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green tea has anti-oxidant properties, as much as red wine does. that's probably its main benefit. it will slightly raise metabolism, so it means its also used for appetite control. unfortunately, drinking snapple or arizona green tea means you're taking in a lot of sugar.
definitely continue drinking the green tea. i can't say for sure whether it's a suitable replacement for straight water. i'd drink as much of both as humanly possible. however, get off the fructose flavored stuff (snapple.) arizona might be ok as its flavored with honey, i just wouldn't be drinking that much of it if you are making green tea a staple. if you are going to be making green tea a staple alongside water, you'll want to get into straight green tea.
straight green tea meaning loose leaf teas or tea bags, not pre-bottled sugar flavored drinks. green tea flavors vary. you can get very bitter (lots of anti-oxidants, however) teas that will take some getting used to. or, you can get some of the lightly flavored teas, such as jasmine tea (flavored with jasmine flowers, very fragrant) genmai or popcorn tea (flavored with puffed rice, gives it a nutty flavor) or even something like a ginseng green tea, which i prefer (has a strong bitter taste, but a very sweet aftertaste.)
brew your tea about 1 teaspoon per 8 oz of water. do not use boiling water as this will affect the taste of the tea. use water that is short of boiling, about 180 degrees f. steep your tea for about 3 minutes, longer if you like something stronger, before drinking. if you want to ice your tea, use more leaves (do not steep longer) and then ice it down. traditionally, green tea is not served with milk or sugar or lemon, save that for black teas.
you can buy green tea leaves at a grocery store or whole food store. or you can go to stores that specialize in selling loose leaf teas. coffee bean/tea leaf also sells tea, but there are stores in higher end malls that specialize in selling just teas.
finally, oolong and red/black teas are basically fermented green teas. the green tea leaves are put through a process to give you oolong and black teas. the flavors are different, the caffeine levels are higher, and there are less anti-oxidants. however, you may prefer their flavor to green tea. personally, i'd stick with green tea. i love the stuff, but i grew up drinking it. i like mine strong and bitter, as it will leave a sweet aftertaste.
good luck, let me know if you have anymore questions and i'll help you answer them (i used to work at a teahouse so i kind of know my ****.)
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