Tea Regimen

Original Chinese text / Tzeng Yu-shiuan (曾禹瑄)
In the history of tea culture, tea at first was not the kind of beverage or drink for health that we are now familiar with. Its purpose has gone through a long evolution: first as a medicine, then food ingredient, and finally a beverage. The way people treat tea leaves has transformed from cooking, to boiling, and now brewing. It was first mixed with other ingredients and now as a standalone beverage. No matter how things change, tea has always been associated with health. People would expect tea drinking to be helpful for health maintenance or improvement.



Chinese Has Recognized Medical Effects of Tea since Ancient Times
The earliest recorded use of tea can be found in Shen-nong's Herbal Classics (神農本草經), the most ancient existing Chinese medical book. Legend has it that, 4,000 years ago, Yan Emperor of Ancient China, also known as Shennong (meaning "Divine Farmer"), ate hundreds of kinds of plants to see the medical effect of them each, thereby obtaining 72 poisonous substances a day. Thankfully, he happened to eat leaves from a tea tree and thus saved his life. After finding the detoxifying effects of tea, people recorded it and passed it down. After countless research and experiments in later generations, people found that, in addition to detoxifying effects, tea leaves can be combined with other herbal medicine as prescriptions to treat various illnesses.

Chinese people have been fond of tea since ancient times, since it not only helps to ease our mind, but also improves our health. Ancient Chinese texts, such as Shen-nong's Herbal Classics, advocate tea for its effects of helping people feel refreshed and unburden their body and mind. As remarked in Shen-nong's Dietary Classics (神農食經), an equally important medicine book, "Long-term intake of tea can boost one's vigor and mood." These texts all underscore the medical and health maintenance effects of tea.


A Right Tea a Day Keeps the Doctor Away
  Tea was first used as medicine and was later introduced as a dietary ingredient to make dishes. Nowadays, it has become a well-received beverage worldwide. Because of its healing and healthy effects, tea has never lost its popularity over time.

Modern Western medicine also confirms tea's innumerable health benefits using scientific proof. As is commonly known, tea helps to promote alertness, get rid of greasy aftertastes, lose body weight, incur diuretic effects, alleviate summer heat, prevent cavities, reduce blood sugar and blood pressure, and can also have an anti-radiation effect. This is because tea contains various nutrients, including tea polyphenols, caffeine, theanine, γ-Aminobutyric acid (GABA), and tea polysaccharides.

However, despite its health benefits, drinking teas that are unsuitable for our physical conditions or during the wrong seasons, may backfire. According to Dr. Li Bi-ru (李璧如), director of Jian-jung Tang (建中堂) Chinese Medicine Hospital, people's physical constitutions can be characterized as dry, hot, weak, and cold. For example, people deficient in body liquid should steer clear of warming foods and drinks, while people deficient in vigor should avoid cooling foods and drinks. Moreover, people are suggested to choose different teas for different seasons based on the tea's characteristics.


1. Drink Different Teas for Different Seasons

Summer and autumn are considered dry seasons, which are conducive to symptoms such as hacking cough and dry and itchy skin. In addition, people who smoke and drink alcohol, who are conducive to excessive internal heat or inflammation, who have more body fat, or have dry and hot physical constitution are suggested to drink, as appropriate, lightly-fermented tea such as green tea or white tea. The food characteristics of green tea are considered to be bitter and cooling, and may cause stomach irritation. People with a weak and cold physical constitution or a sensitive stomach should consume less lightly-fermented tea, or add more water to make the tea weaker when brewing it. It is also better to consume the tea hot to avoid incurring excessive phlegm.

People of weak and cold physical constitution, frail figures, or old age should not drink too much tea. Moreover, they are suggested to drink tea with neutral food characteristics such as black tea, pu'er tea, and oolong tea. They may also consider adding milk and brown sugar to the tea to bring more energy and warm up the stomach.


2. Herbal Tea is Especially Beneficial to Female

Herbal tea is not only trendy but also beneficial to women's physical constitution. As some herbal teas have the effect of relieving stagnancy of the qi in the liver and regulating menstruation, it can help alleviate the irritability during pre- and post menstrual period and menopause. Among them, jasmine tea can relieve constipation, and the bitter orange flower tea helps to regulate the qi and menstruation. Dr. Li Bi-ru also shared that for postpartum nutrition supplement for recovery, black tea with brown sugar can be a tasty and nourishing option.

 
3. Things to Avoid when Drinking Tea

Aside from its health benefits, people who drink tea should also learn the things that should be avoided when consuming it. For example, tea is not suitable for pregnant women, children, the elderly and those people who take modern medicine, or on an empty stomach. Nighttime is not a proper time for tea drinking, either.

The reason to suggest pregnant women to stay away from tea is because the fetus might absorb the caffeine found in tea. The rich polyphenols in tea may affect children's absorption of iron, causing symptoms of anemia. Drinking tea on an empty stomach or drinking a lot of strong tea can lead to "tea drunkenness," which involves symptoms such as jitteriness, dizziness, limb weakness, stomach discomfort, unsteadiness when standing, and hunger. When tea drunkenness occurs, it is best to eat candies or fruits immediately to alleviate the discomfort.

As for people's concern on the timing of tea drinking, so as not to cause negative health effects, generally speaking, morning is the best time to drink tea. It is also suggested to opt for aged tea that is low in caffeine. Since caffeine consumption can cause insomnia, it is better not to have tea late in the day.


The Trend to Use Tea in Medical Treatment

Photo credit: Fan Lee (李東陽)
Tea is generally regarded as a healthy drink, but there are many different opinions on its actual medical effects. With the development of science, in the clinical studies and research on long-term illness prevention and treatment, it is found that various substances found within tea have significant effects in health maintenance and illness treatment.

According to Dr. Li Bi-ru, Japan has a successful case of developing an herbal tea with medicinal effects: in 1974, Japanese doctor Dr. Ogawa Goshichiro (小川吾七郎) developed the "thin jade tea" to treat diabetes, which is made of powdered tea sprouts of green tea trees aged 30 to 100 years. Dr. Li herself also applies room temperature tea in the preparation of herbal pastes or medicated compresses for external use. In addition, she has suggested patients who suffer from headaches and toothaches alleviate their pain by drinking green tea.


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Related articles:

The Taste of Chan in Tea

Chan in the Aroma and Color of Tea

Tea Regimen

Things to be Aware of when having Tea for Recreational or Medicinal Purpose

Tea and Buddhist Monasteries

Go Have Some Tea – A Gong'an about Tea

The Art of the Tea Ceremony

How to Brew Chinese Tea?



Resource: Issue 291 of Humanity Magazine (November 2007), Dharma Drum Publishing Corporation
Translation: Li Siang-ling
Editing: Keith Brown, James