Archive for April, 2007

Green tea has anti-HIV effect in test tube

Posted by Admin in Tea Health Benefits on April 30th, 2007

By Keith Alcorn

An ingredient in green tea may reduce HIV binding to human CD4 cells by approximately 40% within an hour of drinking two to three cups of green tea, according to a test tube study conducted at the University of Sheffield, England, published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. However further research will be needed to show whether drinking green tea protects against HIV infection or disease progression.

Green tea has long been promoted for its health-giving properties, and recent research has shown that it contains flavonoids with anti-bacterial, anti-tumour and anti-viral effects in the test tube. Several studies have now demonstrated that derivatives of a flavonoid in green tea can reduce HIV replication in the test tube, and that epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), the main flavonoid in green tea, can occupy the CD4 receptor on CD4+ lymphocytes and prevent HIV’s gp120 protein from binding to the receptor.

The latest study, conducted by Professor Mike Williamson, from the Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology at the University of Sheffield, and colleagues from the Baylor College of Medicine in Texas, shows that EGCG can prevent HIV from binding to the CD4 receptor at levels that are “physiologically relevant” – that is, estimated to reflect the levels of the flavonoid that would be achieved after drinking a few cups of green tea.

Read the rest of this entry »

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The Role of Stress in Tea Growth and Manufacture

Posted by Admin in General Tea News, Tea Culture / Ceremony on April 30th, 2007

CHA DAO

by SANWAR M. CHANGOIWALA

Stresses & Their Relation to Flavour

Let us have a look at some of the factors observed by tea planters that give more flavorful tea.

High-elevation tea bushes give more flavour
Non-fertilised tea bushes give more flavour
Tea bushes on rocky soils give more flavour
A slow-growth period gives more flavour than a free-flush period
Frost-damaged tea leaves give more flavour. Tea bushes affected by frost injury, have metabolites such as pyruvate, acetaldehyde, and ethanol accumulated in the leaves of tea manufactured from frost injury leaves gives better flavour
Insect-damaged flush in general gives more flavour
Droughty conditions give more flavour

Stress Exerted on the Tea Leaf

My professional training in engineering led me to surmise that the common factor in all the situations listed above is stress. The stress exerted on a tea leaf can be of various types, as follows: Read the rest of this entry »

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XS Energy Drink Review – Tea Berry Blast

Posted by Admin in Tea Product News on April 30th, 2007

Energy Drink Ratings

By Justin(Justin)

Cost: $1.99
Cost Per Ounce: $0.25
Active Ingredients: Green & Black Tea extract (caffeine??), Ginseng, B-Vitamins
Taste Rating: 8.8
Kick Rating: 8.7
Final Judgment Rating: 8.8

XS Energy Drink Review – Tea Berry Blast
As I stated on Sunday I was fortunate enough to receive a variety of the XS Energy Drinks. On Sunday I reviewed the 1st one, the XS Energy Drink – Cola Blast and I was more than happy with the results. In fact I was so happy I decided to give the XS Energy Drink – Tea Berry Blast a try earlier than I had originally planned. Instead of doing the review later in the week I thought today would be a good day to review the Tea Berry Blast drink.

XS Energy Drink Review – Tea Berry Blast: Taste
Tea Berry blast is not carbonated, only contains 12 calories and has one gram of carbs as it uses artificial sweeteners (acesulfame potassium & sucralose). Two of the main ingredients are green tea extract and black tea extract. As I have stated in other reviews, I am usually not fond of tea based drinks, but I have grown an acquired taste for them. Well the XS Tea Berry Blast was no exception. This has a very light green tea flavor with a nice base of raspberry flavoring. This combination made for a very refreshing flavor. I was actually disappointed when the 8.4 ounce was gone. I wish they made this in a larger can, the flavor was that refreshing and had no medicinal after taste at all. Taste Rating = 8.8!

XS Energy Drink Review – Tea Berry Blast: Kick
Well the main energy ingredients seem to come from the B-Vitamins and the Green Tea and Black Tea extract. There is also some Ginseng listed on the ingredient list as well. The can itself recommends against the consumption of this beverage if you are sensitive to caffeine. However, I do not see caffeine listed anywhere on the ingredient list? So is there caffeine in this drink, does it come from the Green & Black tea extract? I have no idea. The kick I received was pretty good. No sugar, no jitters. The delivery of the energy seemed a little slower, probably because of the lack of sugar, but overall the drink accomplished what it was supposed to! Kick Rating 8.7!

