Daily Pu'er: Reaffirming Health

When I first started drinking Pu'er tea, my feelings were complex. Its rich and layered aroma, full-bodied liquor, smooth yet powerful, captivated me. I thought to myself, what a wonderful thing Pu'er tea is.

I was drawn to Pu'er tea, drinking it daily, feeling embraced by a gentle force. It infused a new energy into my life, which had been like a machine on a constant spin. As I learned more about Pu'er tea, I had the opportunity to visit Jingmai Mountain and gradually came to understand the entire process of Pu'er tea production from its growing environment, cultivation methods, processing techniques, to storage conditions. Pu'er tea showed me what growth in a natural state looks like.

Pu'er tea is a drinkable force of nature. Many friends love Pu'er tea because it is alive and full of vitality. Its vitality comes not only from the genetic makeup and rich internal content of the large-leaf Camellia sinensis trees but also from the ‘following the way of nature' approach in its cultivation and production, allowing it to evolve over time during storage.

Tea is a beverage for health, and the health value of Pu'er tea extends beyond physical benefits to inspire mental well-being. It offers us insights into the path of nature.

Daily Pu'er: Reclaiming Physical Health

Pu'er tea is beneficial to our bodies. Beyond providing nutrition and sensory pleasure, its primary benefit lies in its value as a functional food.

The concept of Functional Foods was first proposed by Japan in 1962. These foods contain ingredients that enhance bodily defenses, regulate physiological rhythms, prevent disease, and promote health through various body-regulating functions. In recent decades, international attention on functional foods has grown due to rising living standards and increased concern for personal health, as well as environmental pollution caused by industrialization and urbanization leading to an increase in diseases and infectious illnesses.

In current international research on functional foods, a key direction is the biotransformation of medicinal substances from natural plants, focusing on the physiological regulation produced by “active” components in food. Developed countries have prioritized the study of fermented or biotechnology-related foods as functional foods. In China, there has been a recent push towards developing “biotechnologically engineered foods with new nutritional and health benefits.”

In current domestic and international tea research, the functional aspect of tea's value is referred to as the “third function” value, beyond its nutritional and sensory functions.

As a post-Fermented tea, Pu'er tea has a rich “third function” value.

Firstly, Pu'er tea has the effect of alleviating alcohol and protecting the liver.

This mechanism lies in the L-alanine contained in Pu'er tea, which produces a large amount of pantothenic acid in the human body to promote normal alcohol metabolism. Additionally, L-cysteine can react with alcohol, accelerating its metabolism and absorbing a certain amount of alcohol, thereby increasing the body's tolerance to alcohol and converting cysteine, along with taurine, to repair damaged liver cells, brain cells, gastric mucosa, and other tissues.

Secondly, Pu'er tea aids digestion and reduces greasiness.

This mechanism is due to the fact that during fermentation, Pu'er tea's inherent cellulase and pectinase, under the influence of other enzymes, decompose to produce a large amount of glucosidase, which increases the secretion of gastric protease and enhances the stomach's ability to digest protein-rich foods, thus enhancing the body's digestive function.

Thirdly, Pu'er tea is good for the stomach.

Green Tea, Oolong Tea, and raw Pu'er tea, if drunk on an empty stomach, can cause strong irritation to the gastrointestinal tract. However, aged Pu'er tea and ripe tea with some aging have the effect of nourishing the stomach.

The mechanism begins with the fact that after fermentation, the large molecules in Pu'er tea are converted into smaller ones, causing less irritation and being more beneficial for the human gastrointestinal tract to absorb. Secondly, the Pectin substances contained in Pu'er tea have good adsorbability, capable of binding and eliminating bacterial toxins and heavy metals, radioactive elements, and other harmful substances in the body, playing a detoxifying role. For people suffering from gastric ulcers or gastritis, pectin-like substances can form a film adhering to the wounds in the stomach, promoting the healing of ulcers. Thirdly, the Caffeine in Pu'er tea can neutralize stomach acid, improving digestive function.

In addition to these immediate effects, Pu'er tea has some potential functions that become apparent only with long-term consumption.

Current academic research suggests that Pu'er tea has potential anti-cancer properties. Many scientists have found potential “drug sources” for cancer in the tea pigments of Pu'er tea. Moreover, tea pigments have potential lipid-lowering functions, due to their high permeability, which improves the deformability of red blood cells, adjusts the aggregation of red blood cells and the adhesiveness of platelets, lowers plasma viscosity, and thus reduces whole blood viscosity, improving microcirculation.

Furthermore, Pu'er tea can produce statin-like pharmaceutical components during fermentation, such as lovastatin and simvastatin, which are lipid-lowering pharmaceutical components. The statin-like components in Pu'er tea are natural products of the fermentation process and not “chemically synthesized Western medicine,” holding potential as part of a food-based nutritional plan to replace statins.

Additionally, the diuretic effects of the caffeine and theophylline in Pu'er tea have potential functions in alleviating hypertension and hyperlipidemia. The mechanism lies in the fact that the caffeine and theophylline in Pu'er tea can relax vascular smooth muscle, expanding the blood vessels. Additionally, caffeine can decompose sodium ions in the blood, playing a role in sodium excretion, thus reducing blood volume and indirectly lowering blood pressure. For Chinese people with a salty diet, this makes Pu'er tea a very suitable beverage.

Moreover, the polysaccharides in Pu'er tea have potential glucose-lowering functions. Pu'er tea uses coarser leaves and undergoes fermentation, producing more polysaccharides compared to other teas. Polysaccharides are biologically active high-molecular compounds, and through fermentation, they break down and transform into small molecule oligosaccharides. Their characteristic is that they are difficult to digest and absorb in the gastrointestinal tract, have low sweetness, and low caloric content, not causing blood sugar levels to rise, making them suitable for individuals with high blood sugar and diabetes.

Polysaccharides also improve the microecological environment within the body, favoring the proliferation of beneficial bacteria such as bifidobacteria. The organic acids produced during their metabolism lower the pH in the intestines, inhibiting the growth of intestinal pathogens and putrefactive bacteria, preventing constipation, and increasing vitamin synthesis, enhancing the immune system and indirectly aiding in glucose regulation.

Originally published in Pu'er Magazine

“Daily Pu'er: Reaffirming Health”

February 2025 Issue

Article by Jin Zhen | Images by Jie Fang (except where credited)

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