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I get that question a lot. I don't know what started me to get on green tea. I can say that I was a heavy drinker of a milked up sugary version of orange pekoe from Red Rose. I would drink about 2 mug fulls almost everyday. I had tried herbal teas before, when they came as part of a dinner package from one of the many local Chinese buffets, but I can't say that I had any test for it.

Now, I started this project almost 4 weeks ago, and to be honest, I had a head start on the herbal tea drinking. My wife had gotten into it about a year ago, so we always had a few bags around. I started looking it the benefits since I was worried about my diet with my high cholesterol results. I wanted any advantage I could get, since I just loved butter and eggs too much to give it up. While I had some chamomile tea at home already, I decided to start with Green Tea. I had some and didn't mind it too much in the past, and wanted something that I could drink without sugar. Checking around on the Internet, I had found that green tea can help with the following: cancer, arthritis, lower cholesterol, cardiovascular disease, infection, and improve your immune system. Other benefits include helping to burn calories and reduce tooth decay. While the amount of green tea that needs to be consumed in order to capatise on those benefits seem to vary from specialist to specialist, it is around 3-4 cups per day.

see more here: http://chinesefood.about.com/library/weekly/aa011400a.htm

Next was black tea. I like variety and didn't want to just be stuck drinking the highly tannic green the rest of my life, so I started looking into the benefits of black tea. I found that black tea also can reduce the risk of stroke or heart attack and coronary heart disease. It can also lower bad cholesterol but like Green Tea, only if consumed approx 4 cups a day. Black tea is also found to have trace amounts of various nutrients such as the amino acid theanine; the minerals calcium, magnesium, manganese and potassium; and the vitamins C and K. I really like a Vanilla flavored black tea, as it helps to add a little variety to make it to 4 cups a day.

http://chinesefood.about.com/library/weekly/aa021103a.htm

While in Disney, I happened to try some red, or Rooibos tea and found that I really liked it. I had started to get used to be able to actually taste the different flavors in tea, and enjoy them. I also happened to like the fact that Red Tea is actually African.

http://www.webmd.com/content/article/14/1671_52295.htm

http://www.biomed.cas.cz/physiolres/pdf/2003/52_461.pdf

I am now starting to look into White tea. From what I have read, white tea seems to have all the same benefits as green tea, but in higher concentration. I have not had the chance to drink any yet, and am looking forward to it. Here is a good article I found: http://www.asm.org/Media/index.asp?bid=27462 and

http://oregonstate.edu/dept/ncs/newsarch/2003/Mar03/tea.htm

Tea is gaining in popularity, as the health industry has moved beyond Richard Simmons and into the mainstream, and with so many varieties, it is sure to bring out the connoisseur in all of us.