The Best Way To Brew Tea For Brain Health and Maximum Polyphenols
Do's and don’ts for buying, brewing, and drinking tea
Hello, brain health ambassadors. The Brain Health Retreat in Puglia wrapped up a few days ago and I am on my way home. When my favorite Roman taxi driver, Aldo, arrived to take me to the airport at 6, he greeted me with a big hug. Come stai Ana?, he asked. I am sad—sono triste—I said, and surprised myself by actually tearing up. Aldo is an elegant gentleman with kind blue eyes who I met when I got to Italy a month ago. He decided that since we had plenty of time to get to the airport, he could take me on a little giro— a spin around the city to see his favorite sights. The highlight: slowly circling the Colosseum as the morning light was just starting to peek through the arches.
Italy is a special place for me because of people like Aldo and Giorgio, who introduced us to the pasta nonnas of Bari (like Rosa, below). My Italian friends are all uniquely wonderful, but they have this one thing in common: their ability to see and share the beauty that surrounds us. My bags may be stuffed with almonds, pasta, extra-virgin olive oil, and bottarga, but what I really try to bring home is this way of looking at the world. I can’t wait to come back to Italy and bring more of you with me: my next brain health retreats happen in October.
Today we are diving into part 2 of our mini-series on tea
Based on your comments on this post, I see many of you share my enthusiasm for drinking tea. That’s fantastic because tea can be very good for the brain!
Today, I hope to demystify some of the jargon around tea and give you practical buying and brewing tips. Plus, we’ll get into some of your questions like: Is kombucha actually good for you? Does green tea contain anti-nutrients? Does decaf green tea have the same health benefits? And, does tea ever go bad?
Tea, ranked by polyphenol count
As we learned from the Green MED diet study, drinking green tea can give the diet a meaningful boost in polyphenols. That translates to better brain health; the tea-drinking participants had greater brain volume overall, especially in the hippocampus. Tea doesn’t have to be green to provide polyphenols; they are present in all type of real tea. But, given that polyphenol counts aren’t listed on the label, how do you know if the tea you buy is teeming with these brain health nutrients?
Just like with other foods, we rely on published standards of polyphenol counts based on the type of tea. Seeking out carefully harvested, high-quality products is likely to give you more of these brain-boosting polyphenols..
This study gives us an idea of the polyphenol counts of different types of Chinese tea. In general, the less fermented a tea is, the more polyphenols it retains. Non-fermented teas (green, yellow, and white) retain more polyphenols than semi-fermented (oolong), and fully-fermented (black) ones. (You may not have heard of yellow tea. It’s not as commonly available outside of China.) By shopping strategically for the highest quality tea and brewing it with care, you can optimize both the enjoyment of drinking tea, as well as its brain health benefits.
Strategic tea shopping
At the grocery store, the tea selection can be extensive and overwhelming. Pick up a few boxes or tins and you’ll see many buzzwords: orange pekoe, shade-grown, fine, and natural. To find a top quality tea, look for this information on the label: