High time for tea: leaves that soothe the spirit may benefit the body too - includes related article on choosing and preparing tea

Vegetarian Times, Sept, 1996 by Mark Harris

THIS IS THE SOUND of a revolution quietly brewing in the kitchens of coffeehouse has--beens: the gentle whistle of the tea kettle.

Tea time!

Now more than ever, traditionally coffee-crazed Americans are answering the call to tea. As a nation, we consumed well over 50 billion servings of tea in 1994, enough to fill 160,000 backyard swimming pools, according to the Tea Council of the U.S.A., an industry group based in New York City. Still, we're thirsty. Tea sales jumped nearly 8 percent last year, says the New York-based research company Beverage Marketing, fueled largely by a growing taste for ready-to-drink iced teas, such as Snapple.

Why tea? "Tea is a subtle experience," says Joe Simrany, president of the Tea Council. "It doesn't hit you between the eyes like coffee does." With its mellower, more subtle flavor and lower caffeine content, tea asks to be sipped, not gulped, drawing the drinker into a reflective state of calm. This meditative aspect of tea is brought to full effect in the elegant Japanese tea ceremony, which uses the elaborate ritual as meditation not unlike that practiced by Zen monks. Little wonder that tea is attracting devotees in this high-stress era.

Tea may be the balm that restores a tired spirit, but there's evidence that it may benefit the body too. A growing collection of scientific literature shows that tea may combat certain cancers, reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, lower blood pressure and enhance oral hygiene. "There's plenty of epidemiological evidence that drinking tea is good for you," says Joe Vinson, Ph.D., professor of chemistry at the University of Scranton in Scranton, Pennsylvania, who has researched the connection between tea consumption and cholesterol levels. "Based on all that evidence," Vinson says, "I'd certainly recommend that Americans drink more tea."

A BRIEF HISTORY OF TEA

THE OBJECT of scientific scrutiny is Camellio sinensis, a flowering evergreen that produces the black, green and oolong tea leaves that are steeped in tea pots around the world. Although commonly referred to as tea, brewed herbal preparations don't fit the technical definition; only that made from Camellid sinensis is truly tea. The plant is indigenous to China, where, according to legend, tea was first discovered in 2737 B.C., when the Emperor Shen Nong drank boiled water into which tea leaves had fallen. Another legend attributes tea's discovery to Dharuma, the founder of Zen Buddhism. Furious with himself for falling asleep in the middle of a nine-year meditation, Dharuma cut off his eyelids. Tea plants grew where his eyelids fell, providing a way to ward off sleep.

The popularity of the stimulating-yet-soothing brew spread rapidly throughout Asia on the strength of both its flavor and, increasingly, its reputation as a health remedy. By the eighth century, when Lu Yu wrote the Classic of Teo, the work that first elevated tea drinking to an aesthetic endeavor, the medicinal quality of tea was already well known. Listing tea's restorative powers, Lu Yu noted its effectiveness against constipation, eye strain, depression, headaches and arthritis. Among the common folk, tea's powers were legend enough to find their way into a Chinese proverb: Drink a daily cup of tea/Will surely starve the apothecary.

When British and Dutch trade brought tea to the West in the 17th century, its reputation as a curative--and cure-all--followed. Puffed one British shopkeeper who was attempting to sell customers on the new drink, "It vanquisheth heavy dreams, easeth the Brain, and strengtheneth the Memory."

SCIENCE STUDIES THE FOLKLORE

FANTASTICAL CLAIMS have been made about tea for centuries. But, as contemporary research indicates, some of them may have a basis in fact. Supporting long-touted assertions that tea is good for the heart, for instance, comes evidence that consuming tea may lower the risk of heart disease. In a study published in the Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry (November 1995), Vinson found that tea prevents LDL, or "bad" cholesterol from clogging blood vessels. What gives tea this power? "It's very high in epigallocatechin gallate, a flavonoid," says Vinson. "We found that it was by far the strongest antioxidant of the more than 30 we studied."

Vinson is quick to note that his studies were conducted in test tubes. However, epidemiological studies, which survey human populations, appear to corroborate his findings. One, a survey of more than 3,600 Japanese men and women published in the British Medical Journal (March 18, 1995), found that consumption of green tea not only decreased LDL cholesterol concentrations but also increased the levels of HDL, or "good" cholesterol. And two recent Dutch surveys found that men who regularly consumed tea suffered fewer strokes and fatal incidents of heart disease than their non-tea drinking countrymen. The high concentration of antioxidants in tea was pegged as the likely heart saver.

The evidence pointing to tea's cancer fighting ability is equally compelling. Epidemiological studies in Japan have shown that people who consume at least one cup of green tea a day exhibit lower rates of lung, stomach, esophageal and skin cancer. Researchers speculate it's because green tea is rich in catechin, which has been shown to slow cancer growth in laboratory animals, and high in certain flavonoids that attack free radicals, which may play a role in developing cancer.