Green Tea With Sugar - Recommended?

by Abdallah
(Saudi Arabia)

Is it better to drink green tea with sugar or without?

Answer:

Abdallah, there is nothing wrong with adding sugar to green tea when drinking, just bear in mind that sugar contains calories, and by adding sugar you are cancelling out the weight loss benefits of green tea.

In addition, having too much sugar may cause the body to secret too much insulin, which promotes obesity over the long term. A better option might be raw honey, as the body adapts better to honey than sugar.

But adding sugar or honey is only treating the symptom.

Adding sugar or honey may be seen as a necessity because the green tea tastes bitter or bland on its own. Green tea that tastes wrong tends to be low in benefits, as flavorful green loose-leaf tea is more likely to contain high concentrations of theanine (which has a unami taste) and catechins (which contain most of the antioxidants and have astringency taste to it).

This explains why in China and Japan, people seldom add sugar or honey to green tea. They don't have to. There is already a richness to the taste of high quality teas.

The bottom line is that if you want to benefit from drinking green tea, switch over to a high quality loose-leaf. You naturally don't have to add anything to it, as it already tastes good and feels good on its own. You will also enjoy it more.

I hope this helps.

Julian