In my comparison of green tea, I must mention a very unscientific fact or two. First, if you are a native Texan you were probably raised on iced tea. Iced tea for other folks means a cold drink in the summer time but iced tea for a Texan is a year round drink. I remember drinking iced tea at Christmas. Back in the good old days (before sports drinks) tea was also what we drank to replace the fluids we lost when we sweated. Now people from other states perspire in the summer. We Texans sweat! We were told that tea was good for us. Now we realize that what we considered healthy then does not even come close to green tea in the “healthy” category. The second unscientific fact is that we Southerners were never properly taught how to brew a good cup or pot of tea. We tend to over cook it. Good tea is “steeped” which is means simply put tea in very hot (right below boiling) water and let it sit for a few minutes.
For today’s comparison I have chosen two brands of green tea. For most of us people from the south, when you say tea, we tend to think of the brand Lipton. One of the teas I have chosen is Lipton Green Tea and the other brand was unknown to me but I chose it because I liked the appearance of the packaging. This brand of green tea is Stash Green Tea. I really had to wonder how they came up with that name.
Now let’s literally take a look at these two brands. I cut a tea bag from each brand opened and poured the bags on two separate white plates. Side by side each had a greenish color. The Lipton Green Tea had an almost black green color while the Stash Green Tea had a dark olive green color. If you were expecting whole tea leaves you will be disappointed, as both brands were chopped into very fine pieces. Both were so fine they left a powdery spot on the plate almost like powder from an instant tea mix.
Both green tea packages I chose to compare contained 20 tea bags. Lipton Green Tea has a larger box which contains more tea bags but Stash Green Tea has only one size. Lipton Green Tea makes the claim that its green tea “naturally contains” protective antioxidants (flavonoid antioxidants). This is important because antioxidants help your body protect itself against free radicals; molecules that can damage cells. Stash Green Tea states their “Green teas are steamed fresh from the garden, preserving color and natural flavor and leaving them rich in antioxidants. As we all know, we are being bombarded with the words antioxidants, free-radicals, etc. Should we believe every thing we hear or read from these companies? My favorite book on weight management is “You on a Diet” written by Michael F. Roizen, M.D. and Mehmet C. Oz, M.D. If you watch the Oprah show, in her very open and host struggle with her weight, you will recognize these doctor’s names, in particular, Dr. Oz. On page 95 in the book I mentioned, it states that “studies have found that drinking three glasses of green tea a day will reduce body width and waist circumference by 5% in three months. It will also increase your metabolism (all nonherbal teas have substances that increase the metabolic rate.” So in my opinion, if Dr. Oz recommends it, it must be good. When I tried to compare the good and bad information on the containers which we all stand around and reading in the grocery store, I was surprised to find the Stash Green Tea did not have any information on their container. Lipton Green Tea did have information but almost all of the nutrition information was zero or 0%. It contained no calories, no fat, no sodium, no carbs and no protein. The only information on the packaging was that it contained 15% potassium. That is good because we lose potassium when we sweat (ok, perspire).
The only thing left to compare between Stash Green Tea and Lipton Green Tea are the two most important things, in my opinion, is the taste and the cost. I was very careful in brewing two cups of hot tea. I put each tea bag in the hot (not boiling) water and steeped each for two minutes. After they cooled down a bit, I sipped some of the Lipton Green Tea, swished it around in my mouth and tried to get a good feel for the taste. I repeated the process with the Stash Green Tea. After all the tea and water was consumed I came up with a surprising comparison. The shocking fact was that the Stash Green Tea stronger flavor but it was an almost “fishy” in taste. The Lipton Green Tea had a milder flavor with a crisp, clean taste. I would like it a little stronger but I can always steep it a bit longer to achieve that.
Last, but not least, is the cost comparison of the two brands. The Stash Green Tea and Lipton Green Tea were both purchased at my local grocery store. Lipton Green Tea was $2.47 per box while Stash Green Tea was $2.89 per box. I hope you find this comparison helpful in your search for the perfect green tea.
