Why are green tea extracts better than regular tea bags?
A. Extracts concentrate the beneficial compounds in tea, delivering more benefit per serving. One gram of dried green tea leaves contains up to 10 percent polyphenols. That gram of tea, placed in a tea bag, has polyphenols dissolution rate of 30 percent, which means that only 30 percent (less than one third) of the beneficial components fully dissolve and are available. The result: once brewed, a typical cup of green tea has just 30 to 60 milligrams of polyphenols. And 150 to 300 milligrams of polyphenols are needed for maximum health benefits, which mean that a person needs to drink four to six cups of green tea every day. While people in China and other Pacific Rim countries regularly drink this much, most Americans don’t or won’t.
