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Lipton is a popular tea brand that sells all kind of teas in different countries all over the world. However, you won’t find Lipton teas in the main British supermarkets but you can still buy them in the UK in the international supermarkets and online (on Amazon, for example).
Lipton offers a variety of tea types, from black tea to herbal teas and even Matcha green tea.
When it comes to green tea they also offer a selection of green tea bags and that includes their Pure Green Tea and flavoured green teas. Since the brand is not really known for its green teas, some people wonder if their green tea bags are any good and if they are healthy.
Considering that many people love Lipton green tea (you just need to read online reviews to see that), you may think that it’s not a bad decision to give it a try. Lipton green tea is quite affordable so if you try it and don’t like it, you wouldn’t lose much, right? But are Lipton green tea bags actually healthy? Will you find some questionable ingredients in them? What about other types of green tea they sell? Let’s take a look…
Contents:
- Lipton flavoured green teas
- Lipton Pure Green Tea
- Lipton Pure Green Tea – Nutrition
- Lipton Pure Green Tea – Origin
- Lipton green tea bags – Material
- Does Lipton green tea have caffeine?
- Other types of green tea from Lipton
- Magnificent Matcha Green Tea
- Lipton green tea cold drinks
- How healthy is Lipton green tea?
Lipton flavoured green teas
Lipton sells a variety of flavoured green teas but if you don’t like the extra ingredients in your tea you should avoid these.
In Lipton flavoured green teas you will find ingredients such as soy lecithin and modified corn starch. You will also find various natural flavouring and natural extracts which help to create a specific flavour. These ingredients are not necessarily bad for you but this type of green tea won’t be as potent and will contain fewer beneficial antioxidants and nutrients that green tea is famous for.
Lipton Pure Green Tea
Lipton Pure Green Tea is a better choice than Lipton’s flavoured green teas since it’s pure and doesn’t contain any extra ingredients, just green tea.
When looking at the packaging you will see that Lipton Pure Green Tea is 100% natural and has no other ingredients added to it such as additives, preservatives or colourings.
This sounds good, right? Yes, it’s not bad but there is much more to green tea than just the fact that it doesn’t contain additives or preservatives.
Just to enlighten you, normally you won’t find additives in shop-bought pure green teas or other questionable ingredients. Green teas are just green teas (usually) and their shelf life is quite long when packaged in airtight packaging. There is no need to add preservatives.
Lipton Pure Green Tea – Nutrition
So what nutrients can you find in Lipton’s 100% green tea? Are these nutrients the same as those found in other types of green teas?
In terms of calories, green tea has zero calories and this means it has 0 carbs, 0 fat and also zero protein.
Lipton’s customer services told me that this variety of tea contains Vitamin A and C as well as Calcium and Iron.
In terms of flavonoids levels, one cup of Lipton’s pure green tea (250ml) will provide you with 150mg flavonoids.
Flavonoids are known for their beneficial effects on health since they have anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory and even anti-carcinogenic properties.
They play an important role in the prevention of various chronic diseases and they also have anti-ageing effects, protecting the body from harmful free radicals.
Green teas are rich in these powerful antioxidants but how much of them you will find in one particular type of green tea depends on tea origin, growing conditions and other factors.
Lipton Pure Green Tea – Origin
Just by looking at the packaging, it will not be very clear to you where this green tea comes from. I had to ask their customer services to find out. Here is their reply:
We have our own tea estates in India, Kenya, and Tanzania. They conduct extensive research programs at these estates to improve growing and harvesting practices, so you enjoy a dependably delicious cup. We also source teas from as many as 35 countries to ensure a consistent taste and an uninterrupted supply. These teas have to be the best of the best to satisfy the tea experts.
So basically, Lipton Pure Green Tea will not have only one origin, it will be a blend of green teas from different countries.
In addition to the above, Lipton have explained to me their growing procedures: “Green tea is made from the same type of leaves as black tea, but leaves are steamed within 24 hours of harvesting to prevent oxidation (fermentation) that gives black tea its flavor and character.”
They have added that the tea is certified Kosher and Rainforest Alliance certified.
