Caffeine in tea vs. caffeine in coffee: What's the difference?
Kuya Kim Atienza recently dropped by a tea house named just that, Tea House, in an episode of Mars Pa More, and its owner Ralph Tan, prepared an oolong tea for him and shared some fun facts about tea.
One of the amazing things that Ralph shared is how they serve their tea. Apparently, it involves multiple steps, unlike when we consume tea sold in tea bags.
The first step is to pre-heat the tea vessel by pouring hot water into it. Ideally, you should use only one tea vessel or clay pot for one kind of tea.
Next step is to pour the hot water from the clay pot onto the tea tray that has a drain.
Put the dried leaves inside the clay pot, pre-wash it with hot water, then drain again. Ralph says this is important to get rid of particulates like dust.
After which, you may now pour hot water onto the clay pot with oolong tea leaves and enjoy it.
Kuya Kim samples the oolong tea prepared by Ralph Tan / Source: Mars Pa More
Aside from how to properly prepare oolong tea, Ralph, who's also the founder of Jacob's Well Artisanal Food Supply, shared a very interesting fact about tea.
He confirmed that tea indeed has caffeine, however, he emphasized that the effect of caffeine from tea on our bodies is different from the effect of caffeine from coffee.
“Ang tea, yes, it does contain caffeine pero ang kinaibahan niya sa caffeine in coffee may tinatawag tayong L Theanine,” Ralph clarified.
“L Theanine is an amino acid that times the release of the caffeine sa body mo. You're alert for a prolonged duration,” he explained.
Then Kuya Kim said, “Ah, so, hindi spike ang nararanasan mo. Dahan-dahan ang pagiging hyper mo.”
Aside from alertness in a controlled duration, tea is also beneficial for our health because it is high in antioxidants and has anti-inflammatory properties.
Interesting, right? Now, we have more reasons to drink tea. Watch Kuya Kim's visit to the said tea house in the Mars Pa More video above.
If the video above is not loading properly, you may watch it HERE instead.
For more features like this, tune in to Mars Pa More from Monday to Friday, at 8:45 a.m. on GMA.
Viewers abroad can also watch Mars Pa More via GMA's flagship international channel, GMA Pinoy TV. For the program guide, visit www.gmapinoytv.com.