XS Energy Drink Review – Tea Berry Blast: Final Judgment
Well my only complaint for this drink seems to be that it is only 8.4 ounces. The taste is very refreshing and goes down smooth. The kick, although not outstanding is very pleasing! Combine that with the fact that it only has 12 calories and 1 carb and you have yourself a pretty well done energy drink. Kudos to XS. Final Judgment – 8.8!

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Fancy A Nice Cup Of Dust?

Posted by Admin in General Tea News, Tea Industry News, Tea Product News on April 30th, 2007

Glasgow Daily Record – Glasgow, Scotland, UK

EXPERTS TAKE POT SHOTS AT SUPERMARKET TEA
By Paula Murray

WE MAY be a nation of tea drinkers but experts reckon Brits buy some of the world’s worst quality brews.

They slammed the cheapest varieties, such as some supermarket own brands, as little more than dust and powder.

Supermarket cut-price teas – such as Tesco and Asda, whose 80 teabags cost just 29p – were singled out for the most damning verdicts.

Food and drink taster Martin Isark fumed over Asda Smartprice tea: “Cabbage water tastes better.

“Even 29p for these tea bags is outrageous – 1p would be too much.

“It is dust and powder which cannot deliver anything that resembles the taste of tea. It is just the waste from the tea process.

“We may be a nation of tea drinkers, but we drink some of the worst tea in the world.

“Poor quality tea is a rip-off, whatever the price.”

Isark added that the worst tasting tea was disguised by adding milk which overpowers the flavour.

In other countries where they do not add milk, Britain’s cheaper brews would not be tolerated, he claimed.

In his book Supermarket Own Brand Guide, Isark said the main problem is tea drinkers’ impatience.

He explained: “Britons require an instant cuppa, browning quickly and colouring well with milk.

“The best tea at adding colour is the worst quality – dust or powder – and, without milk, the bitter dusty taste is undrinkable.”

Many experts would like to see shoppers treat tea like wine – paying more for better blends.

If 80 teabags cost 29p, their retail value is around £1.20 a kilo while the finest teas trade for £200 a kilo and upwards.

Tea taster and buyer Edward Eisler added: “If tea drinkers are prepared to trade up from the mass produced teas, they will find tea that has similar multi-layered complexity to a fine wine.”

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Tasters savour south Indian tea at Cochin competition

Posted by Admin in Tea Industry News on April 30th, 2007

DailyIndia.com – Jacksonville, FL, USA

Cochin (Kerala): South India based tea-leaf processors made a beeline as the world’s renowned tasters put the decoctions to test.

Tasters said, south Indian tea is just as good as the best anywhere, at a tea tasting competition held recently here.

Tea planters from Nilgiri, Travancore, Kanyakumari, Wayanad and Thiruvananthapuram participated in the competition organised by the Golden Leaf Company and the Tea Board of India.

The delegates and judges got to taste tea varying from CTC (Crush, Twist, Crumple), Orthodox, Orthodox Organic to Sannings, Broken and Green teas.

Judges sipped and turned the blend in their mouth and even checked the texture of the different varieties of processed tea granules at Cochin’s Bolghatty Palace.

“We came here to learn about south Indian teas because we know Darjeeling and Assam teas very well and so little of south Indian teas. This competition will give more visibility in future to the south Indian teas. So it will be very interesting to promote south Indian teas in our hotels in the future,” said Armando, a tea taster judge from Switzerland.

“Yes, of course the south Indian tea is different. It has a big potential to improve. Some teas are comparable in quality with north India and some teas of some other origins. And we just hope it will improve further to make it more interesting to the international tea community,” said Alexei Shwetzov, a tea taster from Russia. Read the rest of this entry »

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Professor testing tea benefits

Posted by Admin in Tea Health Benefits on April 30th, 2007

Daily O’Collegian – Stillwater, OK, USA

Whitney Presley

An assistant professor at OSU is conducting a study to determine whether green tea beverages or supplements can reduce body fat and prevent health problems.

Arpita Basu said foods that are high in antioxidants, such as green tea, may prevent or delay the development of diabetes, cancer and other health problems.

Misti Leyva, director of nutritional research at Oklahoma University Health Sciences, said the findings from the research in this study could be expanded and lead to further research of green tea and its benefits.

The study is in Oklahoma City at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center.

The study aims to analyze the effects of green tea beverages versus green tea extracts. It will also determine whether the green tea causes any difference in body fat composition, blood glucose levels or lipid levels among the participants, according to Basu’s research protocol. Read the rest of this entry »

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Steamed Fish in Jasmine Tea

Posted by Admin in Tea Recipes on April 30th, 2007

teamsugar

By Genie

I am thinking of cooking this for Sunday dinner! My girlfriends after coming over after our shopping trip tomorrow noon. I am gonna use cod fish and my pearl jasmine tea.

