Green Tea Plant: Where is Green Tea Extracted? and How?

Welcome back! Before we get to the nitty gritty details of so many green tea benefits; we tackle on the source of the green tea substance itself.

Grean tea comes from the plant called Camellia Sinensis. The common name for this is "tea plant".

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This is also where Black Tea, Oolong Tea and White Tea come from.

Camellia Sinensis, a shrub-like plant, is usually grown in tropical climates that has a combination of hot and cool climates and heavy rainfalls. While there are many places in the world that has those characteristics; the best tasting teas are produced on highly elevated mountain regions.

Countries where the green tea plant is vastly cultivated are as follows:

1. India

2. China

3. Sri Lanka

4. Japan

5. Taiwan

6. Kenya

7. Turkey

And many more..

So how does green tea really get extracted from the plant?

- First, the leaves from the green tea plant are hand-picked or machine picked: cultivation and harvesting.

- Then the leaves are lightly steamed before allowing them to dry (drying). This process effectively retains the active properties of the plant. These active properties in the leaves are the ones helpful to our health. Green tea processing retains many of the active properties as compared to Oolong and Black Tea processing.

- For those green tea products found in teabags, a process called shaping occurs. Its purpose is to create a distinctive look in the tea (wll still be recongnized as tea leaves) and to regulate the release of content of the green tea leaves when steamed into a cup.

- There are final steps for drying and post-processing as required.

Here are the details on the extracting of green tea from the plant.

Comments: It is really surprising that complex procedures are being done in order to get the green tea extract that we enjoy today. I think it is based on the fact that the producers of green tea extracts pay attention to detail in order to retain the healthy ingredients from the tea plant. I also learned today that the green tea plant could also be grown on tropical areas; I thought it was only grown on elevated areas and countries with cold climates. But through research, the best tasting teas are indeed cultivated from elevated and cold areas nonetheless.

For more green tea infos, please read these sites:

1. Green Tea Extract

2. Camellia Sinensis

3. The Tea Bush

4. The Source Of All Tea

P.S. A new series of posts are up! If you would like to know 10 Trivia regarding Green Tea, click on this link: http://greenteaphilippines.blogspot.com/p/10-trivia.html

Green Tea Benefits - Green Tea as a Fat Burner and Weight Loss Tea

Next up! This feature of Green Tea as a fat burner came as a surprise to me when I first learned about it. And this is one feature which makes green tea and green tea extract hot commodities these days! No wonder there are thousands of slimming products in the market that has Green Tea as one of their premium ingredients.

So how does Green Tea do the fat burning?

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The fat burning (also gruesomely known as its Thermogenic Effect) effect of Green Tea is believed to be caused by the compound EGCG or Epigallocathechin Gallate. This is the primary anti-oxidant found in Green Tea. It enhances the metabolism.

When we consume Green Tea; these anti-oxidants are released into the blood stream which helps the body absorb calories and convert them directly into muscle or energy.

It also prevents and/or slows down fats from being stored in our body. This is possible because Green Tea delays the action of certain enzymes (chemicals in the body) that cause fat storage.

For some people, the tea causes appetite suppression which controls their overall food intake and aid weight loss.

Comments: The thing I find very attractive for people with regards to a green tea diet is that it gives you the luxury of burning those fats while doing almost nothing! The green tea does its work internally! But sometimes people give this fact as an excuse. Because they know that they have a green tea product that acts as a fat burner; they tend to eat more! I am guilty of that also haha but I'm slowly changing my habits. I also happen to know the best green tea in the market today. (please leave a comment if you want details).

For more sumptuous info, you may check out these sites:

1. Green Tea Weight Loss

2. Green Tea Fat Burner

P.S. - A new series of posts are up! If you would like to know 10 Trivia regarding Green Tea, click on this link: http://greenteaphilippines.blogspot.com/p/10-trivia.html