Oolong Tea Vs Green Tea

As he drifted into a deep abyss of sleep, a cold and calm voice spoke to him about the great things he is supposed to do. Suddenly, the voice sounded angry and disappointed, it was reprimanding him for shirking his responsibilities. It told him to awaken from the labyrinth of dreams and search for his moksa. It was then, Sidhartha, opened his eyes to find himself slumbering under a banyan tree. He shook his head and vowed that he won't sleep until his quest for God is realized. But it was easier said than done. Everyday, he struggled to keep his eyelids open and escape from the drowsy lures of the sleep, but in vain. His frustration grew day by day and then one day came, he became so furious with his incapability to remain awake, that he took a knife and cut his eyelids off. He threw these amputated flesh on the ground. It is believed that those eyelids grew into the first tea plant. Siddartha, later known as Lord Buddha, was the first person to drink tea. His teachings along with this miraculous plant was spread from India to China and to the rest of the world. Now tea, a steamy aromatic beverage is a delight without which life is unfathomable. - Indian legend about the origin of tea.

How Would You Like Your Tea
The above story is just one of the myths about the origin of the wonder drink called tea, there are numerous more in Chinese, Japanese and other folklores. One question which often comes up during chats and gatherings with friends is: How would you like your tea? It might be the black tea, which makes you go through the day. Some people, with sweet tooth, like their tea with milk and lots of sugar. There are health-conscious folks who may go for herbal tea or lemon tea or white tea. Whatever our choice may be, we tea lovers confess our craving for this beverage. Some claim that drinking tea is good for the body, although studies have proved that tea consumption does adversely affect our body. So are you in a dilemma to choose health over one cup of pure bliss? Don't work up your gray cells because you can focus on your health with the cups of tea rolling in too. All you have to do is to choose a healthier form of tea, which can work wonders for your body. My recommendation is, have either green tea or oolong tea.

Green Tea
It was serendipitous discovery of a Chinese monk, who was the first acclaimed green tea drinker and responsible for its popularity. Green tea, is derived from the tea plant Camellia sinensis, where the leaves of the tea plant are dried and fermented to get the desired quality and flavor. Fermentation of the tea leaves is the key process, which decides upon the type of tea, it's going to develop into. For instance, black tea is made up of highly fermented leaves. The tea leaves has a constituent called polyphenols, which results in the formation of antioxidants in our body. The more the leaves are fermented, the less amount of polyphenols are present in the leaves. Therefore, fermentation of tea leaves leads to depletion of polyphenols. Green tea is first steamed and then fermented, and hence, retains the useful polyphenols and is beneficial to the body. Green tea is considered to have many medicinal properties too. It's most known and revered quality being its stimulant affect. It also contains a special component called Epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), which is polyphenol in nature and helps repair the damaged cells in the body and fights the toxins. Japanese, known to be fervent drinkers of green tea, carry less risk of heart attack compared to other tea drinkers according to a study.

Oolong Tea
Another popular tea, which is ardently drank around the world, is oolong tea. Oolong tea is different from green and black tea in the respect that it is partially fermented and then dried. There are forms of oolong tea available, one which has curly leaves and the other leaves are made into ball like shape during production. Oolong tea which literally translates into the word 'black dragon', contains anti-aging properties and also aids in weight loss. Just like green tea, it also has polyphenols which acts as an anti-oxidant in the body.

Oolong Tea or Green Tea?
Here are some points jotted down in favor of green tea and oolong tea, which may help you understand the difference between oolong tea and green tea.

1. As green tea is the unoxidized form of tea leaves, it contains more polyphenols than oolong tea and hence, has more antioxidants.
2. The fermentation process in the leaves of tea destroys the polyphenols and enhances the caffeine. Black tea has the maximum content of caffeine than oolong, whereas green tea has the minimum.
3. Oolong leaves are wilted during production than quickly fired for oxidation. Thus, the components like polyphenols are not completely damaged. On the contrary, green is processed without the wilting stage and only dried. Thus retaining most of its polyphenols.
4. Fermentation is an important stage in the tea production, as it adds taste to the leaves. Black tea, highly fermented is tastier than other teas including oolong tea. Green tea is known to be bitter in taste and is also known to have anti- aging and anti-obesity properties. Though, oolong tea also has the same properties, it is less effective than green tea.
5. Studies have found that oolong tea can lead to more weight loss than green tea, though the results of such studies are debatable.
6. ECGC, an antioxidant rich polyphenol, is more in green tea than oolong tea. It has around 50% of ECGC content of green tea.

Coming to an end of the debate: oolong tea vs green tea, we can surmise that green tea holds the edge over oolong tea, regarding the health benefits and medicinal properties. Whereas oolong tea clearly wins the race in the taste department. So we can conclude that green tea may not be everyone's cup of tea, but it surely can help you to regain your falling health and instill vitality in the body. Those who want to gain health benefits, but don't prefer to sip bitter concoctions everyday, can choose oolong tea over green tea.

At last, I am ending with a quote from a tea lover, who got it right when he said, "If you are cold, tea will warm you; If you are too heated, it will cool you; If you are depressed, it will cheer you; If you are excited, it will calm you." - Gladstone (1865) Victorian British Prime Minister.