Sunday, March 1, 2009

Wu Long or Wu Yi Tea for Beautiful Skin?

By Caitlin Ryan

Did you know that merely drinking a few delicious mugs of tea per day can boost the quality of your skin and fight premature aging? Wu yi tea has been drunk for centuries in the Asian world and thankfully, it is finally catching on in the Western world. Its age-fighting capabilities are remarkable! It may be YOUR answer to maintaining youthful skin!

Though both wu long and wu yi tea have become popular for both weight loss and age fighting, some proponents would have you believe that one is better than the other. Is this true? Let us look at the background on both teas.

All tea comes from the plant Camellia sinensis, but the time that the leaves are picked and then the way in which the tea is fermented determines the tea variety. Black tea, green tea, white tea and oolong tea are the four main varieties of tea.

Unfermented teas are green tea and white tea. White tealeaves are harvested before the bud opens making it a bit milder than green tea, but both teas are relatively grassy tasting and a bit bitter. The tea we are most familiar with is black tea which is flavorful, but the leaves are highly fermented and thus, not as nutritious as green tea or white tea.

Oolong tea, on the other hand, is both pleasant tasting and highly nutritious. This is because they are fermented for a short time. There are two main varietals of oolong tea: wu long and wu yi. The wu long tealeaves are picked during the first growth cycle of the tea plant, which is then allowed to go through several more growth cycles.

Tea salespeople would have you believe that this makes a huge impact on the flavor and quality of the tea, but wu yi and wu long tea are similarly flavored AND they both are capable of promoting youthful, healthy looking, radiant skin! The main difference? Price! Wu long is more expensive.

In a way, choosing between wu yi and wu long tea is like choosing between a $20 bottle of red wine and a $50 bottle. Will the $50 be so good that it is worth the extra $30? Probably not. Personally, I would rather save the money by buying wu yi tea because the taste differences are not that remarkable. At the same time, you are not likely to find wu yi tea next to the cheap, econo-sized teas at the market. These could be compared to the $5 bottles of Shiraz.

Both wu yi and wu long teas contain the highly effective antioxidants capable of helping you maintain youthful skin! This is because of their ability to fight free radicals and the damage they incur on your skin and overall health. In regard to your skin, these antioxidants can stave off wrinkles and improve the tone of your skin because they fight the free radicals that cause wrinkled, sagging, fragile skin.

Antioxidants in wu yi tea are necessary for skin cell replenishment. Wu yi tea has a lovely aroma and flavor that calms the mind. - 15995

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