Green Tea Types and Benefits
We all know how beneficial Green Tea is for our diet. However,it should be distinctly stated that the spectrum of health benefits varies between different brands of the tea plant. This takes us to a point when different kind of Green tea should be used to accomplish different health purposes. Do you know that Sencha tea and Matcha tea are both within the same species or family of Camellia Sinensis and are both non-fermented green tea? However, the nutrition and health benefits of Sencha tea and Matcha tea are not the same!
The differences in Sencha tea and Matcha tea come from their growing environments:
Sencha tea: Is grown in full sunlight
Matcha tea :Is grown in shade
Sencha (Brewed)
Sencha can be found as loose tea leaf or tea bag. Both are to be brewed, and the tea leaves are thrown away. This tea tastes more astringent than green tea made with Sencha green tea powder.
Sencha (Powder)
Sencha powder allows you to consume the whole tea leaf when you drink the tea. Choose fine powder with dark green and fresh grassy scent. Powder is dark green. Tea made with Sencha powder has dark green color. Top quality Sencha powder tea tastes smooth and refreshing with a slight astringent aftertaste. In a gram-to-gram comparison, Sencha powder contains more antioxidants than Matcha.
Matcha
Matcha allows you to consume the whole tea leaf when you drink the tea. Choose fine powder with bright green and fresh grassy scent. Powder is bright green. Tea made with Matcha has jade green color. Top quality Matcha tea tastes smooth with creamy feeling on the tongue. No pungent aftertaste. Matcha contains more caffeine and more L-theanine, natural relaxant than Sencha powder.
Why does Sencha powder offer more Catechin antioxidants?
Sencha tea offers higher level of protection from oxidative stress than Matchatea due to high content of Catehins
Catechins, or EGCG,is a type of polyphenols, and it is believed to be responsible for green tea health benefits. When entire tea leaves are consumed, even decaffeinated Sencha green tea powder offers higher amount of Catechins or EGCG, than Matcha tea. Edible Green® Sencha green tea powder, regular or water method decaffeinated, is the tea for you, when you would like to avoid Caffeine and would like to naturally obtain the highest amount of Catechin antioxidants, or EGCG. Recently, it was shown that treating cells undergoing oxidative stress increased the viability from 12% up to 89% with water Sechta Green Tea extract and up to 131% with Sechta Green tea tincture (ethanol extract). There is a profound protective effect after treatment with Sencha Green Tea Extracts resulting in increased viability in cells undergoing oxidative stress.
Matcha offers more “Calm Alertness”, which is the benefit of Matcha, a good balance of Caffeine and L-Theanine:
When the sun exposure is less, tea leaves contain more Caffeine and L-theanine. L-theanine is a natural relaxant and is found almost exclusively in green tea. L-theanine stimulates the production of alpha waves in the brain, and is associated with relaxation and mental alertness, as well as influencing dopamine and serotonine. Unlike other calming agents, L-theanine doesn’t cause drowsiness. Grown in shade, Matcha offers more Caffeine and more L-theanine than any other type of green tea. The good balance of Caffeine and L-theanine allows Matcha to generate steady energy without the jitters or crash associated with caffeine in coffee and other “energy” drinks.
Anticancer: There is reason to believe that L-theanine may serve as an anticancer and antitumor agent. Studies have been performed with mice, with noted results of increased proliferation of healthy T cells (e.g. gamma delta T cells), suppress tumor growth, and enhance the efficacy of anticancer drugs. Moreover, it appears to mitigate various adverse physiological adverse reactions induced by anticancer drugs. The images below show the difference in proliferation (cell density) in human cancer cells between untreated (upper) and L-theanine treated (lower) samples.
Human cancer cells L-Theonine (-)
Human cancer cells L-Theonine (+)
Disclaimer: The statements enclosed in this article have not been evaluated by the FDA. There are provided for educational purposes and are not intended to diagnose, treat, or attempt to cure any diseases.