Conscious Choice: The Gentle Power of Tea

August 2006 | Choice Eating

The Gentle Power of Tea

By Ceil Miller Bouchet

What other drink, besides water, is just plain good for you? Has a 5,000-year history? Can be combined with herbs for a more powerful punch? Or sipped straight up for a variety of health-boosting benefits?

Camellia sinesis, which you probably know as tea, is many things to many people. For me, it provided a liquid bridge to China’s people, culture and history during my four years in Shanghai. For you, tea is perhaps about health or relaxation or Asian food or hanging out with friends. But for all of us, tea has the power to affect our lives—and our health—in a positive way.

Origin Stories

As with many ancient brews, tea’s origins are cloaked in mythology and legend. Most scholars agree that the first tea trees sprouted in southwestern China at least 5,000 years ago. It was only a matter of time before some tea leaves fluttered into Divine Emperor Shen Nong’s pot of boiling water. Shen Nong, the Chinese patron saint of agriculture, experimented with the medicinal benefits of tea. And the indigenous people of this region, in present day Yunnan province, were the first to domesticate and cultivate the tea plant. Over millennia, tea culture spread throughout China, thriving in and around Buddhist temples where monks used tea to enhance their concentration during long meditation sessions. In fact, some say that the first tea bushes sprang up in the spot where Buddha, punishing himself for lustfully gazing at a comely woman, cast off his offending eyelids.

Herbal Hybrids and Mystical Brews

Tea drinkers in China and India sometimes add flowers or spices to their tea, creating a hybrid brew (think masala chai) in which the whole is more powerful than each ingredient alone. This practice of mixing tea with botanicals has thrived in the West, where herbal healing has probably been around as long as tea culture has in China.

I met Mim Enck, president of Florapharm Tea USA, a wholesale supplier of specialty teas, at the World Tea Expo in March. Enck firmly believes the role of any tea or herbal infusion is to soothe or strengthen the spirit while healing the body. “The Druids were the first Westerners, according to my research, who engaged in herbal healing,” she says. “These ancient Celtic priests, poets and healers used herbs for their mystical as well as medicinal qualities.” By 460 BC Hippocrates, known as the father of Western medicine, had prescribed scores of herbal remedies. But Enck is especially awed by Hildegard of Bingen, an 11th century herbal healer and mystic who was the first to write about the power of herbs in relation to spiritual balance. “She was a strong woman who was brave enough to scold Frederick the Great for letting the Catholic Church become corrupt,” says Enck, who highly recommends I order a copy of “Hildegard of Bingen’s Medicine” (her favorite rendition of Bingen’s 11 tomes).

Tea Today

“In our post-9/11 age, we need a place to rest and find peace,” Enck says. “It’s not an accident that tea has been revisited at this time in history. Tea calms a troubled spirit, is a beverage of celebration and also a beverage of meditation.”

We’re lingering around the Florapharm booth counter, which is laden with dozens of small bowls brimming with dried herbal tea mixtures. Definitely one of the most colorful displays I’ve seen among the 200-some exhibitors. And one of the most fragrant. I lift a bowl of black tea studded with pink rose petals. “My customers tell me this gives them the best afternoon pick-me-up,” says a hip-looking woman standing next to me. She buys Florapharm teas for her Las Vegas tea and flower shop. In fact, Enck says, rose petals can raise a weak spirit, while black tea packs a caffeine kick. (Would work well for me, I think, around four every afternoon.)

Some of the mixtures, like white tea with pineapple and corn (for sweetness and cleansing) are more exotic. But not just for the fun of it. Enck explains that Florapharm tea and herb combos are formulated by pharmacists in Germany, where pharmaceutical students are required to study herbal medicine for up to two years as part of their training.

Before getting back to her other customers, Enck shares one of her favorite Walt Whitman lines: “with every leaf a miracle.” Which brings me back to my favorite subject: tea, plain and simple.

Tea’s Powerful Benefits

Let me first point out that there should be no mystery in your mind about tea. All tea is made from some variety of the camellia sinesis plant.If it doesn’t come from camellia sinesis, it’s not tea. Primarily cultivated in China, India and Sri Lanka, the bush is usually shrub-sized, but can grow into a tree if allowed—especially in China’s southwest Yunnan province.

There are four generally accepted classes of tea: white, green, oolong and black. Although all categories start from raw camellia sinesis leaves, they are processed differently, resulting in a wide variety of leaf shapes, colors, aromas and flavors.

Whatever the color, tea contains noteworthy levels of antioxidants. The least processed teas, like white and green, contain the most antioxidants. They retain these benefits because they have been gently withered and dried immediately after picking. This halts oxidation, as the leaf’s chemical compounds haven’t been exposed to oxygen in the air. Oolong and black tea also contain antioxidants, but in lesser amounts. Various amounts of crushing, rolling and drying contribute to the unique flavor of oolong tea, which is semi-oxidized during processing. Black tea, the most highly processed of the four, is fully oxidized.

White tea has generated a lot of buzz lately. Compared to other teas, white tea is lowest in caffeine. Spiky, silvery leaves produce a straw-colored brew with a delicate, floral flavor. And new research from Pace University, presented at the World Tea Expo in March, shows that white tea has potent anti-viral and anti-bacterial properties. (Look for white-tea toothpaste, coming soon.)

Green tea is for those seeking the benefits of white tea, plus a caffeine boost. A jitter-free boost, that is. The molecular compounds in green tea, while containing caffeine, also interact to release this caffeine slowly. Plus, a tea compound called theanine helps your brain generate calming glutamic acid. That’s why most people feel steady energy for up to four hours after drinking green tea. You’ll find hundreds of varieties of green tea from China and Japan, including floral-scented greens like jasmine.

Tea enthusiasts prize Chinese and Taiwanese oolong teas for their pleasant, full flavor and aroma, ranging from nutty to floral. And Southeast Asian tea drinkers have long quaffed oolong for its supposed slimming properties.

Most Americans are familiar with black tea, which makes up 87 percent of U.S. tea consumption. Although black tea, due to extensive processing, has fewer health benefits than other teas, it’s still lower in caffeine than coffee. Plus, it’s the only brew that blends well with milk and sugar.

Taken with milk and sugar, white, green or black, combined with spices and flowers or sipped straight up, tea is just plain good for us. Tea comforts, heals, connects and energizes. But moderation is key, especially in the early morning hours. That’s when you’ll find me huddled over my daily mug. Of strong café au lait, that is. I love you, camellia sinesis. But even tea people need a mighty jolt from time to time.

Ceil Miller Bouchet is a Chicago-area writer.

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