As a medicinal drink, tea must have originated in China in the 16th century. Later, Great Brittan had embraced it who introduced tea to India to compete with the Chinese monopoly on tea. Thanks to its positive health benefits, tea became more and more popular. It is a proven fact that green tea can resist the risk of cardiovascular disease, certain forms of cancer, promote oral health, reduce blood pressure, help with weight control, improve antibacterial and antivirus activity and increase bone mineral density. It may also reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease and diabetes.
Tea is rich in antioxidants called flavanoids (group of oxygen containing aromatic antioxidant compounds that includes many common pigments). This is why it makes sense that we maximize the power of its flavanoids notwithstanding the variety of tea at our disposal on food stores. Our organism will benefit a lot by drinking it freshly brewed. If you want to keep a container of cold tea in your refrigerator, add a little lemon juice to it – lime or orange will help preserve the flavanoids. One cup of tea contains 14-18 mg of Thiamine (water-soluble vitamin of the B complex). Drinking 2 to 3 servings of brewed tea throughout the day helps maintain alertness, tea contains less caffeine compared to coffee. As a matter of medical fact, a healthy adult should aim to drink two litres of fluids every day.
Let us now have a look at health benefits given by various sorts of tea:
- Green Tea made with steamed tea leaves might be used for weight loss and for treating stomach disorders, vomiting, diarrheal, headaches, bone loss, and solid tumours. Green tea is also used for Cohn’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, diseases of heart and blood vessels, diabetes, low blood pressure chronic fatigue, dental cavities, kidney stones and skin damage.?     
- Black Tea made with fermented tea leaves may protect lungs from damage caused by exposure to cigarette smoke, reducing the risk of stroke, brain injury and hearing loss. If we drink black tea that is pure and plain, and without the addition of sweeteners, we are drinking a tea that is ultra low in sodium, fat and calories.
- White Tea is the least processed tea and has the highest antioxidant levels which can thin the blood and improve artery function. It helps lower high blood pressure.
- Oolong Tea can lower bad cholesterol, prevent obesity, fight aging of skin, prevent  heart disease and cancer, reducing high blood pressure , strengthening teeth and prevent tooth decay, relieving physical and mental stress, improve brain power and lowering sugar in blood
- Pur-erh Tea works to stimulate the central nervous system, blood vessels, heart, and muscles, inhibits the formation and growth of cancer cells, aids in the proper digestion of food, and helps remove toxins, defeats aches and pains.
There are a few similarities and differences in tea drinking habits of various nations. For example, Egypt is one of the world’s largest importers of tea, and most people there drink daily several cups of strongly brewed and heavily sweetened black tea. The English habit of afternoon tea-imbibing is also very well known. In Turkey, streets are simply strewn with so called ‘chai-khanas’ where aromatic black tea is served in special glasses with small lumps of sugar on the side.
I am personally a faithful tea lover. I always have various types of tea at home, I recommend everybody to buy a lot of tea, and day by day, drink different kinds of them. After a few days, you will feel change in your life.