Reasoning and Prioritization Matrix: Is the tea likely to be healthier?

TLDR: The Tea Tavern prioritizes products that are comparatively more likelyhealthy tothan other options that may be healthy,more whenwidely comparingavailable acrossor options.that simply possess fewer health benefits. 

TheAssessing Teathe Tavernrelative findshealthiness of a tea is made within the following tocontext: be current situations.

• ThereDifferent are manyfarming methods can impact the healthfulness of a tea. Key farming tea.considerations include: 
  • Use of pesticides to prevent beinginsect killedinfestation byof insectsthe tea plants
  • Use of fertilizers to improve the growth speed or volume of the plants in various areas.areas
  • (TODO:Indiscriminate Findpruning terminologyto and research) Plants are cut forincreas the purposevolume of producingharvestable moretea leaves from the plant
    
  • FarmingThe inelevation differentof elevationsthe tea farm
• Tea is not always good for people
  
  • Some teas are notImproperly stored well,tea thuscan getcontain undesirabletoxic growths.or harmful growths
  • AndA differentperson's tolerance for tea byproducts or chemicals is highly individual 
  • Tea can make some people have different tolerances to the chemicals within tea.
  • Some teas make people sick (there are various possibilitiesill for this).a variety of reasons
• ThereMany arewidely-held beliefs about thetea's health benefits need more research to be verified 
  • Some benefits of drinking teatea, (researchsuch isas neededusing toit proveas thesea digestive aid, are proven and are true)true 
    • Tea iscan usefulhave as much, if not more, caffeine than coffee; this makes it a potentially unhealthy option for health in some form like "helps with digestion".
    • Has more, less, or equal amounts of caffeine compared to coffee.people 

  DueIn tolight of the wideabove, varietyand the vast array of various tea varieties that exists,exist, how dodoes wethe knowTea thatTavern determine whether a tea willis bethe betterbest, healthiest possible choice for ourboth tavernthe tavern's patrons and localthe community?community as a whole?

  The Farming Process

  Pesticides

  (TODO:Using Obtainpesticides means there is a proven risk that those pesticides may be transferred to the following)tea Researchand, hasultimately, beeningested doneby tothe showtea drinker. It is a deeply studied and well recorded fact that pesticides used to protect plants have the capabilityingestion of ending up in plant, and if it ends up in the plant, it can end up in those who drink it. (TODO: obtain research) We have seen cases in the past whereexcess pesticides wereharms toxichuman tohealth.

  humans, as well. Similarly,

  Additionally, the chemical composition of whateverwhat we eat determinescan have a stong impact on how somethingit tastes.

  This is goingwhy tothe taste.use Asof apesticides result,in ittea farming is believed thatto somecause teastea makedrinkers peopleto sickbecome becauseill offrom drinking the pesticidestea. thatThe were used during the farming of the tea; thetea plant absorbs the pesticides,pesticides which is not worth removing or can not be removed from the leaves beforeafter brewinghavesting intoand aremain beverage. They may not only makein the tea leaves. Brewing subsequently releases the pesticides into the beverage when the tea is brewed.  Not only do the pesticides impact the taste different,of the tea, but hasthey aalso greaterincrease likelinessthe torisk causeof harm to our tavern patrons.
  

  AsTo aremove result,this risk, and also maintain the defaulthighest choicepossible standards for taste, the Tea Tavern shoulddoes defaultnot topurchase teas that were grown withouton thefarms that use pesticides.
  

  Fertilizers

  The excess use of pesticides.
  fertilizers in tea production has long been an issue researchers and tea farmers have struggled to address. Many studies are conducted to find safer ways to fertilize tea crops. While many organic fertilizing methods appear to be decreasing the harm on the envioronment and and potential risk of chemical ingestion by tea driners, the risks of excess fertilization in tea from around the world remain.

