Twinings Tea Bags - Contain Polyphenols?

by Dianne
(Chile)

Do Twinning tea bags contain polyphenols? The only tea I've every tried are Twinings flavoured and individual green tea bags - the ones you drop in a cup.

Are there any health benefits in these tea bags? Or are they simply a waste of money?

I want to try green tea leaves for the health benefits - there are many opinions as to which brand is best.

Won't just any brand provide at least some green tea benefit?

Answer:

Dianne, the short answer to both your questions is a definitive YES.

Any type of tea, as long as it is Camelia Sinesis, whether it is tea bags, Twinnings or any other brands, will contain polyphenols and will have health benefits. They are not a waste of money!

The question is: what kinds of polyphenols do you want? AND - what is the difference between low and high quality tea?

The word polyphenols is very broad and imprecise. Scientists can't deal with it, because when they conduct research, they need to break it down into its constituents.

So far, if you are drinking tea for health benefits, the most potent part of polyphenols that has been identified is EGCG, which is found to be in the highest quantities in green tea (and possibly in white tea also, but this is me talking!).

A 2004 study conducted by UK scientists found that the highest quality green tea (i.e. traditionally those judged by tea tasters using taste, appearance and smell) also contain the highest levels of EGCG, as well as compounds such as theanine.

So, what this tell us?

This means that green tea that tastes delicately sweet without adding sweeteners, harvested using young tea shoots, such as the Longjing tea, has been shown to contain the highest amount of EGCG.

Also, because this high quality tea tends to contain more theanine, drinking it should make you feel very calm and soothing, rather than wanting to run around and feeling quite agitated.

You can read about the study here ...

Best Green Tea Secrets

Which tea do I recommend?

For maximum health benefits, I recommend drinking loose green tea, probably of the young tea shoots varieties - i.e. those made of one-bud-two-leaves or one-bud-one-leaf or single buds.

For an example of how young tea shoots look like, check out HQ's Longjing tea at

Dragon Well Tea

Which brand you choose will depend on your taste, budget and convenience.

High quality tea tastes good naturally (without sweetening and flavouring) and make you feel calm rather than agitated.

Hope this helps.