12.07.07
Posted in Green Tea in General, New Products at 5:22 pm by site admin
After much prodding by several members of our green tea forum, I recently went on a quest to find a higher grade of fukamushi-cha from what we currently offer. In case you are not familiar with the term “fukamushi-cha”, this refers to green tea that is steamed for a longer period of time than regular sencha green tea. It’s not simply a matter of a longer steam time, the tea itself must be suitable for the task - certain teas lend themselves towards it and others do not. Regardless, the results are a thicker green tea which can almost appear like pea green soup. Deep steamed green tea is rather bold and astringent and care must be made not to over brew or brew at too high of a temperature.
Our supplier gave us three medium grade samples. I tried the top quality and still didn’t find it to be quite as good as what we currently carry so I requested the best that they carry. Both the top and second from the top were quite excellent, but in the end we went with the highest quality that was available to us. I recommend you give our deep steamed fukamushi green tea it a try, when brewed correctly it turns out a very beautiful deep green color with an awesome taste to match.
Permalink
11.07.07
Posted in Green Tea in General, Health Benefits of Green Tea at 6:59 pm by site admin
In case you haven’t noticed, I’m definitely on a “roll” about anything having to do with green tea weight loss. My last blog entry was way back in August, yikes! Anyway, at the time I had lost thirteen pounds and thought it was great. As of today, however, I have lost 26 pounds of body weight. That number is a bit deceiving as I also gained about 7 pounds of muscle. In other words, since May 1st I have lost 33 pounds of FAT. So in case anyone is wondering why I am endorsing “Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle” lately, now you know why! There are not many products that I would consider endorsing on our site, but this is one that I do.
It may seem strange that I would re-directly potential green tea customers away from my site. Yeah, I do get a small commission if someone clicks on the ad and actually buys “burn the fat”, but I doubt it would equal what they would spend if they had purchased items from our store as our average sale is more than the books costs. Honestly, the “green tea and weight loss” thing has been more of a pain that it has been a blessing, at least for me. The amount of email it has generated has been something to deal with. Plus, not everyone is so kind after you tell them what they don’t want to hear - that it will not melt the pounds away. I’m just happy I have a place to send them that I know will do some good.
Don’t get me wrong - there is definitely a correlation between green tea and weight loss, it’s just not to the degree that some people (Okinawa) are hyping it up. For me, I am in the business for the long haul - we were in it before the hype and we plan to be in it long after it’s over. Besides, the other health benefits are reason enough to be drinking green tea.
Being both a dieter and also a green tea merchant who drinks his products on a daily basis has given me a lot of insight into what works and what doesn’t, and how green tea fits in with it all. I recently revamped the green tea and weight loss page of our site and I recommend anyone interested in the subject to give it a read. I do use our products as a weight loss aid but if it were all I were doing then I am sure I would not have had the success I have had. I like to drink iced green tea right before and during cardio exercise, I feel it gives me an extra “boost” so to speak. That would be in addition to the hot green tea I drink throughout the day.
Permalink
08.01.07
Posted in Green Tea in General, Health Benefits of Green Tea at 12:51 am by site admin
Let me start of by saying that the number one question I am asked regarding green tea has to be whether or not it will help one to lose weight. I mean, I get this daily. So does it? Well, kind of. It has caffeine in it, and caffeine does give your metabolism a slight boost. The effect is known as “thermogenesis.” To quote Wikipedia: Thermogenesis is the process of heat production in organisms. Then again, coffee has a lot more caffeine in it than green tea does, about 125mg versus just 30mg in green tea. Based on that, it would be reasonable to assume that coffee would boost metabolism more than green tea. Recent studies, however, seem to suggest that green tea produces slightly more of a metabolic boost than just the caffeine in it alone can account for. How much? While I don’t have the figures in front of me at the moment, it’s not a lot. The last reliable study I read suggests that if one were to change nothing about their diet or exercise regime and drink green tea 3 times a day, over a period of several months one could expect to lose a few pounds more than they would had they not been drinking green tea. Yeah, a few pounds. For sure, nothing anywhere near what those people pushing “Okinawan Tea” are claiming.
I hate to admit this, but last fall I found myself at 44 years old and about 25-30 pounds overweight, that while running a green tea business and drinking a lot of my own product. This alone is evidence (to me) that green tea in and of itself is not going to make one lose weight - other things must be done. Since December, however, I have lost about 19 pounds of fat and gained about 8 pounds of lean muscle. How did I do it? The first thing I did was to start lifting weights three times a week. Arms and shoulders on Mondays, legs on Wednesdays, chest, back, abs on Fridays. After doing that religiously for 5 months, I gained about 4 pounds of muscle and lost about the same amount of fat. I hadn’t modified my diet in anyway, just did straight weight training. An improvement, for sure, but I was still way too heavy. Then I ran across the most amazing e-book, which mostly focused on nutrition for bodybuilders. By simply modifying my diet, the weight started to come off instantly. It also advises cardio and weight training, but the focus is on proper nutrition. After just 3 months of following the regimen, I have lost 13 pounds of body weight and nearly 95% of that is fat.
Back to green tea - yes, I do love my green tea! I do use it in conjunction with my new nutrition program, and yes, I believe it does gives me an extra boost, I drink iced green tea while I do my cardio exercises.
Here’s where I get to endorse something. First, I want everyone who reads this to know that I have never endorsed any other product outside of our own on my website before, this is a first. In this case, however, I can and do endorse the following product because I have downloaded it, I follow it, I have lost quite a bit of weight safely and consistently, and I can say with all confidence that this program works for weight loss. If you have come across this site looking for information regarding green tea and weight loss - yes, I’ll ask you to purchase our green tea products still! That said, I would highly recommend that you check out…
Permalink
05.30.07
Posted in Green Tea in General at 10:00 pm by site admin
Playlist for Enka Hits #5:
Song/Artist
Jinsei Iroiro - Shimakura Chiyoko
Kyoudai Bune - Toba Ichiro
Kawachi Otoko Bushi - Nakamura Mitsuko
Mugibatake - Oyoneezu
Ichiendama no Tabigarasu - Hareyama Saori
Haguresou - Kozai Kaori
Shiroi Kaikyo - Ootsuki Miyako
Koiuta Tsuzuri - Horiuchi Takao
Kokoro Koorasete - Takayama Gen
Onna … Hitoritabi - Tagawa Toshimi
MP3 File
Permalink
« Previous entries ·
RSS