  SimilarAdditionally, toexcess fertilization alters the ideachemical behindmakeup of the use of pesticides, farmers who want more tea toplant sellintself, more tea will use fertilizers to support the growth of more tea. (TODO: Find research for this) It may support the growth of more tea, however it also increases the amount ofadding chemicals that would not be present in thean soilorganic that the fertilizer comes with. This would alter the proportions of chemicals that the plant would otherwise have.plant. This is not inherently problematic, but we do not know whatit is near impossible to assess the specific fertilizer being used by the fertilizers noror what theits actualfull effectimpact on the plantstea wouldplant be.itself is. For example, if a plant is provided moreadditional nutrients forto foster increased or faster growth, and it startsdoes growinggrow more, thenthis will likely change the amount of "healthy" chemicals in thea plant arewould likelynormally producingproduce. different proportions of chemicals. To further the point,And, the more of the plant there is -- i.e., plant biomass -- the more resources are needed to maintain them, spreading the beneficial chemicals in tea across more of the plant, ifmeaning notthe expendingamount them,of too.healthy Thechemicals teasa becomeplant lesscan potent,organically ifproduce is literally spread thinner. This can result in a tea that is not only "different".different," but less potent.
  

  Aggressive Pruning 

  In line with the concept of decreased potency from the plants, another harvesting practice used to accumulate more leaves is cuttingpruning tea plants in such a way the volume of tea leaves produced increases. There are several methods of pruning tea plants, each with various benefits and drawbacks. For tea pruning to be beneficial to the plantsplant, (stems?)the correct method must be employed.

  Even when a correct pruning method is selected, however, in wayslarge-scale thatoperations makewhere thevolume is prioritized over general plant produce more leaves (TODO: Find the terminology for this). This requires the plant to expend resources in growing back as well as expend resources in supporting its additional leaves. As mentioned before,health it wouldis be reasonablesafe to assume the leavesresulting from a plant in these conditionstea will be less potentpotent. inInstead generalof resources,energy thusbeing lessexpended healthyon the complex chemical processes that give tea leaves their flavor, the tea plant is instead required to almost constantly produce new growth and possiblyexpend lessits flavorful.chemical resources over a larger volume of leaves. 

  AsGiven athe resultlarge impact of each of these farming variables on the aboveresulting factors,tea weproduct, attemptthe Tea Tavern always attempts to learn as much as possible about the farming processmethods ofused theby source tea fromplantations. Alternately, as exemplified by our vendors to attempt to get healthier, tastier teas. As a clear example, some of the Tea Tavern's inventory is from wild grown plants.

  plants

  offerings, we may source some teas that have not exposed to pesticides, excessive fertilization, or aggressive pruning at all. 

  On General Health Beliefs of Tea

  (TODO: Find the following) Research found that a chemical within Green Tea has benefits for a person's longevity, and likely was a large influence on the world's consumption of green tea. This research, however, detailed a large enough quantity of the associated chemical that it would be unrealistic for a person to consume enough of the chemical from green tea to make a significant difference for a person's longevity. As a result, we do not encourage the consumption of green tea for this purpose.
  

  Similarly, there is always caffeine in tea (camelia sinensis), unless it was chemically removed. So any chemical that is beneficial for health in tea will be paired with an increase in caffeine consumption. Similar to caffeine, if pesticides or fertilizers were used in the farming process, then one will also be consuming an increased amount of those chemicals. In this way, tea becomes similar to medicine. Is tea "beneficial"? Are the "benefits" of drinking tea significant enough to accept any possible negatives that could come from the consumption of the tea? This is up to the individual to decide, but the Tea Tavern is about making improvement. If the trade is not clearly better for a person, it should not be portrayed as better. With this said, some people may truely see beneficial effects from tea, and as a result, we would take what the individual has found to be better for them and can make recommendations from there. 
  

  An example concerning chemical for many people is the caffeine, too. Healthier tea plants may have more caffeine, thus individuals who have a legitimate concern over caffeine should not be offered caffeine containing herbs. For them, a "better drink" may not be tea (camellia sinensis). For this reason, it behooves the Tea Tavern to supply other plants such as camellia crassicolumna, a cousin to the tea species that has not been found to contain tea, or  Roobios.