Tea in Myanmar, with special reference to pickled tea

Abstract

Eating habit of fermented wet green tea leaves (Pickled tea) in Myanmar and its culture, history, production, processing and health benefits are reported in this paper, together with drinking green tea and black tea. Types of tea plants found in Myanmar, include the indigenous species Camellia irrawadiensis. The antioxidant effects of Myanmar tea were determined for 3-minutes and 30-minutes infusion. The latter infusion is Myanmar's way of drinking tea and has 3 times higher antioxidant activity than 3-minute infusion. Antioxidant activity of green tea is higher than black tea and pickled tea in both 3 min and 30 min infusions. This is the first report on the antioxidant properties of Myanmar tea, which needs to be studied further.