Steeping green tea over 3 minutes: is it bad for my health??

[ecaflexip]

What happens if I steep green tea for more than 3 minutes?
I really like green tea, and I drink a lot of it.
I know it has antioxidant proprieties, and anticancer functions as well.

Is it true that green tea loses those proprieties if steeped for more than 3 minutes?
Why do everyone suggests to don't steep it for more than 3 minutes?

Some people (ex: http://www.benefit-green-tea.com/green_tea_faq.htm) say it just gets stronger/bitter taste.
Some people say the longer you steep, the better the benefits.
Other times I heard that after 3 minutes it become bad for the health.

Please give me some trustworthy article/information! :)


Thanks!

[kymidwife]

My personal opinion here...

From what I understand about health benefits of tea, there's not much clear research proving any of these claims regarding cancer and such. There's even some controversy these days on whether or not anti-oxidants from any source are actually helpful at all. What we do know is that the drinking of green or other teas often replaces drinking of less healthy foods or may replace junk-food snacking, which is definitely helpful.... especially as a person's tea palate develops to drink mostly unsweetened tea without cream or sugars added.

How long you brew the green tea is ALL about how it tastes, and not related to trying to get more health benefits. Longer, hotter brews tend to lose their sweet taste and go bitter in my experience... which defeats the true purpose of drinking tea... to enjoy the experience of the flavor and aroma.

My own philosophy is.... experiment on brewing until it tastes good to you, and then drink it for the pure pleasure of the drink... and if health benefits follow, you get an added bonus. It has to be better for us than a double mocha frappa-latte-cappucino with 2 squirts of hazelnut syrup and whipped cream on top.

Sarah

[teaskeptic]

I doubt it's bad for your health other than in the indirect way of making it taste worse. Thus, you will eventually drink less of it.

[beachape]

While totally anecdotal, when in China, many people I encountered said that you shouldn't drink tea that has been steeped/left over night because it is bad for your health. No scientific basis was given of course.

[olivierco]

When you drink matcha, you absorb the leaf so I doubt it would be harmful for your health to drink oversteeped tea. You might get stomach ache though.

[Chip]

While totally anecdotal, when in China, many people I encountered said that you shouldn't drink tea that has been steeped/left over night because it is bad for your health. No scientific basis was given of course.

Chinese urban legend? Old Chinese wives' tale?

I am just not going to worry about this ... after all, the Chinese also commonly place some leaf in a glass and drink it all day long.

[beachape]

Yeah, this information comes from many of those same people who leave their tea in all day...but apparently over night is no good. Must have something to do with vampires.

I also suspect it may be a carryover from traditional sanitation measures....much like the common Chinese distrust of cold water (even if it is bottled) that I experienced as well.

[ecaflexip]

.. no one knows?

And another two questions: is it true that green tea beneficial propreties go away if the water is too hot? and that a good thing is to always soak the teabag in cold water for some seconds, before steeping it in hot water?

[ecaflexip]

PS:

this article http://www.osservatorio.granapadano.it/ ... ills02.pdf reports:
"Per non alterare parte dei principi attivi, il té verde deve essere messo in infu-
sione per non più di 2 minuti in acqua calda ma non
bollente (circa 80°C)."

This means:
to not alterate green tea benefits, it must be steep for max 2 minutes in hot (non boiling) water.

[Jack_teachat]

A little bit of advice... don't believe everything you read about tea, alot of rubbish gets written about it.

As has been said above already, you are not going to reverse or lessen any "health benefits" of green tea by over steeping it/steeping it too hot, just make it taste worse. In fact, some places tell you that over steeping is more healthy, I remember seeing one video on Youtube saying to steep sencha for 10 mins for maximum health benefits!

[Proinsias]

What happens if I steep green tea for more than 3 minutes?

I have to pour it down the drain and start again, unless I've been drinking the same leaf for a while.

It might be more palatable all round to brew the same leaves a good few times instead of trying to get it all out in one go. After many brews my green tea can eventually take boiling water for upwards of 15mins without tasting nasty.

If you're interested in getting the most out of the leaf matcha might be an idea as you are consuming the leaf itself and not just trying to leach stuff out into the water.

[Proinsias]

Also: As far as I'm aware there is no decent peer reviewed studies to show that one type of tea is any healthier than any other, eg green, black, oolong, etc. Or that preparation methods make any difference.

Take anything you read about the health benefits of tea the same way people used to drink tea, with a pinch of salt.

[Ascended]

I have been drinking loose leaf tea for 8 years. As you all may have guessed, I have refined my methods many times and I do vary them to keep things interesting.

I will quite often steep for 15 minutes at times. The tea does get stronger and slightly more bitter. I add lots of raw ginger and turmeric sometimes to my tea strainer so the bitter taste is just fine alongside that. Even without ginger, I have developed a taste for long steeped tea. I never add sugar, I only use honey, but I don't use honey every time. Hope that helped!

[Ascended]

I have been drinking loose leaf tea for 8 years. As you all may have guessed, I have refined my methods many times and I do vary them to keep things interesting.

I will quite often steep for 15 minutes at times. The tea does get stronger and slightly more bitter. I add lots of raw ginger and turmeric sometimes to my tea strainer so the bitter taste is just fine alongside that. Even without ginger, I have developed a taste for long steeped tea. I never add sugar, I only use honey, but I don't use honey every time. Hope that helped!

[Bensmerud]

I have been drinking tea for 10 years and I usually fill up my Yeti mug with
As hot of water that I can. I throw in a bag of English Breakfast and sip on until noon. Depending upon how my day is going I will just add water at noon and drink watered down tea the rest of the day or if I am falling asleep I add a tea bag and soak two of them. Right when I was breaking my soda addiction I flirted with 3 tea bags but I started seeing ghosts! (Just kidding, I actually started getting bad heart burn). I do notice the bitter taste with green tea but Black tea tastes great all day long! #nevergothreebags