Products that contain green tea

Capsules, Cookies, and even Lotions

Reports of the beneficial health effects of green tea have captured the popular imagination, and the associations of green tea with health and healthiness have led to the development of a vast array of related products.

While once the province of health food companies and specialized coffee and tea houses, green tea varieties are now offered by all the major commercial beverage companies. The abundant assortment of commercially available green teas for traditional brewing now compete with ready-made green tea sold in bottles and cans, likewise marketed by well-known food distributors. Green tea is also featured as an ingredient in vegetable and fruit juices.

Some of the products reflect the view of green tea as a medicine or nutraceutical, and for those not content to drink green tea in its traditional beverage form, extracts (catechin concentrates) are available, along with green tea in tablet, capsule, or powder form.

Together with the reports of oral hygiene benefits, green tea toothpastes and chewing gum are available, not only from esoteric health item companies; even the major toothpaste brands are developing products for the green tea market segment. Traditionally prepared green tea beverage has long been used in Japan as a mouthwash to promote dental hygiene and control halitosis, while now this practice is gaining acceptance in the West with the availability of commercial mouthwashes and gargles.

Green tea has a distinctive flavor and color, and these aspects have been incorporated into a great many foodstuffs. These products are available commercially, but can also be prepared at home from available ingredients using widely available recipes, and in this way green tea has found its way into baked goods such as breads, cakes, cookies, biscuits, muffins, and brownies (or greenies!).

Responding to the prevalent awareness of the antioxidant and protective properties of green tea constituents, these have now been incorporated into lotions, salves, and ointments for facial and skin care, as well as a wide variety of cosmetics. The serious aficionado can locate soaps, shampoos, and conditioners that contain green tea. These products can contain whole extracts of green tea, or purified fractions obtained therefrom, and even the known chemical constituents. In this latter case, the product labeling is sure to reference “green tea” as the origin the compounds, to ensure that that the items share the popular cachet of this accepted health aid.

However, while being barraged by this plethora of novel implementations, all of which seek to bask in the glorious reputation of this gift of nature that has enjoyed popularity for millennia, we shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that green tea is still a simple, flavorful, and satisfying hot natural beverage.