Move over, green tea: Rajasthan to produce a unique tea made from olive leaves
The olive tea contains zero caffeine, builds immunity and fights fatigue. It can also help those who suffer from mental stress and cardiac diseases.
Get ready to sip on a new kind of tea. The desert state of Rajasthan will soon give the country an alternative to green tea - brewed from olive leaves. State Agriculture Minister Prabhu Lal Saini said the brand - named Olitia, The Olive Tea - will be launched soon by Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje.
“It will be the first time in the country and the world that a green tea alternative will be produced out of olive leaves,” he told PTI on the sidelines of an event in the city. He added, “I am a PhD in Agriculture myself, and I knew olive leaves have several health benefits. So I decided to get some study and lab testing done about it.” He showed several papers with findings of the lab studies. A lab test, conducted in July, confirmed the presence of several anti-oxidants, anti-inflammatory and other such substances in the olive leaves.
One of the substances found was Luteolin. “Experiments with Luteolin show that it suppresses bacteria-induced inflammation. Luteolin is an oxygen scavenger,” reads the report. He said the lab tests confirmed the presence of “such strong anti-oxidants” in olive leaves that they can help prevent several types of cancer - blood cancer, prostate cancer and ovaries cancer. After the studies and lab tests confirmed these properties of the olive leaves, the decision to process them was taken, he said.
“It will medically benefit those who suffer from mental stress, cardiac disease. It has anti-inflammatory properties as well,” he said. The Olitia, The Olive Tea, packet also claims it has zero caffeine, builds immunity, fight fatigue and has anti-ageing properties. Saini said the olive green tea will come in multiple flavours which are in vogue these days like lemon and mint. “We are trying to diversify and produces other flavours like ginger, tulsi etc,” he said.
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