For Chinese people, drinking tea for health preservation is a tradition that has been passed down for thousands of years. In fact, each type of tea has a natural good partner. Combining them can make the health care effects of drinking tea double.
Green tea + Lemon: Better for Heart Protection
Catechins and other polyphenolic compounds are recognized as the key beneficial components in green tea for health, with various functions including cancer prevention, improved cardiovascular health, weight loss, and resistance to ionizing radiation. Research from Purdue University in the USA found that adding citrus fruits rich in vitamin C to green tea can increase the body's absorption efficiency of catechins, potentially boosting their health benefits by four times. Experiments showed that among citrus fruits, lemon has the best effect.
Green tea with lemon has a fresh, sour, and cool taste, especially suitable for summer drinking. After brewing the green tea and letting it cool to a drinkable temperature, add one or two slices of lemon or a few drops of lemon juice to avoid the loss of vitamin C caused by high temperatures.
Oolong tea + Osmanthus: Better for Appetite
Oolong tea is a semi-fermented tea, such as Iron Guanyin and Da Hong Pao. It is rich in active substances like tannic acid, tea polyphenols, and plant alkaloids, which can help digest food and reduce greasiness. Paired with osmanthus, which has a fresh aroma and effects like invigorating the spleen, improving appetite, relieving dry throat and mouth, and addressing bad breath and toothache, it can greatly stimulate the appetite. Osmanthus has a pungent taste and warm nature, making it very suitable to drink with the neutral-natured Oolong tea.
It's best to brew Oolong tea in a purple clay teapot or a lidded bowl (gaiwan) using 100°C boiling water. After the tea is brewed, add about 3 grams of dried osmanthus flowers. However, note that people prone to insomnia should use this combination sparingly, as osmanthus can also refresh the mind, making it harder to sleep after drinking.
Jasmine tea + Chrysanthemum: Better for Brightening Eyes
Jasmine tea has a pungent and sweet taste and a warm nature. It not only has the effects of resolving dampness with aroma, invigorating the spleen and stomach but also can clear the liver and brighten the eyes. Chrysanthemum, with its fresh fragrance, acts on the liver channel and similarly has the effects of calming the liver and clearing the liver to brighten the eyes. Combining the two is like "joining forces."
When brewing jasmine tea with boiling water, add five or six white chrysanthemum flowers. You can also add a few goji berries, which also nourish the liver and kidneys, to strengthen the eye-brightening effect of the tea.
Jasmine Chrysanthemum tea can be drunk after steeping for 10-15 minutes. Chrysanthemum is relatively cold in nature. People with generally Yang-deficient constitutions (those who usually feel cold) and those with spleen and stomach deficiency-cold (experiencing stomach pain or discomfort after eating cold things) should be careful to drink less.
Pu'er + Tangerine Peel: Better for Digestion
Pu'er tea has a mild character, is relatively less irritating to the spleen and stomach, and can also alleviate the burden that greasy food places on the digestive system. Tangerine peel, which is dried orange peel, has the effects of strengthening the spleen, resolving phlegm, cutting greasiness, leaving a pleasant aroma, and stopping nausea.
First, rinse the Pu'er tea briefly for about 10 seconds to filter out impurities. Then, add a few pieces of tangerine peel and brew together. This combination offers both the fresh, fruity aroma of tangerine peel and the rich, aged fragrance of Pu'er, with a sweet aftertaste. It is most suitable for drinking when experiencing indigestion.
Do not drink Pu'er tea immediately after meals. Because Pu'er tea contains a certain amount of caffeine, people who are usually easily excited or sensitive, have poor sleep, or are physically weak should drink less or avoid it in the evening.
Black tea + Ginger: Warms the Body More
From the perspective of Traditional Chinese Medicine, black tea is warm in nature and can warm the middle and dispel cold. It is especially suitable for people with cold stomach, cold hands and feet, weak constitution, or those prone to diarrhea. Ginger, with its pungent taste and warm nature, is effective for dispersing wind-cold, warming the stomach, and supplementing Yang. Both have body-warming effects; combining them doubles the result. During midsummer, many people suffer from cold-dampness or "air-conditioning disease"; this combination can be used to dispel cold and relieve the exterior syndrome.
Brew black tea with freshly boiled water and add a few slices or shreds of ginger. The steeping time can also be relatively longer, which helps fully dissolve the flavonoid compounds in black tea, benefiting health. However, it is important to note that people with a heaty constitution are not suitable for using ginger with black tea, as drinking too much can easily lead to symptoms of internal heat.