Leaf Teas
All teas originate in a leaf form. Most tea leaves are ground and made into the type of tea that you usually purchase prepackaged in a tea bag. Leaf Teas are different. Once the tea leaves are harvested from the plant they are sorted by overall quality. The lower quality teas are used for mass product packaging and distribution. The higher quality teas are processed and prepared as leaf teas, also known as loose leaf teas.
When you drink tea made with loose leaf teas you normally use some type of tea infuser to brew the tea. The tea infuser can be small enough to brew a single cup of tea or large enough to brew an entire pot of tea. Loose leaf teas are the purists method of brewing and preparing tea to drink. There are specific loose leaf teas that cater to every kind of taste and occasion.
Every type of tea, even specialty teas like oolong, white, and green teas are available as a leaf tea. White tea is known for is subtle flavor and sweet undertones. White tea is a specialty tea that is very high in antioxidants but naturally low in caffeine. Some even believe that white tea has qualities that help the drinker to fight off cancer. In spite of the health claims of white tea, green tea has medical claims that have been studied and proven over the years.
Green tea is attributed with increasing the metabolism and even aiding in weight loss. Even the United States National Institutes for Health agree that green tea does have some qualities that boost metabolism. The antioxidants in green tea known as polyphenols are credited with giving the green tea many of its other health benefits. If it is polyphenols you are after, you may want to select an oolong leaf tea. Oolong has all of the qualities of the green tea but with substantially more polyphenols. Oolong tea has been shown to decrease the concentration of fat in the body's of those that participated in oolong tea studies.
Even though these are just a few of the specialty teas. Tea itself has a lot of beneficial health qualities from the reduction of risk of heart disease to the calming effect of many herbal leaf teas. All of these teas are delicious and great to drink on an occasion with others or simply to relax alone. The reason you buy the tea as a leaf tea instead as in prepackaged bags is because of quality. When leaves are sorted it is only the highest quality that are sold as leaf teas.
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