Tea Products

Since the early 1990s, research on the medicinal properties of the essential oil of Melaleuca alternifolia (tea tree oil) has been conducted by a group of scientists within the School of Biomedical, Biomolecular and Chemical Sciences at The University of Western Australia. The primary aim of the group is to investigate and characterise the medicinal properties of tea tree oil, in particular the antimicrobial properties. So far the group has shown that tea tree oil has broad-spectrum in vitro antibacterial, antifungal and antiviral activity. Laboratory studies are ongoing and some clinical work has also begun. These studies are critical if tea tree oil is to be accepted as a topical antimicrobial agent.

Archeological evidence suggests that people consumed tea leaves steeped in boiling water as many as 500,000 years ago. Botanical evidence indicates that India and China were among the first countries to cultivate tea. Today, hundreds of millions of people drink tea around the world, and studies are now suggesting that green tea (Camellia sinesis) in particular has many health benefits.