Greetings, everyone. First time poster but a tea fan for several years now.

First item: Dealing w/green tea and health - my sister went to give blood and
they found her iron count to be lower than normal. The first thing they asked
her was if she drank green tea on a regular basis. They said that it apparently
interferes with iron uptake. Anyone else heard about this?

Second item: Matcha is essentially ground up green tea, right? I can't seem to
find it in my area (USA - Virginia). Would grinding up normal loose green tea
and then passing it through a fine strainer to get out the veins, stems, and
misc. junk create a suitable analogue? Also, about green tea, one of the best I
ever had was called Mt. Wen Baojong. It was bulk, and sold by the (now
defunct?) Water and Leaves company. Is there a similar tea to this and can I
get it in my neck of the woods?

Third item: Alcohol and tea - if the tea is hot enough, wouldn't most of the
alcohol vaporize? It's much more volatile than water. Also, just a
recommendation - Irish Cream is wonderful in a cuppa. Also, Barenjager is
pretty nice, too. For those of you who haven't heard of it, it's a liqueur made
mainly from honey and imported from Germany. It's got a bit of a bite though so
I use very little when I add it.

On Fri, 21 May 2004 22:40:53 -0700, KeemunBLK wrote:



> First item: Dealing w/green tea and health - my sister went to give
> blood and they found her iron count to be lower than normal. The first
> thing they asked her was if she drank green tea on a regular basis. They
> said that it apparently interferes with iron uptake. Anyone else heard
> about this?

Yes, I've heard this too.

I like to use an iron tea pot when I can (in the hope that getting extra
iron during tea time will help), and I often separate my tea times from my
meal times, in the hope that the tannins in the tea won't bind with the
iron in my meals that way.

Also, using iron cookware is supposed to help (iron pans, whatever).

Vitamin supplements are probably worthwhile - if she gets one intended for
women, it'll likely have more iron than a "generic" one.

Red meat is supposed to have easy to absorb iron. I seem to do
fine on my vegetarian diet though (green leafy vegetables tend to have
iron, but not as easy to absorb, and some have oxylates, like spinach and
the chards, which makes it very hard to absorb). Oh, and having something
containing vitamin C at the same time as your iron-containing food is
supposed to double iron absorption, and eating dairy products at the same
time is supposed to halve it.

Also, if your body is getting low on iron, it tends to realize that and
start absorbing more iron on its own. Nice, eh?

> Second item: Matcha is essentially ground up green tea, right? I can't
> seem to find it in my area (USA - Virginia). Would grinding up normal
> loose green tea and then passing it through a fine strainer to get out
> the veins, stems, and misc. junk create a suitable analogue? Also, about
> green tea, one of the best I ever had was called Mt. Wen Baojong. It was
> bulk, and sold by the (now defunct?) Water and Leaves company. Is there
> a similar tea to this and can I get it in my neck of the woods?

Not sure about grinding your own, but you can probably get matcha by mail
order.

On Fri, 21 May 2004 22:40:53 -0700, KeemunBLK wrote:



> First item: Dealing w/green tea and health - my sister went to give
> blood and they found her iron count to be lower than normal. The first
> thing they asked her was if she drank green tea on a regular basis. They
> said that it apparently interferes with iron uptake. Anyone else heard
> about this?

Yes, I've heard this too.

I like to use an iron tea pot when I can (in the hope that getting extra
iron during tea time will help), and I often separate my tea times from my
meal times, in the hope that the tannins in the tea won't bind with the
iron in my meals that way.

Also, using iron cookware is supposed to help (iron pans, whatever).

Vitamin supplements are probably worthwhile - if she gets one intended for
women, it'll likely have more iron than a "generic" one.

Red meat is supposed to have easy to absorb iron. I seem to do
fine on my vegetarian diet though (green leafy vegetables tend to have
iron, but not as easy to absorb, and some have oxylates, like spinach and
the chards, which makes it very hard to absorb). Oh, and having something
containing vitamin C at the same time as your iron-containing food is
supposed to double iron absorption, and eating dairy products at the same
time is supposed to halve it.

Also, if your body is getting low on iron, it tends to realize that and
start absorbing more iron on its own. Nice, eh?

> Second item: Matcha is essentially ground up green tea, right? I can't
> seem to find it in my area (USA - Virginia). Would grinding up normal
> loose green tea and then passing it through a fine strainer to get out
> the veins, stems, and misc. junk create a suitable analogue? Also, about
> green tea, one of the best I ever had was called Mt. Wen Baojong. It was
> bulk, and sold by the (now defunct?) Water and Leaves company. Is there
> a similar tea to this and can I get it in my neck of the woods?

Not sure about grinding your own, but you can probably get matcha by mail
order.

Dan Stromberg wrote:
[snip; tea and iron]

There's a good discussion of dietary iron he
<URI:http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/002422.htm>

This link talks more about tea and iron, and looks like a pretty good
summary of what one finds from digging through PubMed for a few hours:
<URI:http://www.teahealth.co.uk/th/facts/8.htm>

(Executive summary: if you have iron status problems, avoid tea with
or shortly after meals, along with any other steps you take to improve
iron status.)


HTH,
N.

Dan Stromberg wrote:
[snip; tea and iron]

There's a good discussion of dietary iron he
<URI:http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/002422.htm>

This link talks more about tea and iron, and looks like a pretty good
summary of what one finds from digging through PubMed for a few hours:
<URI:http://www.teahealth.co.uk/th/facts/8.htm>

(Executive summary: if you have iron status problems, avoid tea with
or shortly after meals, along with any other steps you take to improve
iron status.)


