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Is Wu Long or Wu Yi Tea YOUR Fountain of Youth?
Posted on March 1, 2009, by Caitlin Ryan, under Weight Loss.
Maybe you have been searching for the fountain of youth to restore your gorgeous looks and prevent any further damage from aging. Actually, the Chinese have known about a potential fountain for centuries. Oolong tea has some wonderful age-fighting abilities, and a few lovely mugs a day may help you maintain your youth or undo the damage already done!
Wu long and wu yi tea varietals have become all the rage in both the weight loss and age-fighting arenas. Both teas are highly beneficial in improving overall health, but is one better than the other? To answer this question, let us look at the origin of tea.
Tea is born from Camellia sinensis, but then processed in different ways after harvest. Green tea, white tea, oolong tea and black tea are the main types of tea.
Unfermented teas are green tea and white tea. White tealeaves are harvested before the bud opens making it a bit milder than green tea, but both teas are relatively grassy tasting and a bit bitter. The tea we are most familiar with is black tea which is flavorful, but the leaves are highly fermented and thus, not as nutritious as green tea or white tea.
Oolong tea is fermented for a short time. Because the process is shorter, oolong tea is still highly nutritious, but the fermenting process makes the tea milder in aroma and flavor. Wu long and wu yi tea are both oolong teas. Wu long tealeaves are harvested during the first cycle of leaf growth on the tea plant. The plant is then allowed to regenerate for more cycles of growth and harvest.
For this reason, many tea connoisseurs believe that wu long tea is superior. The tea is higher in price (usually) then wu yi tea, but wu yi tea has the same age-fighting, health-boosting capabilities than wu long tea has, and the flavor differences are so subtle that most people would not really notice. I say, save a few dollars!
In a way, choosing between wu yi and wu long tea is like choosing between a $20 bottle of red wine and a $50 bottle. Will the $50 be so good that it is worth the extra $30? Probably not. Personally, I would rather save the money by buying wu yi tea because the taste differences are not that remarkable. At the same time, you are not likely to find wu yi tea next to the cheap, econo-sized teas at the market. These could be compared to the $5 bottles of Shiraz.
It does not matter whether it is wu yi or wu long tea when it comes to fighting free radicals and preventing premature aging. Tea contains highly powerful antioxidants that improve your skin health by eliminating free radicals and the damage they incur. For this reason, your skin will remain youthful for far longer when free radicals are not able to break down collagen and cause wrinkling, sagging skin.
Wu yi tea is also important for the regeneration of skin cells. Enjoying a mug of wu yi tea can calm your body.
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