The traditional way to enjoy a nice cup of tea would be brewing loose leaf tea. Loose leaf tea is the most natural way to enjoy tea because it came straight from the plant to your cup. Drinking tea brewed from loose leaf can preserve the most of the tea’s flavor and health benefits since it is the most organic way to enjoy tea. Compared to other ways to enjoy tea, loose leaf tea would have a lower percentage of caffeine. Let’s learn more about loose leaf tea below.
Tea is known to be a beneficial beverage among all the popular sugary drinks generally seen on the market nowadays.Tea is not only sugarless and contains almost no calories, different types of tea have their particular benefits. For example, green tea is known for its antioxidizing benefit, while oolong tea is known for its spectacular weight loss effect. In nowadays society, more and more people are concerned with their health. It has come to an era where people ditch their soda and turn to tea. The complex flavors and aroma of tea would be the best option for an afternoon tea drink for a number of reasons. Not only can it relieve the fullness from a big lunch, it can also help to relieve stress accumulated from working all morning.
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Loose leaf tea-Where it all begins?
To understand the benefits of loose leaf tea, you have to know how tea are harvested. Certain plants are cultivated solely to produce tea leaves. These plants are commonly seen in China, Japan, Southern India, Indonesia and Sri Lanka. Most of the tea leaves are harvested by hand and only the top part of the tea plant, which is the softest part of the plant, would be picked.
Different Procedures for Different Types of Tea
Different types of tea might need to undergo different procedures. For example, loose leaf tea would be rolled into shapes and left to be oxidized, and black tea has to be oxidized till it is black. Then, the loose leaf tea would be kept in its original form and be stored inside aluminium packages to keep fresh. Drinking loose leaf tea can preserve the most of the tea, including the most important ingredients in tea like polyphenol and minerals. You can enjoy the rich flavors of the tea while at the same time, have a better control of the thickness of the tea. Therefore, if time allows you to sit down and enjoy a cup tea, make sure that it is loose leaf tea so that you can benefit the most from it.
Loose Leaf Tea vs Tea Bags – What is the difference?
There are two ways to enjoy a cup of hot tea, loose leaf tea and tea bags. They each have their own benefits.
Tea Bags Benefits
1 Convenience
For tea bags, it is obvious that its major advantage is convenience. Generally, tea bags are made of a filter paper bag with compressed tea leaves. You can have one pack of tea bags stocked at home or in your office, then you just need a cup and some hot water in order to have a wonderful cup of tea. It can also be stored for a longer period of time.
2 Tea Variations
Another advantage would be the variations of teas you can enjoy. As tea leaves are gathered together in a small bag, some tea producers would mix in some herbs and other plants to increase the complexity of flavours, as well as to allow drinkers to benefit from more than one type of tea at the same type.
Most of the herbal teas came in tea bags, like rose green tea and chamomile tea. With the invention of tea bags, you do not have to worry about the fuss of getting loose leaf tea from different tin cans, or carry around all those loose leaf tea with you. So, tea bags would be a great choice for tea lovers with a busy life.
About Loose Leaf Tea
Loose leaf tea is a more natural way to enjoy tea. The tea leaves would expand after brewing for a while unlike those in tea bags, making it less possible to over brew.
The flavors and aroma of loose leaf tea also last longer. Usually, a pot of loose leaf tea can be brewed for a few times before the taste starts to fade. All the nutrients inside the particular type of tea you are enjoying would also be fully preserved since the tea leaf inside tea bags might be compressed.
Loose leaf tea Benefits
Maintain a General Health
As the most natural way to enjoy tea, loose leaf tea can bring to you the benefits of the particular type of tea. For instance, most tea contains useful minerals like tea polyphenol, catechin and a large amount of antioxidants. These substances can help to maintain a general health and improve body functions. Studies have revealed that regular tea drinkers have a lower chance of getting cardiovascular diseases, cancer and diabetes. Tea drinkers would also have lower cholesterol and blood pressure level.
Maintain a Young Look!
Beside health benefits, drinking tea can also help you to maintain a young look by giving you smooth and tight skin, thick and shiny hair as well as a slim physique. Teas, especially green tea and black oolong tea, are known to have spectacular weight loss effects because of the polyphenols inside the tea leaves.
Improve Mental capability and health
On the other hand, drinking tea can also improve mental capability and promote mental health. The low amount of caffeine present in tea leaves can help to increase alertness, improve concentration and maintain a general brain health. For example, as matcha came from a Buddhism origin and was originally used to aid monks in their meditation practices, it comes with an excellent calming effect while at the same time can keep you awake.
Some people also like to brew a pot of tea in the afternoon or in the evening because the fresh taste and the complex aroma of the tea can effectively soothe one’s mind and relieve pressure.
In Japan, the procedures of brewing tea is seen as a meditation practice known as the “tea ceremony”. With all these benefits, you might as well consider getting a teapot and start to brew your own tea any time of the day.
Aromatherapy of loose leaf tea
Another reason to choose loose leaf tea over tea bags would be its aroma. The aroma of tea is known to be very soothing to most of the people. Certainly, different types of tea have their unique aroma, however, the common thing between them is that they can eject a sense of calmness, or zen as the Japanese says. The aroma of loose leaf tea is considered an aromatherapy to some.
In order to maximize the benefit of the aroma, no matter if you are using it medically or just enjoying the smell itself, you should use loose leaf tea instead of tea bags. Loose leaf tea has a richer aroma than tea bags because the larger the leaves, the richer the aroma. With the industrial process of compressing tea leaves, the aroma would lose some complexity when put inside a tea bag.
On the other hand, brewing loose leaf tea can preserve the aroma for a longer time and the same amount of loose leaf tea can be brewed again for a few times before its aroma fades.
The aroma of tea varies among species and even origins. For example, loose leaf green tea would have a sweet, floral, clean and fresh aroma, while Pu’er tea would have a more earth and woody aroma. Each of these aroma would have different effects on every individual. Do try to find out which tea has the best aroma to you.
The gift of health – Loose leaf tea
Loose leaf tea is a common gift for friends and family in Asian culture. Sending loose leaf tea would make a unique gift of health and beauty. Not only does loose leaf tea has a lot of benefits of various aspects, it can be enjoyed by almost people of all age and health condition. That would make a great gift in every occasion, be it the holidays, housewarming, birthday or anniversary.
In the past, tea was considered a very precious and expensive gift and could only be enjoyed by the nobles because of the craftsmanship needed to harvest high-quality tea.
Nowadays, we are lucky because technology advancement had given every one of us the opportunity to enjoy tea. Because of the wide variety of tea species, it would be easy for you to pick one type that suits your needs and budget. I am sure your guest would love this gift of health, beauty and culture.
I am sure the benefits of tea is no news to the international society. Here is another way for you to step up in your tea game.
Ditch your tea bags and start brewing loose leaf tea. Using loose leaf tea can help to preserve the most of the tea, including the nutrients, health benefits, taste and aroma.
Drinking loose leaf tea of all kinds, like green tea, black tea and oolong tea can bring you’re the benefits of maintaining overall health, prevention of cancer and chronic disease, lowered blood pressure and cholesterol, weight loss as well as youthful skin.
Try loose leaf tea today and feel the power of it.
You might also like:
→Different Types of Tea in Japan and it’s Health Benefits
→Weight Loss Has Been “Matcha Green Tea” Easier!
→Oolong Tea Benefits – The Oriental Secret to Weight Loss
→Astounding Benefits of Japanese Genmaicha Tea
