Anyone drink green tea?

I drink a sport's bottle full of green tea per day. I do this to switch it up a bit from regular water, as I read somewhere that tea has (recently) been countable as some of your water for the day.

- Yes, green tea is supposed to speed your metabolism (although I have to wonder if your body wouldn't eventually adjust to it?). So is oolong; some studies suggest that oolong is actually better (a 10-20 percent increase vs. 4 percent - I've heard different numbers). Bear in mind that it is not a drug designed in a lab to have the same effect on most people who drink it; everyone's body is different, and no health benefit from tea could be guaranteed.

- Herbs have better effects the fresher and higher quality they are. Same with tea. Tea which is loose leaf is better than bagged; fresher is better than older. Tea should ideally be drank within a few months of purchase. If you have tea in your cupboard which is much more than a year old and/or has lost all scent, I would chuck it and get new stuff. TONS of people keep the same little cardboard box of bagged tea in their cupboard for a million years, and let me tell you, it probably ain't doing much for you to drink it.

- Arguably, the "healthiest" tea available is Japanese matcha powder, which is high-quality Japanese tea leaves (gyokuro, essentially) ground into a powder. The leaves are shade-grown before harvest to retain a lot of their nutrients. When you whisk matcha into water (or add it to a smoothie or whatever), you basically create a suspension of the leaf in the water and swallow the whole leaf, rather than an infusion. What this means is that you swallow all the nutrients in the leaf. It is supposed to speed your metabolism more than any infused leaf, but it should be noted that matcha has a lot more caffeine because of the "swallowing the whole leaf" thing. Matcha has a strong vegetal taste, so you're either going to want to put it in a breakfast smoothies (or something like that), or buy the highest-quality stuff if you plan to drink it straight. Also, because it IS a suspension, leaf will settle out to the bottom of your cup. If you want to drink it, I suggest just adding a bit more water, maybe some sweetener, and chugging it fast. :P Be warned - good matcha is a rather expensive habit, relatively speaking.

- I will add that yerba mate is another drink to check out. It is well-known as an appetite suppressant. Not that you should be using it to skip meals(!) - and seriously, don't drink it right before a meal, because it can put you off food you really need to eat - but if you are the kind of person who snacks a lot, yerba mate (MAH-tay) can help with that. It also has a lot of caffeine.

- Personally, I think it's unlikely you will see much benefit from tea on a cup a day. Many studies seem to suggest multiple cups are necessary. Myself, I rarely drink anything but tea and the occasional cup of water or fruit juice. If my consumption drops, I REALLY feel it.

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I have no idea about those things, but I love mint or peach green tea, yum!!!!

Green Tea is great. We have K-Cups here at work Green Tea w/Pomegranate

I brew 2 bags of Twinings green tea in a 500ml flask and then pop in the fridge. I'll drink it cold the next day to top up my water intake. It definitely helps clear my skin and makes me feel better!

I've been back on coffee recently (new coffee machine in the office) but love the twinnings green tea with fruit, comes in loads of flavours. I can easily do 5-6 cups if I've got no appointments one day. Another good thing is I never drink enough water, so this helps

I have some amazing green tea my best friend brought back from China. At the end of last year I drank a couple mugs a day... because I heard it helps you lose weight. I did lose weight... but I was also not eating a lot and exercising occasionally (occasionally is a lot for me :-P ) so I can't say for sure it was the green tea. But it's worth a shot.