Sunday, March 1, 2009

Which is better for Gorgeous Skin? Wu Long or Wu Yi Tea?

By Caitlin Ryan

Did you know that merely drinking a few delicious mugs of tea per day can boost the quality of your skin and fight premature aging? Wu yi tea has been drunk for centuries in the Asian world and thankfully, it is finally catching on in the Western world. Its age-fighting capabilities are remarkable! It may be YOUR answer to maintaining youthful skin!

Though both wu long and wu yi tea have become popular for both weight loss and age fighting, some proponents would have you believe that one is better than the other. Is this true? Let us look at the background on both teas.

Tea begins as a plant called camellia sinensis. The tea leaves are picked at different times and then prepared in different ways. The four major teas are black tea, green tea, white tea and oolong tea and they are fermented in different ways or harvested at different times.

White tea and green tea are unfermented and considered highly nutritious, yet they have a bit of a bitter, grassy flavor. White tealeaves are picked prior to the opening of the bud making it a bit milder. Black tea is fermented for a long time and thus, it is not as nutritious as green tea; however, the flavor is more agreeable to our Western palates.

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!

Tea can be compared to wine in this manner. Though there are some lovely wines available for $50 or more a bottle, if you can purchase a $20 bottle of Shiraz that is quite enjoyable, why spend $50? At the same time, you probably would not find the same enjoyment with a bottle of Shiraz that cost $5, right? For this reason, you probably will not find a lot of wu yi tea on the supermarket shelves next to the economy packs of black tea!

Both wu yi and wu long teas contain the highly effective antioxidants capable of helping you maintain youthful skin! This is because of their ability to fight free radicals and the damage they incur on your skin and overall health. In regard to your skin, these antioxidants can stave off wrinkles and improve the tone of your skin because they fight the free radicals that cause wrinkled, sagging, fragile skin.

Antioxidants in wu yi tea are necessary for skin cell replenishment. Wu yi tea has a lovely aroma and flavor that calms the mind. - 15683

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