HTH,
N.

(KeemunBLK) wrote in message

> Second item: Matcha is essentially ground up green tea, right? I can't seem to
> find it in my area (USA - Virginia). Would grinding up normal loose green tea
> and then passing it through a fine strainer to get out the veins, stems, and
> misc. junk create a suitable analogue? Also, about green tea, one of the best I
> ever had was called Mt. Wen Baojong. It was bulk, and sold by the (now
> defunct?) Water and Leaves company. Is there a similar tea to this and can I
> get it in my neck of the woods?

Keemun:
Off course their is Matcha tea in Virginia if you are from northern
part of virginia. Teavana.

Ripon
Vienna,VA

(KeemunBLK) wrote in message

> Second item: Matcha is essentially ground up green tea, right? I can't seem to
> find it in my area (USA - Virginia). Would grinding up normal loose green tea
> and then passing it through a fine strainer to get out the veins, stems, and
> misc. junk create a suitable analogue? Also, about green tea, one of the best I
> ever had was called Mt. Wen Baojong. It was bulk, and sold by the (now
> defunct?) Water and Leaves company. Is there a similar tea to this and can I
> get it in my neck of the woods?

Keemun:
Off course their is Matcha tea in Virginia if you are from northern
part of virginia. Teavana.

Ripon
Vienna,VA

KeemunBLK wrote:

> First item: Dealing w/green tea and health - my sister went to
give blood and
> they found her iron count to be lower than normal. The first
thing they asked
> her was if she drank green tea on a regular basis. They said
that it apparently
> interferes with iron uptake. Anyone else heard about this?

What she was told is true except that it's black tea, not green
tea, that can interfere with iron uptake. This is because of the
tannins in black tea - the oxydized, polymerized catechins
called theaflavins and thearubigins. From what I have read, the
unoxidized catechins in green tea do not have this effect.

Jon

KeemunBLK wrote:

> First item: Dealing w/green tea and health - my sister went to
give blood and
> they found her iron count to be lower than normal. The first
thing they asked
> her was if she drank green tea on a regular basis. They said
that it apparently
> interferes with iron uptake. Anyone else heard about this?

What she was told is true except that it's black tea, not green
tea, that can interfere with iron uptake. This is because of the
tannins in black tea - the oxydized, polymerized catechins
called theaflavins and thearubigins. From what I have read, the
unoxidized catechins in green tea do not have this effect.

Jon

(KeemunBLK) writes:

> [...]
> Also, about green tea, one of the best I ever had was called Mt. Wen
> Baojong. It was bulk, and sold by the (now defunct?) Water and
> Leaves company. Is there a similar tea to this and can I get it in
> my neck of the woods?

The tea you're thinking of is a lightly oxidized oolong rather than a
green tea, strictly speaking. You'll probably have better luck
finding it if you use more common transliterations: Wen Shan rather
than Mt. Wen, and Baozhong (or Pouchong) rather than Baojong.

/Lew
---
Lew Perin /
http://www.panix.com/~perin/babelcarp.html

(KeemunBLK) writes:

> [...]
> Also, about green tea, one of the best I ever had was called Mt. Wen
> Baojong. It was bulk, and sold by the (now defunct?) Water and
> Leaves company. Is there a similar tea to this and can I get it in
> my neck of the woods?

The tea you're thinking of is a lightly oxidized oolong rather than a
green tea, strictly speaking. You'll probably have better luck
finding it if you use more common transliterations: Wen Shan rather
than Mt. Wen, and Baozhong (or Pouchong) rather than Baojong.

/Lew
---
Lew Perin /
http://www.panix.com/~perin/babelcarp.html

In article >, Lewis Perin > wrote:
(KeemunBLK) writes:
>
>> [...]
>> Also, about green tea, one of the best I ever had was called Mt. Wen
>> Baojong. It was bulk, and sold by the (now defunct?) Water and
>
>The tea you're thinking of is a lightly oxidized oolong rather than a
>green tea, strictly speaking. You'll probably have better luck
>finding it if you use more common transliterations: Wen Shan rather
>than Mt. Wen, and Baozhong (or Pouchong) rather than Baojong.

yes, it's more commonly translated as Wen Shan (shan = mountain). it's a
Taiwanese tea. & very lightly oxidized. i like it, too.

bye now,


pam @ home ¤p¬}

Pam's Ode to Spammers & Telemarketers

May all spammers & telemarketers die an agonizing death; have no
burial places; their souls be chased by demons in Gehenna from one
room to another for 1000 years.

In article >, Lewis Perin > wrote:
(KeemunBLK) writes:
>
>> [...]
>> Also, about green tea, one of the best I ever had was called Mt. Wen
>> Baojong. It was bulk, and sold by the (now defunct?) Water and
>
>The tea you're thinking of is a lightly oxidized oolong rather than a
>green tea, strictly speaking. You'll probably have better luck
>finding it if you use more common transliterations: Wen Shan rather
>than Mt. Wen, and Baozhong (or Pouchong) rather than Baojong.

yes, it's more commonly translated as Wen Shan (shan = mountain). it's a
Taiwanese tea. & very lightly oxidized. i like it, too.

bye now,


pam @ home ¤p¬}

Pam's Ode to Spammers & Telemarketers

May all spammers & telemarketers die an agonizing death; have no
burial places; their souls be chased by demons in Gehenna from one
room to another for 1000 years.