The health benefits to drinking tea have been well studied and documented for many hundreds of years. Combining the old understandings and the latest research conducted, we can see relationships and links to various teas and their health promoting properties.
Most Chinese tea helps in particular with the prevention of cognitive decline and the prevention of DNA mutation. It protects cells against damage to the DNA, the core genetic material.
The processing methods differ between the tea categories and as a result, each tea category ends up with a different chemical constitution within its dried leaf form. When consumed as a drink, the various categories of tea produce differing effects to our health and well-being.
Green and white teas are high in catechins, a compound found in antioxidant. This is due to its steaming and pan fired process which inactivates the oxidising process. White tea go’s through the least amount of processing followed by green tea.
Oolong tea is high in polyphenol and black teas are high in theaflavins and Thearubigins. They go through the highest amount of processing. The bruising and rolling process activates partial and full oxidisation of the leaves which inturn generates semi and full fermentation.

The differences between the three tea categories
| |
Green Tea
(Unfermented) |
Oolong Tea
(Semi-fermented) |
Black Tea
(Fully-fermented) |
| Caffeine |
✕✕✕ |
✕✕✕ |
✕✕✕ |
| Tannin |
✕✕✕✕ |
✕✕✕✕ |
✕✕✕✕ |
| Catechin |
✕✕✕✕ |
✕✕ |
✕ |
| Polyphenol |
✕ |
✕✕✕✕ |
✕✕✕ |
| Theaflavin |
✕ |
✕✕ |
✕✕✕✕ |
See also...
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