Black tea or green tea? Which one is the best for me?

Born in China approximately 5000 years ago, tea is nowadays the second most consumed drink after water. It is more and more popular in Europe, for its various tastes as well as for its benefits on health. It can also be a bit intimidating for novices: the vocabulary can be complicated and the ranges are so wide that it is hard to know where to begin. In this post, L'Autre Thé tries to help you finding your way around, thanks to a first step: understanding the differences between black and green teas.

Where does tea come from?

It has been first grown in China, then wider in Asia (India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka...). Tea settled in Africa from mid-19th Century. From only two varieties in the beginning, we find today not less than 1.500 different cultivars (which are the equivalent as "cépages" for wine). Even though it cannot be grown in Western Europe due to climate, Europeans became quickly fond of tea since the first Dutch trade trips in the 17th Century. It is know and drank worldwide nowadays.

Green tea, black tea: what is the difference?

They originate from the same plant, no matter what "colour" is the tea in the end. All teas come from Camellia Sinensis. It is the way the harvest is treated and manufactured that creates the differences.

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 GREEN TEA 

HIGH TEMPERATURE + ROLLING + DESICCATION

The oxydization in the fresh leaves is stopped by exposing them to high temperature (around 100°C), either with steam (Japanese way) or by roasting them (Chinese way).

The leaves are rolled and dryed again to remove water in them. This step is called "desiccation". It destroys the enzymes in charge of oxidization and prevents tea from fermenting.

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 BLACK TEA 

WITHERING + ROLLING + OXIDIZATION + DESICCATION

Harvested leaves are meant to fully oxidized if you wan to create black tea. To do so, leaves are first withered for 18 to 32h and then rolled in order to break their cells to facilitate oxidization. After a 1 to 3 hours rest, the oxidization is complete. Leaves are also desiccated for a better preservation.

Where are green teas and black teas from, which one is the most drank around the World?

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 BLACK TEA WINS 
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More black tea is made and drank than green tea if you consider the whole World. However, green tea's producing is growing faster than black tea's.

Green teas are mainly produced in Asia, but most of this production is consumed locally. Four countries are the main green tea exporters: China, Vietnam, Indonesia and Japan. Black tea farming is much more widespread: did you know that the first worldwide black tea exporter is... Kenya?

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Green tea, black tea: what are their benefits for health?

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 GREEN TEA WINS 

A cup of tea naturally contains several hundreds of substances. Tannin hosts polyphenols: they give tea its colour, its astringency, its texture and its strength. Alkaloids give also to tea several benefits. The best known is caffeine.

The fact that oxidization is stopped when green tea is manufactured allows green tea to keep more of this substances than black tea. There are some left in black tea, but significantely less than in green tea. Antioxidants, catechins, polyphenols and flavonoids are really good for health, since they fight our cells aging process and illness that can come from this phenomenon (such as cancers and neurodegenerative diseases). It is of course not a miracle cure, but there are many benefits of drinking a cup of green tea once in a while.

A few details below about tea's health benefits:

ANTI-AGEING: Polyphenols, catechins and flavonoids protect the body from ageing caused by free radicals.

BRAIN MAINTENANCE:
Epigallactocatechin 3-0, one of tea's antioxidants, helps prevent neurodegenerative diseases. It also helps maintening memory. Read the 2017 American study that highlight these benefits here.

CARDIOVASCULAR HEALTH:
Polyphenols fight our cardiovascular system's cells ageing. While expanding the blood vessels, caffeine stimules the whole system and helps the blood circulation.

CANCER PREVENTION:
According to 2014 researches Epigallocatechin 3-0 lowers the risk of developping cancer.

Beyond polyphenols and alcaloids, tea also contains:

- About twenty amino acids

- Vitamins : A, B, C, E, P, K, U...

- About thirty mieral salts (such as magnesium, calcium, iron, potassium...)

It has been used for ages in Chinese medicine to fight headaches, bad digestion and fat excess. Tea is stimulating, diuretic and antibacterial.

WHICH TEAS ARE PARTICULARLY RICH IN ANTIOXIDANTS?

1- Matcha

2- Plain green teas (Sencha, Long Jing)

3-Some First Flush Darjeeling teas

4- Bancha

5- White teas such as Paï Mu Tan

6- Pu-erh

7- Some oolong such as Dong Ding

8- Some Yunnan black teas

9- Assam tea

 

Liver, anaemia, sleep... Can green tea and/or black tea have medical contraindications?

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COMMON PRECONCEPTION #1: "We often hear that one should not drink tea before bedtime, because caffeine will prevent a good night sleep."

TRUE, no matter the colour of the tea (it has nothing to do with its caffeine rate). However, unlike coffee, tea contains tannins that inhibits caffeine effects. The more you let your tea brew, the less caffeine in tea will be strong.

