What tea actually does
An honest summary: tea is a pleasant, low-calorie drink with mild effects. Most of the extraordinary claims are marketing.
Tea contains caffeine, L-theanine and polyphenols. The combination of caffeine and L-theanine produces a calmer, more sustained alertness than coffee for many people, which is the most reliable effect and the reason China has drunk it for two thousand years.
Green and white teas contain more catechins, and pu-erh contains compounds produced by fermentation that are being studied for metabolic effects. The research is genuinely interesting and genuinely incomplete. Anyone promising you a specific medical outcome from tea is selling something.
The practical advice: tea is hydrating, contains negligible calories without sugar, and is a far better habit than most alternatives. Drink what you enjoy, in the amount that feels good, and be sceptical of anyone who tells you it will cure something.
Pick a tea and brew it tonight
Every product page carries its own gaiwan and Western parameters, so you never have to guess.
Keep reading
How to brew gongfu style
More leaf, less water, shorter steeps, many infusions. The Chinese method that gets the most out of a tea — and is far more forgiving than it looks.
GreenWater and temperature
The single biggest reason people think they dislike green tea is water that is 20 degrees too hot.
Pu-erhStoring tea properly
Tea is a dried leaf that wants to reabsorb the world around it. Four rules keep it tasting like itself.