Spring: Drink Flower Tea

Most regions in China have a monsoon climate with four distinct seasons: warm spring, hot summer, cool autumn, and cold winter. In spring, the revival of the spring breeze and the growth of yang energy bring vitality to all things, but people often feel drowsy and fatigued, a phenomenon known as "spring fatigue."

Drinking flower tea can help alleviate the adverse effects of spring fatigue. Flower tea, with its sweet, cool, and aromatic dispersing properties, helps dissipate the cold evil accumulated in the body during winter and promotes the growth of yang energy. It refreshes the mind and spirit, naturally dispelling "spring fatigue."

Flower tea is a treasure among teas, combining the beauty of tea flavor with the fragrance of flowers. "Flowers enhance tea aroma, each benefiting the other." It is made by scenting tea leaves with fresh flowers, leveraging the tea's ability to absorb aromas and the flowers' fragrance-releasing characteristics. Jasmine tea is the most famous, as jasmine offers a delicate and refreshing aroma that blends into the tea, creating a rich, mellow, and pleasant drink. To brew high-quality flower tea, use a transparent lidded glass cup. Place 3 grams of tea, pour water cooled to about 90°C after boiling, and cover immediately to prevent the aroma from escaping. After two to three minutes, it is ready to drink, delivering a captivating fragrance that uplifts the spirit.

Summer: Drink Green Tea

Summer is hot and scorching, with people sweating profusely, consuming much energy, and often feeling listless. Green tea is ideal during this season. As an unfermented tea, green tea is cooling in nature—"coolness can clear heat"—making it excellent for reducing internal heat, promoting saliva production, quenching thirst, aiding digestion, resolving phlegm, and accelerating the healing of oral and mild gastric ulcers.

Moreover, it is rich in nutrients and has medicinal value, such as lowering blood lipids and preventing arteriosclerosis. When brewed, green tea yields a clear liquor, a subtle aroma, and a refreshing taste. Drinking it regularly in summer helps clear heat, relieve summer heat, and strengthen the body. Notable green teas include Longjing from Lion Peak in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, known for its jade-green liquor and delicate fragrance, hailed as "the finest Chinese green tea"; Biluochun from Taihu Lake in Jiangsu, with its emerald green color and rich aroma; and Huangshan Maofeng from Anhui, celebrated for its refreshing taste.

To brew green tea, use water at 90°C. For high-grade and tender green teas, whose leaves are delicate and aromas are low-boiling-point and fresh, 80°C water is sufficient. Do not cover the cup while brewing to avoid a stuffy taste that could affect the tea's freshness.

Autumn: Drink Green Tea (Oolong Tea)

Autumn brings clear skies, cool winds, falling leaves, and dry weather, leading to dry mouth and chapped lips—a condition known in Traditional Chinese Medicine as "autumn dryness." Oolong tea is recommended during this season. Oolong tea, also known as blue tea, is a semi-fermented tea, intermediate between green and black tea. It has a bluish-brown color, and when brewed, the leaves appear green in the center with red edges, earning the nickname "green leaves with red borders." It combines the freshness and natural floral aroma of green tea with the mellow richness of black tea. Neither too cooling nor too warming, it is mild and helps moisturize the skin and throat, promote saliva production, clear accumulated heat from the body, and help the body adapt to seasonal changes.

Famous oolong teas include Fujian Oolong, Guangdong Oolong, and Taiwan Oolong, with Wuyi Rock Tea from northern Fujian and Anxi Tieguanyin from southern Fujian being particularly renowned. Oolong teas are often categorized by tea plant varieties, such as Tieguanyin, Qilan, Meizhan, Shuixian, Taoren, and Maoxie. Oolong tea is traditionally enjoyed strong, emphasizing aroma appreciation. Brew with 100°C boiling water, pour into cups after a short steeping, and savor its rich aroma and lingering aftertaste.

Winter: Drink Black Tea

Winter is cold and frozen, with all things in hibernation. Cold evil invades the body, physiological functions decline, and yang energy weakens. Traditional Chinese Medicine states: "In the depths of winter, all living things are dormant, and the body's physiological activities are suppressed. The way of health preservation lies in keeping warm and guarding against cold." Thus, black tea is the top choice for winter.

Black tea is sweet and warm, nourishing the body's yang energy. Rich in protein and sugar, it generates warmth, enhances cold resistance, aids digestion, and reduces greasiness. Black tea undergoes full fermentation during processing, oxidizing tea tannins, hence it is also called fully fermented tea. The oxidation of fresh tea leaves produces red oxidative polymers—theaflavins, thearubigins, and theabrownins. Some of these pigments dissolve in water, forming the red tea liquor when brewed.

Traditional Gongfu black tea varieties include Huhong, Yihong, Ninghong, Minhong, Taihong, and Qihong, with Qimen Black Tea (Keemun) from Qimen County, Anhui, being the most famous. Brew black tea with freshly boiled water and cover the cup to retain its aroma. In Britain, it is common to have "afternoon tea," often blending Keemun with Indian black tea and adding milk and sugar. In some parts of China, black tea is also consumed with sugar, milk, or sesame, providing warmth, added nutrition, and enhanced health benefits.

Health Benefits of Tea:

1. Quenches thirst, promotes saliva production, and refreshes the mind.

2. Prevents cancer, resists aging.

3. Lowers blood sugar and provides anti-radiation effects.

4. Kills certain pathogenic bacteria in the intestines.

5. Supplements beta-carotene.