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product for people with obesity or metabolic syndrome.Tea drinking was introduced into Thailand over a century ago, arriving with the Chinese who travelled to and settled in the Kingdom in the early days of the Chakri dynasty. Just 20 years ago most of the tea consumed in Thailand was confined to the Chinese, who mostly drink oolong tea, and Westerners with their British black tea. With new production and packaging technologies, ready-to-drink green tea in PET plastic bottles and UHT packaging was introduced on the market. Boosted by strong marketing campaigns and the popularity and influence of Japanese culture, the growth of this tea beverage market was phenomenal. However, the tea beverages consumed in Thailand are quite different from those in mainland China or Japan. Thai consumers tend to prefer a sweeter and milder flavour than the Chinese or Japanese, whodrink tea regularly but without sugar and prefer a stronger tea taste. Never- theless, tea is popular throughout Asia.Many of the health benefits that we get from drinking tea have already been mentioned and most of these claims are backed by scientific research, conducted especially in China and Japan. Although the health benefits cover many areas, the outstanding ones are burning fat, reducing cholesterol absorption and ultimately helping to manage body weight. Oolong tea, with the active OTTP ingredient, plays a major role in this. In Chinese, oolong tea means black dragon tea. It is a semi-fermented tea with mild rolling and incubation, and therefore has a nice fragrance and palatable taste. From various studies we know that oolong tea is an antioxidant with anti-hypercholesterolaemia pro- perties and reduces fat absorption.Although the health benefits cover many areas, the outstanding ones are burning fat, reducing cholesterol absorption and ultimately helping to managebody weigh50 Elite+