Tea is often considered the healthiest beverage. But did you know that incorrect ways of drinking tea are not only unhealthy but can also be harmful to the body? Usually, when we drink tea, we more or less have some bad habits. So let's take a look at what the misconceptions about drinking tea are.

Drinking Tea After Meals to Aid Digestion

Some say drinking a large amount of tea after dinner can help digest food in the stomach. In fact, drinking tea immediately after a meal can easily cause the tea polyphenols in the tea leaves to form complexes with iron, protein, and other substances in the food, thereby affecting the body's absorption of iron and protein. Drinking tea on an empty stomach before a meal dilutes gastric juice and affects its secretion, which is not conducive to food digestion. The correct method is to wait at least half an hour after a meal, preferably one hour, before drinking tea.

Using a Thermos Cup to Drink Tea?

I don't know how many tea lovers, like me, enjoy using a thermos cup to brew tea, but this practice is actually incorrect. Because using a thermos cup, the constant high temperature will cause excessive leaching of tannins and theophylline from the tea leaves, increasing the bitterness and reducing the nutritional content.

Not Changing Tea Leaves?

Some tea lovers, to save tea leaves, like to use the same batch of leaves to brew tea all day long. This practice is also not good. No matter what type of tea, there is a limited number of times it can be brewed. The tea tastes best within this limited number of infusions. If the same batch of tea leaves is brewed repeatedly, even ten or twenty times, not only will the taste be poor, but it will also have little nutritional value, making it useless for the body.

Steeping Tea for Too Long?

Tea lovers who prefer strong tea often like to 'steep' the leaves, making the tea soup more concentrated. Tea that should be brewed for a few minutes is instead steeped for ten or twenty minutes. While the tea soup becomes stronger, by this time, 80% of the caffeine and 60% of other soluble substances have been leached out. The tea will taste bitter and can be highly irritating to the stomach.

Drinking the Same Tea All Year Round?

Some tea lovers enjoy drinking green tea and might drink it all year round; those who like raw Pu'er drink raw Pu'er all four seasons. However, Chinese health preservation emphasizes maintaining health according to the season. In different seasons, one should drink different teas. In spring, to dispel the cold of winter, one can drink flower tea; in summer, to relieve heat and quench thirst, drink green tea; in autumn, to moisten dryness and reduce internal heat, drink oolong tea; in winter, to warm the stomach, drink black tea and dark tea.