Can drinking cold brew tea help you lose weight? It turns out that these tea brewing methods are all wrong

It is said on the Internet that: "Cold brewed tea contains more catechins and tea polyphenols, which can help with weight loss." Is this true? Is it best to drink tea hot, warm, or cold for human health? Let’s hear what the nutritionist says.

The ingredients in tea include polyphenols, catechins, tannins, caffeine, theophylline, phosphorus, etc. Among them, polyphenols, catechins and caffeine have been proven in many scientific studies to have the benefits of reducing weight, lowering blood lipids and preventing cardiovascular diseases. Nutritionist You Weiming said that according to a human experiment on polyphenols and catechins, overweight and obese subjects drank a bottle of high-polyphenol and catechin beverage every day, and after 12 weeks, they lost an average of 1.6 kilograms. Mainly, catechins can stimulate the sympathetic nerves, promote the body's metabolic consumption of heat and fat oxidation and decomposition, and may also have the effect of suppressing appetite.

Green tea and yellow tea are not fermented and suitable for cold brewing.

Which tea varieties are suitable for cold brewing? There are many types of tea in Taiwan, which are generally divided into unfermented tea (green tea, yellow tea), partially fermented tea (white tea, Baozhong tea, high mountain tea, Dongding Oolong tea, Tieguanyin tea, Baihao Oolong tea), and fully fermented tea (black tea, dark tea, Pu'er tea). In terms of characteristics, the longer the fully fermented tea is soaked, the more bitter it tastes and the less tea fragrance it has, so it is not suitable for cold brewing. Unfermented tea has no bitterness and the longer it is soaked, the more fragrant it becomes, so it is more suitable for cold brewing.

If you want to extract the active ingredients from tea, it depends on the temperature, time, tea variety and usage ratio. Fermented tea is suitable for short-term hot brewing, which can produce sweet tea aroma, tea polyphenols and catechins in a short time, while unfermented tea is suitable for long-term cold brewing, which must be soaked for 12 hours to obtain the sweet tea flavor, tea polyphenols and catechins.

Cold brewed tea has lower caffeine and tannins than hot brewed tea

According to research conducted by the Tea Improvement Station of the Council of Agriculture, Executive Yuan, the longer the tea is brewed, the more caffeine and tannins are released. The caffeine and tannins in cold-brewed tea are lower than those in hot-brewed tea. Too much caffeine and tannins can easily stimulate gastric acid secretion, and excessive intake can actually damage the stomach.

If you want to take into account the health benefits of tea polyphenols and catechins, and reduce the release of excessive caffeine and tannins, cold brewing for more than 12 hours is a good choice. If you want to drink a cup of healthy tea as soon as possible, the recommended water temperature is 60℃ ~ 95℃, and the brewing time is about 3 minutes.

Drink tea at the right time. It is best to drink tea one hour after a meal.

In order to avoid upsetting your stomach, what other issues should you pay attention to when drinking tea besides the temperature? Drinking tea has many benefits, including helping to lose weight, reduce fat, prevent cardiovascular diseases, boost spirits, relieve emotions, eliminate fatigue, etc. However, drinking tea is more effective when it is consumed over time. Nutritionist You Weiming pointed out that it is best to drink tea one hour after a meal. Most people begin to feel drowsy right after a meal, mainly because the blood flows to the stomach and the brain lacks oxygen due to work, making it want to sleep. At this time, drinking a cup of tea can stimulate the central nervous system to boost spirits, while stimulating the sympathetic nerves to accelerate calorie metabolism and fat decomposition.

If you drink tea at the wrong time, it may affect your health, so we would like to remind you of the following wrong times to drink tea, including: fasting for more than 6 hours, or during meals, because the tannic acid in tea leaves will combine with the protein in food to form tannic acid protein, which hinders digestion, and drinking tea on an empty stomach will easily cause gastric acid secretion and cause stomach discomfort.