Many people will tell you that tea has health benefits because of some chemicals that are embedded in the leaves and released during infusion.

At Far Leaves Tea we believe that taking time out from a busy day to wait for water to boil will reduce the stress in your life. Drinking hot, purified water frequently will help clean your system.

Enjoying the subtle flavors and fragrances of tea will lift your spirit and extend the quality of your life.

Enjoying the simple things in life and sharing with other people will bring happiness and joy.

But, if you care about the "scientific" reasons for tea's healthful reputation, here's what people are finding.

Tea is abundant in the antioxidant called epigallocatechin gallate (ECGC). It's chock full of polyphenolic antioxidant plant metabolites called catechins. Not to mention flavonoid substances, amino acids like Ltheanine, theaflavins, and zins, fluoride, and folic acid.

So what? These ingredients do things like: help prevent cancer and heart disease; raise thermogenesis (the rate at wich calories are burned); help the body's immune system response when fighting infection; increase alpha wave production in the brain (which is associated with a state of "alert relaxation"); decrease production of the beta-amyloid protein thought to play a key role in the development of Alzheimer's symptoms; and it can protect against free radicals-which sounds like a bad idea here in Berkeley, but it's actually good for the body. Not only that, but it's zero calories.

But still, just drink tea and enjoy quality of life!