If you haven’t heard it yet, green tea offers a wide range of health benefits. One of the reasons that green tea is generally better than black tea is the way it is processed. Both varieties come from the same plant, but black tea is fermented, while green tea is easily dried. This allows it to retain much more of its naturally occurring compounds. Then there is organic green tea, which uses no chemical fertilizers or pesticides. In theory that makes it even better for you, and people who drink it say it has a more fresh and aromatic quality than the normal type.

Although the use of strictly organic green tea goes back before written history (everything was organic back then, right?), It can go back more than a hundred thousand years. There is no doubt that the medicinal effects of the plant were already known to people in China long before scientists and medical researchers started looking at it. One of the earliest known uses of tea – apart from a drink – was the treatment of wounds and the control of bleeding.

These ancient cultures did not understand the chemistry of tea leaves, but they could still see its positive effects on their health. Nowadays scientists know much more about what drives tea. To be one of the most important compounds in green tea are catechin polyphenols, an antioxidant that packs a wallop. It has been shown to reduce the formation of blood clots, kill or inhibit some cancer cells and lower bad cholesterol. Drinking green tea is like opening up a medicine chest provide by Mother Nature herself.

But what makes green tea so good for you? After all, there are many different types of tea, and they all come from the same plant. That is our first indication of what makes green tea special. All tea can come from the same plant, but what makes each species different is how it is processed. For example, black tea is fermented before it reaches the consumer. This allows some of the beneficial nutrients to leak during processing. Green tea, on the other hand, is simply dried. Then you pour hot water over the tea leaves and that’s all there is to it. This minimal use of processing keeps much more of the healthy nutrients intact.

You have already read some of what organic green tea can do, but there are even more things it does: cavity prevention, boosts immunity, lowers blood pressure, helps bone density and aids indigestion. The other great thing that it does is help with weight loss. It does this by reducing how much cholesterol and fat the body absorbs, making you feel fuller and increase your metabolism. Green tea contains some caffeine, so keep that in mind if you are sensitive to it. That said, with everything it has to do with it, green tea is one thing almost everyone should add to their daily routine.