For more details about caffeine in tea, read our blog post "Theine vs caffeine: same or different?"

COMMON PRECONCEPTION #2: « One of green tea's components would be harmful for liver »

SHOULD BE NUANCED Green tea naturally contains "epigallocatechin 3-gallate" (let's call it EGCG), a catechin that can be, if a very high amount is absorbed, dangerous for liver. But the huge quantities required for such an effect are no comparison with the amount of tea usually drank on a daily basis. If you drink an average 4 cups of green tea a day, there is absolutely no risks. You should however carefully use food supplement that contain green tea extracts. Most of the time, they contain large amounts of concentrated green tea, and if you use them on a regular basis, your liver can be demaged.

COMMON PRECONCEPTION #3 : « Drinking tea prevents body to uptake iron ; it can thus create anaemia »

SHOULD BE NUANCED Polyphenols and tannins in tea can restrain the absorption of iron if and only if this iron comes from plants. Tea has no effect on iron coming grom animal sources. You should be careful only if you are on a vegan or vegetarian diet. In this case, the solution is really simple: wait at least 1 to 2 hours before or after meals to drink tea.

How many cups of green tea can we drink in a day?

As mentioned above, drinking an average of 4 cups of green tea a day is totally safe. Your best quality green teas should also be infused several times, depending on their features. They will still be tasty but will contain less caffeine after the first brew.

Does green tea contain more caffeine that black tea?

DRAW

The amount of caffein in tea has nothing to do with the type/colour of tea. What matters is which part of the tea tree has been harvested (young leaves and buds contain much more caffeine that older leaves). Keep in mind that in general, plain teas, whether black or green, are richer in caffein than flaoured teas. If the tea wen through a final roast, no matter what colour it was in the first place, it will have less caffein that before the roasting process. There are of course, exceptions and nuances, please ask your tea provider for details regarding his own teas. 

Green tea vs black tea: is one of them helpful to lose weight?

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We often ear that green tea is a great help when you are on a diet. Tea in itself will not make you thinner, but the amount of caffeine it contains has an impact on your metabolism. Caffeine lessen the appetite and helps dissolving fat. The caffein strength is thus more important than the colour of the tea. A tea can also be combined with diuretic plants (such as dandelion, birch, nettle...), that will reinforce its drainings powers. However, as always, tea can only be beneficial as part of a balanced diet. 

Our advice within our range of teas: Bio Détox, Mélange minceur, a plain tea with a lot of caffein like matcha, a plain black tea with a lot of caffein, such as a first flush Darjeeling.

How to properly brew a green tea

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- With a teapot (all kinds of green teas): as a general rule, 80°C for 2 to 3 minutes (avoid boiling water, which would burn the leaves and create bitterness).

- Using a Japanese kyusu: Japanese teas give the best infused in these small traditional teapots. The same leaves should be infused several times in a row, with a water between 70 et 80°C in average. The infusion should be very short: around 1 minute for the first one, then 15 seconds in average for the next infusions.

How to properly brew a black tea

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- With a teapot (all kinds of black teas): as a general rule, 90°C during 4 minutes.

- Special cases: first flush Darjeeling teas require a softer temperature, 85°C in average.

How and how long can green tea and black tea be preserved?

To preserve your teas, no matter its colour, you should pay attention to:

- the air.  An airtight container is neeeded, otherwise air can restart the leaves oxidization and damage your tea.

- the light. Your container should be opaque. UV rays can dry the leaves out and make them lose their flavours and taste.

- the heat. Keep your container in a temperate place, with no strong temperature changes.

- the humidity. Your container must be watertight.

- smells. Keep your tea far from very fragrant ingredients (like spices for instance).

As a general rule, tea with vegetable, iodic and flowery flavour will not age well and cannot be preserved as long as woody and fruity teas. Black teas will maintain better for a longer while than green teas when preserved in the same conditions.

HOW LONG CAN TEAS BE KEPT IN PROPER PRESERVATION CONDITIONS:

*Ichibancha, first flush Darjeeling, first flush green teas...

When is the right time of the day for green tea and for black tea?

It depends on the effect you are looking for: teas can be stimulating or soothing. Green and black teas can be drank anytime:

More information:

Madame Figaro, Vrai ou Faux? Les idées reçues sur les bienfaits du thé - Ophélie Ostermann, mai 2016

Sources:

United Nations Conference on Trade and Development - TEA, an Infocomm commodity profile

FAOSTAT - Organisation des Nations Unies pour l'alimentation et l'agriculture

Camellia Sinensis - Thé, histoire, terroirs, saveurs - Les Editions de l'Homme, 2009

Also see links as text goes by for other sources (especially for medical studies concerning tea health benefits)