Top Grade Organic loose leaf: (Finest Tippy Orange Pekoe) Rich full dark black tea leaves, flavorful and fragrant. Reported benefits of Black Tea: fatigue, aches and pain, stroke and other coronary disease as well as reducing pancreatic cancer. Some believe that Kombucha should only be brewed with Black (or Russian) Tea. Black tea contains the highest purine content - necessary for optimum kombucha brewing Produces the more common sparkling apple-cider taste. Although unusal some research indicates Black tea can raise blood pressure and may cause weight gain. The opposite effect what one expects from brewing kombucha with Green Tea.

The polyphenolic group that is most reactant during the enzymatic fermentation of fresh green leaves to black tea leaves are the catechins. Green tea has a much higher catechin content than black tea. As a result, green tea may have more anti-microbial activity than black tea Kodama et al. demonstrated that crude catechins may be useful in the prevention of some bacterial plant diseases. The catechin fraction of black tea, at about 0.4 mg/ml, was shown to be anti-microbial against Streptococcus mutans, related to dental carries found in human teeth

Green teas tend to produce bitter brews if steeped over 5 minutes. Our premium grade White Tea, (White Teas are in the category of Green Tea) do not become bitter and may be steeped 15 minutes or more similar to Black Teas. Our Pu-erh Teas (a category of Black Tea) may be steeped until the cows come home and rarely loose their natural sweetness - but they do become very strong! Additional information on package and accompanying booklet.