Green tea for your good health

Green Tea, thats my favorite health drink and This was the place where my love for this tea started. Till date, I manage to drink a glass of fresh iced tea everyday! To be honest, I was never a big fan of either tea or coffee when I was back in India, but now.. I must say, am hooked to this tea..

…and when Skinny gourment announced her little tea party (Thanks to Dining Hall!), I was more than elated to write an exclusive post on my love for freshly brewed, sweetened Iced Green Tea!

first a little history….

China is known as the homeland of tea. India and China are probably the first countries to cultivate tea. It is believed that tea shrubs existed in China as early as 5000-6000 years ago. Once when Emperor Shen Nung was sitting under a camellia tree, a few leaves accidentally fell into a cauldron of boiling water. The resulting fragrance tempted the Emperor to sip the brew. This is believed to be the beginning of Chinese tea culture.

Basically there are three types of tea – black, oolong and green tea. Green tea today has become very popular worldwide. Made from the dried leaves of the camellia sinensis plant, green tea came from China between 4000-5000 years ago. In oriental countries green tea has been used for many centuries for its therapeutic and medicinal qualities. People in China and Japan have known the positive aspects green tea brings to our health for centuries and Asians on an average drink 1-2 cups per day as a cleanser for the body. The global consumption of tea is about 3 billion kilos annually with India alone accounting for the largest contribution (about 30%).