The Common Ground ~ Tea Time

Tea Time

Change is in the air… we feel it in our bones, in our lungs, on our faces. While change can be invigorating and inspiring it can also leave us stressed and vulnerable to illness. The sunny season’s metamorphasis into autumn strikes us instinctively as an invitation to tea. Change making you feel frenzied? Colder nights giving you a chill? Enter the sound of relief… the sweet whistle of the tea kettle.

"Tea is a subtle experience," says Joe Simrany, president of the Tea Council. "It doesn't hit you between the eyes like coffee does." With its gentler, more subtle flavors and lower caffeine content, tea is a beverage that asks to be sipped, not gulped, drawing the drinker into a reflective state of calm. Drinkers of this mildly stimulating brew can enjoy more than the benefit of its power to mellow the mind and soothe the spirit due to a growing body of research that shows tea’s many benefits to the body as well. Regular tea drinking has been shown to help prevent plaque in coronary arteries, fight cancer, strengthen immunity, improve digestion, cut down on cavities and increase bone mineral density.

The medicinal qualities of the leaves of the evergreen shrub, Camellia sinensis, have long been known to the Chinese who brewed the first cup of tea nearly 5,000 years ago. Current research tends to center around powerful antioxidants, called catechins, found in tea. Antioxidants are substances that allow our bodies to scavenge and seize unstable molecules called oxidants, commonly known as " free radicals". While free radicals are created as byproducts of normal metabolic processes, they also produced in response to exposure to radiation, cigarette smoke, pesticide residues and other environmental pollutants found in the air we breathe, the foods we eat, and the water we drink and bathe in. If unchecked by antioxidants, free radicals can damage both the structure and function of cells leaving them vulnerable to cell death, carcinogenic mutations, the inactivation of enzymes and other proteins, and the consequent destruction of affected tissues and organs. Like other antioxidants, the catechins found in tea selectively inhibit specific enzyme activities that lead to cancer. They may also target and repair DNA aberrations caused by oxidants.

Catechins are the focus of several other encouraging studies. They have been found to block the formation of plaque in coronary arteries. A four-year study at Harvard Medical School showed that participants who drank 14 cups of green or black tea weekly had a 44% lower death rate after a heart attack than people who did not drink tea. A University of Minnesota study of 35,000 women over 15 years showed those who drank two or more cups of green or black tea daily had a 10% lower risk of developing any cancer than those who seldom drank tea. A Japanese study showed that tea keeps free radical from weakening the immune system. In a flu virus study, the catechins in green tea extract inhibited the growth of the influenza virus. Studies suggest that tea also fosters the growth of "friendly" bacteria in the gut, thereby benefitting digestion. The brew inhibits the growth of Streptococcus mutans, bacterium associated with dental plaque. And finally, a recent study reported a positive correlation between 10 year habitual tea drinkers and bone density of the lumbar spine and hip regions. The protection was attributed to the fluoride and flavanoid content in the tea. There was no difference between any of the three types: green, black or oolong tea.

Tea Time Line

2737 B.C. First tea time occurs when wind blows tea leaves into water set to boil by Chinese Emperor.
729 A.D. Monks plant tea shrubs in Japan.
750 Lu Yu writes Classic of Tea, elevating tea drinking to an art.
1588 Japanese tea master RiLyu establishes seven rules for tea ceremony.
1602 Incorporation of British and Dutch East India Companies, which bring exotic new drink to the West.
1720 Samovar invented to accommodate Russians' growing tea habit.
1773 Band of upstart American colonists dump tea barrels into Boston Harbor to protest British tax on popular drink.
1904 The Louisiana Purchase Exposition introduces the tea bag.
1987 Founding of South Carolina's Charleston Tea Plantation, the only company growing tea on U.S. soil.

References:
Dufresne CJ, Farnworth ER. A review of latest research findings on the health promotion properties of tea. J. Nutri Biochem 2001; 12 (7): 404-421.

Tea Council at http://www.tea.co.uk/