Wu Long or Wu Yi Tea for Beautiful Skin?
Maybe you have been searching for the fountain of youth to restore your gorgeous looks and prevent any further damage from aging. Actually, the Chinese have known about a potential fountain for centuries. Oolong tea has some wonderful age-fighting abilities, and a few lovely mugs a day may help you maintain your youth or undo the damage already done!
Though both wu long and wu yi tea have become popular for both weight loss and age fighting, some proponents would have you believe that one is better than the other. Is this true? Let us look at the background on both teas.
Tea begins as a plant called camellia sinensis. The tea leaves are picked at different times and then prepared in different ways. The four major teas are black tea, green tea, white tea and oolong tea and they are fermented in different ways or harvested at different times.
Green tea and white tea are highly nutritious because they are not fermented and none of their natural properties are destroyed. However, they are both pretty grassy tasting and not a lot of people enjoy their flavor. White tea is slightly more delicate merely because it is picked earlier than green tea. Though black tea is the most popular in the Western world because of its mild flavor, it is not as nutritious because it has been fermented for too long to maintain the same nutritional values.
Oolong tea, on the other hand, is both pleasant tasting and highly nutritious. This is because they are fermented for a short time. There are two main varietals of oolong tea: wu long and wu yi. The wu long tealeaves are picked during the first growth cycle of the tea plant, which is then allowed to go through several more growth cycles.
Tea salespeople would have you believe that this makes a huge impact on the flavor and quality of the tea, but wu yi and wu long tea are similarly flavored AND they both are capable of promoting youthful, healthy looking, radiant skin! The main difference? Price! Wu long is more expensive.
In a way, choosing between wu yi and wu long tea is like choosing between a $20 bottle of red wine and a $50 bottle. Will the $50 be so good that it is worth the extra $30? Probably not. Personally, I would rather save the money by buying wu yi tea because the taste differences are not that remarkable. At the same time, you are not likely to find wu yi tea next to the cheap, econo-sized teas at the market. These could be compared to the $5 bottles of Shiraz.
Oolong tea, whether it is wu yi or wu long, contains powerful antioxidants that fight free radical damage and thus help slow down the process of aging. The signs of aging can be seen in your face when free radicals take their toll on skin health at the cellular level. Collagen breaks down and soon, fine lines begin to appear as well as sagging, fragile skin. Wu yi tea can reverse this and help create more youthful, glowing skin!
As well, the antioxidants in wu yi tea can help restore a healthy complexion because they are key in skin cell regeneration and repair of damaged cells. A lovely mug of wu yi tea can also calm your body, mind and spirit and reduce stress.
