Both oolong and green tea are often promoted as a health and weight loss product. Yet, for many consumers it's not really clear which one is better. In this article, we attempt to answer two basic questions that our support team often receives:
- Which is more healthy: oolong or green tea?
- Is oolong tea or green tea better for weight loss?
Which is Healthier?
First of all, all leaf teas are made from the Camellia Sinenses tea plant. Yes, different teas are made from different cultivars, but they're generally all healthy. Because green tea is one of the least processed types of tea, it maintains a greener colour than oolong. Due to this, more healthy antioxidants are preserved.
However, we do have to note that tea type isn't the only factor determining the amount of antioxidants in tea. From a raw material point of view, tea buds from the early Spring season contains more antioxidants than large leaves. And the way you steep your tea also makes a difference.
At last, green tea also have more potential side effects. Light processing might maintain more antioxidants, but at the same time it makes tea more harsh for the stomach to digest. Too much green tea can result in stomach pain and diarrhea.
Which is Better for Weight Loss
This really depends. It's true that there's a lot of research that support the fact that both green and oolong tea can be beneficial to a healthy body weight. After all, there's hardly any calories in tea (without sugar and milk) and the caffeine in tea helps you burn more energy during the day.
However, what you must know is that all papers study whether people who drink tea regularly on a daily basis have more healthy body. In other words, the subjects of the study have incorporated tea in their daily lives! There's no research that proves that tea is a miracle drink with quick weight loss benefits.
There might be some quick weight loss, but that's often due to overconsumption of tea, resulting in loss of fluid. There's no quick fat burning going on here.
To some this might sound somewhat disappointing, but the encouraging message here is that if you do incorporate tea in your daily lives, you'll be more healthy and be more likely to achieve your weight loss target. The key here is to learn to enjoy drinking tea. At last, there's really no need to choose between oolong and green tea. Let your mood decide!
Oolong vs Green Tea Caffeine
When it comes to caffeine content, there's a lot of confusion these days. The general believe is that green tea contains less caffeine. While this may be true on average, one needs to take into account the characteristics of the raw material used. Many green teas contain young buds that contain more caffeine than the larger leaves used for oolong tea.
On the other hand, oolong tea leaves are more oxidised, meaning that more water is extracted than green tea. This can result in more caffeine concentration in the final product. What is perhaps the most important factor is the fact that oolong tea is prepared with higher temperature water. Green tea is often prepared around 80C (175F) while oolong tea is prepared near cooking temperature. This means that more caffeine is extracted from oolong compared to green.
All in all, it's relatively safe to assume that a cup of oolong tea generally contains more caffeine than a cup of green tea.