loaded with a powerful anti-oxidant called EGCg. When it comes to the process of making black tea, this chemical compound is converted into other compounds, leaving researchers to believe that anti-oxidants are not as prevalent in black tea as they are in green tea.

Weightloss. Green tea wins. Green tea contains high levels of catechins which are anti-oxidants and polyphenols that are easily oxidized.  Catechins are more abundant in green tea than any other due to the least amount of fermentation that it undergoes.  One study suggests that the high levels of polyphenols in green tea activate the enzyme that is responsible for dissolving excess triglyceride, thereby burning fat.

Stress. Black tea wins. According to a study at the University College of London, black tea has an effect on the stress hormone levels of the body.

Less Calories. Draw. Neither black nor green contain any calories without any additives.

More Caffeine. Hard to say. Some researchers state that the least fermented would contain more caffeine. However, others say that caffeine does not evaporate and its levels remains constant even though black tea is fermented the most. Lets just say if their birthdays came around, they would probably get the same present.

Save