Scientific name: Camellia sinensis. 

Common name: tea. 

English name: tea. 

Properties: tonic (physical and mental tiredness) and antioxidant. Promotes the drainage of body fluids and the balance of body weight. 

Parts used: leaves. 

The Tea plant is an erect shrub about 2 meters high in its natural state, cultivated similarly to a bush, with sharp leaves, green-yellow color, and small white flowers. Tea is the most consumed beverage in the world after water. Its origins appear to be in the southwestern Chinese regions (Yunnan and Sichuan). The use of its leaves as herbal tea would have been discovered around 2700 BC. by a Shennong, a kind of Pagan God. More reliable data suggest the Han era (III century BC) for the first use of the plant. Under the Tang dynasty (618-907) tea, initially limited solely to medicinal use, was widespread in India. It arrived in Europe in the 1500s and the British became heavy consumers of tea, especially black tea with the addition of milk. 

Niccolò Lamery, a chemist with a pharmacy in Paris, in his Universal Treatise on Drugs (formerly Pharmacopoeia 1600-1700) describes it thus: "Tea is more often used for delight, but has many good qualities: because it cheers up and recreates the spirits, dissipates the vapors, prevents sleep, fortifies the brain, the heart, hastens digestion and causes urine ". 

The major world producers are China, India, Kenya and Sri Lanka, with Japan in tenth place with a high quality production. The global production total amounts to more than 4 million tons of which 80% is Black Tea (spread mainly in the West) and 20% is Green Tea (especially consumed in the East). 

Today the use of green tea as an antioxidant is recommended, to prevent aging-related ailments, and against physical and mental fatigue. 

Tea preparation: pour boiling water into the teapot to heat it and then dispose of the water. One teaspoon of tea per person poured into half of the boiling water is needed, to be calculated according to people, let cover in infusion for 3 minutes, add the remaining water and filter. The addition of milk binds the tannins which are released after the digestion of the milk. Lemon juice enhances the antioxidant action of tannins, and lemon citric acid combines with calcium (calcium citrate) by decreasing the pH.

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