How does Pu'er Tea contribute to health?

The Health benefits of Pu'er tea have always been a hot topic among tea enthusiasts. In the scientific community, many experts and scholars are continuously exploring the relationship between Pu'er tea and human health. This article is based on extensive research materials, which will help us understand how Pu'er tea can improve our health. The author of this article is not an academician, and there are some shortcomings in the expression, such as the role of microorganisms in the transformation of Pu'er tea. However, scientific exploration is endless, and all conclusions may be revised in continuous exploration. We publish this article hoping to continuously explore the topic of Pu'er tea and health with everyone, and together, we can approach the truth and uncover the “password” of Pu'er tea's health benefits.

When it comes to the effects of drinking Pu'er tea, almost every tea enthusiast can talk about it. Cases from friends, vigorous promotion by tea merchants, and health lectures by tea experts all touch upon this topic to varying degrees. Since the 20th century, the scientific community has conducted in-depth research on the medicinal substances and therapeutic mechanisms in tea, such as tea polyphenols, theaflavins, L-EGCG, etc. Although research on Pu'er tea started late, it has achieved significant results. These findings indicate that the various plant nutrients contained in Pu'er tea can act on the human body and produce practical effects.

Ancient and Modern Health Needs

Since ancient times, there has been a saying in Tibet: “Ja Cha Re (tea is blood), Ja Xia Re (tea is meat), Ja Suo Re (tea is life).” They have always believed that Pu'er tea is a powerful health drink capable of “detoxifying beef and mutton.”

During the Qing Dynasty, the functionality of Pu'er tea for “dissolving fat, aiding digestion, and sobering up” was further emphasized. It crossed numerous mountains and became the supreme tribute tea in the Forbidden City, ushering in the first glorious era in the history of Pu'er tea. The reason why Pu'er tribute tea was popular in the Qing Palace was because the Manchu people originated from a nomadic culture, where their diet mainly consisted of meat, requiring Pu'er tea to aid digestion and promote health.

Thanks to its prosperity in the capital, more and more people began to pay attention to Pu'er tea. Pu'er tea's powerful function was recorded in works like “Pu'er Tea Records” by Ruan Fu and “Supplement to Compendium of Materia Medica” by the pharmacist Zhao Xuemin. After the end of the Qing Dynasty, Pu'er tea spread to the south, reaching wider regions in Southeast Asia, taking root in Hong Kong, where it was said that drinking Pu'er tea could reduce fat, lose weight, and even alleviate high blood pressure.

By the end of the 20th century, with rapid economic development, the dietary structure of Chinese residents significantly improved. Many diseases associated with wealth began to emerge, and at this time, Pu'er tea rose, partly due to its ability to aid digestion and dissolve fat.

However, although these historical records contain numerous conclusions regarding the functions of Pu'er tea, they do not provide a basis for these conclusions, so they can only be categorized as “empirical science,” which still requires “experimental science” for verification. The biggest difference between experience and experimentation lies in that experiments are based on data models, while experience relies on individual feelings. Rational experiments are built upon sensory experiences, and they often corroborate each other, leading to similar conclusions.

Pu'er tea is no exception. With advancements in biotechnology, the scientific community's understanding of Pu'er tea's functionality has deepened, discovering a plant nutrient that combats aging and extends life – primary and secondary metabolites.

Plant Nutrients and Primary Metabolites

Nutrients contained in food are collectively known as nutrients. Currently, basic nutrients essential for sustaining human life can be divided into water, carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, minerals, trace elements, vitamins, and dietary fiber.[1] Many plants, in addition to containing these basic nutrients, also have “exclusive” nutrients, such as allicin in garlic, lycopene in tomatoes, cordycepin in Cordyceps militaris, tea polyphenols and tea saponins in tea, etc.[2]

These plant nutrients belong to primary metabolites, and although their effects vary, they are all highly beneficial to the human body. Some scholars view them as the most precious natural substances, even referring to them as “plant gold.”

Pu'er tea contains the largest variety and highest content of plant nutrients among teas. Some might consider this an exaggeration or self-promotion, but we can indeed verify this fact through tea polyphenols.

Tea polyphenols (TP, Tea Polyphenols) are one of the most well-known nutrients in tea. Scientists classify tea polyphenols into different categories based on chemical structure, including L-EGCG, catechins, anthocyanins, etc.[3] Firstly, L-EGCG is the only anticancer substance mentioned in “Tea Chemistry” textbooks. From initial antioxidant studies to the latest discoveries of its preventive functions for major diseases, L-EGCG is of great significance.[4] Secondly, the catechin family is considered by some scholars to be the best class of active ingredients in tea, possessing functions such as preventing vascular hardening, lowering blood lipids, anti-inflammatory and antibacterial, radiation protection, and anticancer properties.[5] Finally, anthocyanins are water-soluble natural pigments with antioxidant, antiradiation, and ultraviolet resistance properties. They can now be stably extracted and widely used in health supplements and beauty products.[6]

In addition, the plant nutrients in tea include nearly thirty types of amino acids, dozens of types of alkaloids, as well as tea polysaccharides, γ-aminobutyric acid, theaflavins, Theanine, and other beneficial substances.

The raw material of Pu'er tea belongs to the large-leaf variety, with large leaves and thick spongy tissues, containing up to one-third of tea polyphenolic compounds in dry tea, the highest among all tea types.[7]

When drinking other types of tea, the human body faces another challenge: lipophilic plant nutrients are insoluble in water, making it difficult to extract beneficial components for absorption during daily brewing. However, Pu'er tea does not have this concern, thanks to its processing method centered on kneading and sun-drying, which can convert a large amount of lipophilic substances that are insoluble in water into water-soluble substances that are easily absorbed, making the tea more durable when brewed. Therefore, thanks to the double blessing of large-leaf varieties and special processing techniques, Pu'er tea becomes the tea with the most plant nutrients. These beneficial substances that cannot be synthesized by the human body can enhance our immunity and improve physical fitness.

Specifically, newly produced raw Pu'er tea contains the most plant nutrients, followed by ripe Pu'er tea, and least in aged Pu'er tea. However, in another aspect – secondary metabolites, an important substance, aged Pu'er tea contains the most.

Secondary Metabolites

In unfermented tea, the plant nutrients mostly consist of primary metabolites. During the fermentation process of Pu'er tea, primary metabolites are transformed, degraded, and condensed into unique secondary metabolites.[8]

Secondary metabolites form a large family with over two thousand members, and there are still many categories that current research has not discovered or touched upon. These “little guys” have extremely small relative molecular masses but are highly active, often attaching themselves in a small molecule state to larger polymers, providing numerous benefits to the human body.[9]

The currently discovered functions of secondary metabolites include activating the lymphatic system, enhancing the immune system, controlling cholesterol levels, regulating hematopoietic function, modulating the central nervous system and peripheral nerves, and reducing high blood pressure.[10]

Post-aged Pu'er tea, with “post-aging” as its core, is a rich source of these secondary metabolites, such as the microbial fermentation process of ripe Pu'er tea and the natural fermentation process of raw Pu'er tea, both generating countless secondary metabolites. This is because post-aging in Pu'er tea is a