Source: http://www.teacuppa.com/tealibrary.asp?id=12&r=7

Ingredients

200g fish fillet
1 rice bowlful of brewed Jasmine tea
120g minced pickles
A pinch of minced garlic
A pinch of broken Jasmine tea leaves
Oil – to taste
Soy sauce – to taste
Salt – to taste
Sugar – to taste
Optional: Choice of fish fillet depends on individual taste.

Method

Add soy sauce, salt and sugar to the brewed tea and mix thoroughly.
Pour half a rice bowful of brewed tea onto a plate, spread fish fillet on, add a pinch of Jasmine tea leaves and steam for about 8 minutes.
Heat the wok, fry pickles, garlic and Jasmine tea leaves in oil.
Keep the steamed fish, pour away the remaining soup. Then pour the rest of the tea mixture over sprinkle fried pickles, garlic and fried piece Jasmine tea leaves to serve.

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$14,000 for a handful of green tea!

Posted by Admin in General Tea News, Tea Culture / Ceremony on April 30th, 2007

Spluch

The 2007 green tea spring harvest is in the town – and a Chinese man pays US $14,000 for just 200 grams of tea leaves during an auction in the International Tea Expo Exhibition held in West Lake, or Xi Hu, in Zhejiang Province, China.

According to the Chinese state news agency Xinhua, a Chinese man recently paid US $14,000 for just 200 grams of West Lake Dragonwell Tea, also known as Long Jing Tea.

Traditionally, Spring is the time of the year when the highest grade green tea is harvested and sold, and the Dragonwell tea produced in West Lake is the most esteemed of all Chinese green tea.

According to a local expert, one kilogram of Dragonwell tea costs 5 Yuans in the 70s. Now, one kilogram of high grade Dragonwell tea costs 6,000 Yuans or 800 US dollars, which doesn’t come cheap.

Green tea is good for health, but is the Dragonwell Tea a little on the expensive side?

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Tea sector records improved production

Posted by Admin in Tea Industry News on April 30th, 2007

Capital FM – Nairobi, Kenya

By Charity Katago

The tea industry has recorded improved performance with production for the month of February 2007 reaching 34.8 million kilograms compared with 11.6 million kilograms recorded during the corresponding month last year.

Tea Board managing director Sicily Kariuki said this reflects an increase of 198 percent.

Kariuki attributes the increased output to favourable weather conditions characterized by well distributed rainfall experienced in tea growing areas.

She said as was the case in January 2007, West of Rift recorded the highest increase in tea production with output rising by 313 percent to 19.0 million Kilograms from 4.6 million Kilograms recorded in February 2006.

Kariuki said east of Rift registered a production increase of 123 percent to 15.8 million kilograms from 7.0 million kilograms recorded during the same month last year.

She said the smallholder sub-sector accounted for 64 percent of the total output (22.4 million kilograms) while the Estate sub-sector accounted for 36 percent (12.4 million kilograms).

Kariuki said production for the month of March is expected to increase further following the onset of the long rains season.

Due to increased production, the volume of tea export increased by 28 percent to 31.8 million kilograms from 24.7 million kilograms registered in February 2006.

However, the average export unit price declined by 11 percent to Sh128 per kilograms compared with Sh144 (USD 2.01) recorded during the same month last year.

Kariuki said Pakistan was the leading export destination for Kenya tea accounting for 24 percent of the total export volume.

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Iced Mint Tea

Posted by Admin in Tea Recipes on April 30th, 2007

teamsugar

Makes 4 servings
Original recipe from VegCooking.com.

Ingredients:

5 cups water
2 tsp. ordinary black or Darjeeling tea leaves (2 tea bags)
1/4 cup sugar, to taste
1 cup chopped fresh mint leaves
2 Tbsp. lemon juice, or to taste
1 tsp. lemon rind
1 tsp. orange rind
1 cup crushed ice
4 slices lemon
4 slices orange
4 fresh mint sprigs

Boil 1 cup water and brew the tea in it for a minute.
Remove from heat, add the sugar and mint leaves, and let cool.
When cold, add more water, lemon juice, lemon rind, and orange rind. Mix well and taste to adjust the sweetness. Refrigerate until chilled.
To serve, pour into tall glasses with crushed ice and a lemon slice, an orange slice, and a mint sprig floating on the top.

*Please note the image above is not a photo of this recipe*

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