Lipton green tea bags – Material
Lipton green tea bags are made from a combination of wood pulp, hemp fiber and synthetic fibers to achieve bag sealing. All their paper suppliers are required to demonstrate that they do not use Chlorine for bleaching.
What’s more, the bags are fully compostable so if your municipality has a food waste collection system, then the tea bags should be disposed of with your food waste in your green bin or equivalent service. By putting the tea bags in a green bin or equivalent, both the bag and tea will be fully composted.
It’s great to see that Lipton are doing their bit for the environment which also means you don’t have to worry about plastic in your Lipton green tea – this, of course, makes it healthier.
Does Lipton green tea have caffeine?
Many people wonder whether there is any caffeine in Lipton green tea and the answer is yes, there is. According to Lipton, all Lipton Green Teas will consist of between 28 – 38 mg of caffeine. Pure Green Tea contains around 35mg of caffeine.
Other types of green tea from Lipton
Lipton also offer other types of green tea such as Sencha (in pyramid tea bags), Matcha and Jasmine Green Tea.
Magnificent Matcha Green Tea
Matcha normally comes from Japan but the one from Lipton is sourced from the tea estates in India, Kenya, and Tanzania.
Matcha green tea is grown differently from the standard green tea – Matcha leaf comes from a shade-grown green tea, the chlorophyll-rich leaves of which are finely ground into a brilliant green powder prized for its abilities.
The caffeine content in Lipton Matcha teas will be between 25 – 30mg and the tea bag material is the same as in other Lipton green tea bags.
Matcha green tea is known to have more antioxidants than the standard green tea and for this reason, it’s considered to be healthier. However, the origin of tea and other factors greatly affect the antioxidant content.
Since this is not an authentic Japanese Matcha, it’s safe to assume that the quality won’t be as good and the antioxidant content it’s very likely to be a lot lower than if you were to drink original Japanese Matcha in a traditional way (consuming whole leaf powder without the use of tea bags).
Of course, this doesn’t mean that Magnificent Matcha Green Tea doesn’t have any health benefits, it does, it just that if you want a proper Matcha tea you should look elsewhere.
Lipton green tea cold drinks
Some people prefer to drink ice tea rather than hot tea, especially in summer. That’s the reason why Lipton offer Green Ice Tea as well. However, this is not the healthiest green tea from Lipton.
It contains sugar (not good for you!), flavouring (not sure whether natural or artificial) and some other questionable ingredients.
One thing to note, Lipton use a small amount of green tea extract to produce this tea. While this extract does contain beneficial antioxidants, it’s not clear how much.
If you want to reap the benefits of green tea, you’d be better off by drinking pure green tea. In this way, you will also avoid sugar and other extra ingredients that may not be all that good for you.
How healthy is Lipton green tea?
If we focus on 100% natural pure green tea from Lipton, we can safely say that it does come with some health benefits since it contains beneficial antioxidants that are proven to benefit human’s health.
One thing to note though is that this tea is not organic and although Lipton follow strict quality and safety standards, this doesn’t mean there won’t be any pesticide residue in your tea. However, Lipton do make sure they comply with all the government regulations so this tea will still be safe to drink.
Lead and other pollutants can also be found in tea but this is the case with any type of tea.
Lead is a compound naturally found in soil and tea plants are well known to absorb it from the soil via their roots. Normally you will find very little lead in your tea and according to the Food Standards Agency, the minimal amounts of lead found in tea are not considered to be of concern for consumer health.
Lipton carefully choose the regions they source their green tea from, making sure all the quality and safety standards are met. This possibly means there are fewer contaminants in Lipton green teas than green teas from some other brands but if you want a really good quality green tea with the most antioxidants, choose loose leaf green tea (not tea bags) which is ideally organic.
So, is Lipton green tea healthy?
In summary, yes it is, and it’s great for a casual green tea drinker. But if you want the best green tea, it’s better to consider other green tea brands.
Conclusion
It doesn’t mean that if a brand is well-established and popular, is also the best. Most people say that this brand is really affordable with good customer reviews, therefore it deserves a spot on the best green tea brands list. But I have to disagree. At the end of the day, you do get what you pay for. However, you can still give it a try and see what you think. You can get it on Amazon here >
Sources:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5465813/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2855614/
