Chinese Tea And Health BenefitsAbout Chinese Tea and Health
We believe that any food product can have positive and/or negative health effects and in varying degrees for different individuals. We do not recommend teas on the basis of health benefits and at this point, do not think it is prudent to recommend tea-drinking for anything other than to enjoy the wonderful flavour and the joyous experience of enjoying tea alone or with friends. It is common to hear people say “Tea has much more caffeine than coffee”. It is just as common to hear the opposite point of view. In fact with all the varieties of teas and coffees available, the different methods of manufacturing and preparing them and the different amounts consumed, both statements are in need of significant qualification. So how much caffeine does tea and coffee
have? Scientific studies and consumer group
reports can both be less than detailed about
what teas were used in their research. We will
refer to a well detailed study published by
the British Government in 2004 (http://www.food.gov.uk/ All Teas mean 40 mg per serving Instant Coffee mean 54 mg per serving Ground Coffee mean 105 mg per serving It has been generally believed that Chinese green tea has less caffeine than black tea. There is much study and discussion on this subject which suggests that his may not be the case. In fact green tea may have more caffeine than black tea. The confusion has been the result of more broad and unqualified statements that compare apples to oranges and not apples to apples, so to speak. Most black tea exported to the West is from India and the Camellia assamica plant from which Indian tea is made produces higher levels of caffeine than from the Camellia sinensis variety that is used for Chinese teas. Futhermore, the oxidization process used in making Chinese black teas appears to reduce caffeine content rather than increase it as previously thought. So when you compare Chinese green tea to Chinese black tea, caffeine content in Chinese green teas seems to be higher than in Chinese black teas. Both are less than Indian black teas and all teas are significantly less than coffee. But there is a way to reduce the caffeine
level of any tea if you are sensitive to it.
Any tea is To learn about tea-making using the traditional Chinese Gong Fu Cha (Tea With Great Skill) technique, read our guide Gong Fu Cha - The Complete Guide To Making Chinese Tea by Daniel Lui. For reference purposes only, we list some of the benefits of Chinese Teas as commonly recognized in Traditional Chinese Medicine: Black Tea
Green Tea
White Tea
Oolong Tea
Pu-Erh Tea
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There are many health benefits
attributed to drinking Chinese tea, ranging
from feelings of well-being to near magical
cures. For Westerners, much of this interest
is focused on ancient claims related to weight
loss and more modern claims of
cancer-prevention due to tea's anti-oxidant
properties. Each person must make their own
assessment of the facts. While there are
centuries of tradition and empirical evidence,
there is little modern scientific consensus
that supports the health benefits of tea .
Even the effects of anti-oxidants in the body
to prevent anything has recently been drawn
sharply into focus. 
best
enjoyed using the traditional Chinese method
of tea-making known as Gong Fu Cha (Tea With
Great Skill). This highly controlled method of
tea-making is characterized by using small
teapots and multiple brews with very short
steeping times of just a few seconds. This
intensifies the flavour of tea and reduces
caffeine levels. Using this method, the first
brew is for washing the leaves and is poured
away, so it is not consumed. This also has the
effect of washing away much of the caffeine
which is highly soluble in water. 
