Sundancer - excellent!

@Sundancer
Don't encourage him.

I find my overall health declines rapidly when I eat outside the home frequently. Food safety in China is a serious problem, and even Chinese people readily admit that. Don't be a tough guy when it comes to eating out. I attempted this once, and I found that the old saying "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger" is actually more like "what doesn't kill you makes you weaker".
I don't know why Chinese people drink green tea to "flush" all the MSG out of their systems. One cup of that stuff and I can't sleep for a week. I find MSG and caffeine to have similar effects on my body. One thing I find amusing in China is how green tea, tobacco and alcohol are typically sold side by side. You can get your fix of all three drugs at one convenient location.

green tea is bad? really?
once upon a time, chinese food was cooked with animal fats. now, even aside from the gutter oil scandal, cheap processed oils are unhealthy. even if you cook at home, try to go for the better cooking oils if you can afford it.

Eat out IS hazardous to YOUR　ＨＥＡＬＴＨ！

Green tea is said to be full of anti oxidants and all kinds of other good stuff. Green tea like anything else also has many levels of quality. I believe when the tea leaves are picked from the bottom of the plant they're also full of fluoride. Personally I find the high levels of caffeine and fluoride in most of the Chinese green tea I'm served outweigh the supposed health benefits.

fluoride in green tea? oh, that's bad. is ANYTHING edible anymore? GOD help us all.

To be fair the fluoride is naturally produced by the tea plant, it wasn't added. If you want to enjoy good quality green tea you just need to learn how to distinguish good tea from bad. Like anything in China when the price is low, it's almost guaranteed to be dangerous. However a high price doesn't guarantee quality. You just need to be a well informed consumer.

ok, so can you recommend a green tea brand then? i was just thinking of adding it to my arsenal of healthy foods by making a green tea concoction with ginger.

I thought I read that it was the Pu'er tea that had the problem, not green tea. The bottom of the plant is not generally put to sale, it is the poor tea pickers who use the parts of the plant that others don't use that suffer the problems with fluoride.
The problem, I think, was first identified in the tea pickers.

Like anything in China. If you want good loose tea, ask a local where they buy tea, and then avoid the cheapest on sale. Supermarkets, and buy the more expensive, or the big brand tea vendors and pay more than you need to.

There are lots of good tea houses in the Green Lake area, not next to the lake. This includes 2-3 streets back from the lake.