Q&A for How to Make Chinese Green Tea

It is safe, but it's better to chew them. In China, there are some dishes cooked with tea leaves.

It is commonly known as "tea leaf" (seriously), and its scientific name is Camellia Sinensis.

You can make it when you feel like it.

It is an approximation when making green tea. The water should be hot, but not scalding. Most water heaters are set around 130 degrees. 120 feels wicked hot, so from the tap, you want to be just a little under that. It will cool, and your tea will steep nicely. There is no need for a thermometer, and it's not a science project! Relax and enjoy your tea.

Yes, but check with your doctor to see how much is safe.

No, you don't have to put it through a strainer. Most of the leaves will stay in the teapot anyway. If you feel uncomfortable with having some leftover leaves in your tea cup though, then you can strain it.

It depends on your health. It can help prevent cancer, dementia and nervous breakdowns. Just remember that green tea has caffeine and that taking it in large quantities can be harmful to your heart (2-3 cups a day will not pose a significant risk).

You absolutely can, but it may no longer be considered traditional Chinese green tea.

The main way that green tea helps people lose weight is if they're drinking it instead of drinking sugary soda, coffee drinks (not black coffee alone, but e.g. Starbucks), and/or alcohol, or if they're drinking it when they'd normally have a snack instead. If you're not drinking those or eating a lot of snacks anyway, then adding green tea won't hurt your diet, but it also won't really help - so if you hate green tea, you don't need to force yourself to drink it.

You can add a little sliced ginger if you like. Most people would not like the taste of garlic in their tea, but if that's what you want, then go for it.

You can take green tea with sugar, but if you're taking it for weight loss you'll want to avoid any sweeteners (even artificial ones, as they do not help you keep weight off in the long term).

Generally speaking, yes. Green tea, especially in high amounts, may contraindicate some blood pressure medications, so if you are taking any, ask your doctor or pharmacist about it.

That is not the traditional Chinese way to serve it as this article describes, but if that's what you want to do it, then go for it. (Be aware that this is fine with plain green tea, but some flavoured green tea may have ingredients that will curdle milk.)

Some people think it can, and there are ongoing studies which look like they'll prove that concentrated extracts of certain compounds found in green tea can reduce fibroids. However, there is no scientifically accepted evidence of this yet.