Do you know what kind of tea can help remove dampness? Summer weather features high temperatures and significant humidity. If one drinks a lot of water but the body cannot eliminate it promptly, it can easily lead to internal dampness. Thus, preventing dampness in summer is very important. Below, China Eat Network tells you what kind of tea you can drink to remove dampness.
1. What Tea Can Be Drunk to Remove Dampness
Due to temperature differences between northern and southern regions, especially in summer, excessive dampness can easily cause illness. Many people hope to find relief through diet during this time. What tea is good for invigorating the spleen and removing dampness in summer? Due to work constraints, some people don't have time for dietary therapy. The simplest solution then is to drink some tea that can strengthen the spleen and dispel dampness.
1. Xianglan Herbal Tea (Fragrant Orchid Cool Tea)
Formula Ratio: 9 grams of patchouli (Huoxiang), 9 grams of orchid grass (Peilan), 6 grams of tea leaves. Preparation Method: Wash 9 grams of patchouli and 9 grams of orchid grass, place them in a teapot with 6 grams of tea leaves, pour 500 ml of boiling water, cover and steep for 5 minutes, then add ice cubes to cool before drinking. Efficacy: Clears heat, dispels wind, relieves summer heat, transforms dampness, stimulates appetite, and stops vomiting.
2. Heat-Clearing and Dampness-Removing Herbal Tea
Main Ingredients: Mahonia (Shida Gonglao), Spatholobus stem (Jixueteng), Dandelion (Pugongying), etc. Efficacy: Clears heat and toxins, promotes diuresis, and transforms turbid dampness. Suitable for symptoms caused by damp-heat such as yellow greasy tongue coating, abdominal distension and poor appetite, abdominal pain and diarrhea, heavy limbs, etc. Most suitable for people frequently active outdoors or those suffering from summer-heat ailments.
3. Heat-Clearing and Dampness-Dispelling Tea
Suitable for gastrointestinal damp-heat syndrome: fatigue, lethargy, poor appetite, abdominal distension or pain, bad breath, mouth ulcers, swollen gums, or possibly eczema, itchy skin, hard or loose stools, yellow urine, thick yellow tongue coating. Formula: 15g Honeysuckle (Yinhua), 30g Kapok (Mumianhua), 10g Pagoda Tree Flower (Huaihua), 30g Knotweed (Huotanmu), 15g Gardenia Fruit (Shanzhizi), 15g Virgate Wormwood (Mianyinchen), 30g Hyacinth Bean (Biandou), 15g Bitter Orange (Zhiqiao), 15g Hawthorn (Shanzha), 10g Patchouli (Huoxiang), 15g Dandelion (Pugongying).
4. Spleen-Invigorating and Dampness-Removing Tea
50g Atractylodes (Baizhu), 50g Poria (Fuling), 50g Licorice (Gancao), 50g Wolfberry (Gouqizi), 50g Tribute Chrysanthemum (Gongju), 50g Citron (Xiangyuan) (omit for males).
5. Lotus Leaf Herbal Tea
Tear half a lotus leaf into pieces, boil with 10g Talcum (Huashi), 10g Atractylodes (Baizhu), and 6g Licorice (Gancao) in water for about 20 minutes. Strain the liquid, add a small amount of sugar, stir well, cool, and drink. Can prevent heatstroke and cool down.
In summer, one can drink more tea according to different body constitutions for health preservation. With high summer temperatures, while paying attention to sun protection and heatstroke prevention, don't overlook the dangers of dampness. Additionally, the best secret recipe for removing dampness is to take two handfuls of red beans and coix seed (Job's tears) in any proportion, boil them in water, drink the soup, and finally eat all the red beans and coix seed with the last serving. Drink twice a day for 7 consecutive days. This has the best dampness-removing effect. Wishing you health! Finally, you can usually drink tea brewed by Yeli. Also, try the following methods to dispel dampness: exercise and sweating method; eat a light diet in moderation or make some summer heat-relieving, spleen-invigorating, dampness-dispelling soup; reduce salt intake to help the kidneys drain water; avoid damp environments, etc.
2. Benefits of Drinking Tea in Summer
In hot summer, people often prefer cold drinks to relieve heat. Actually, drinking tea can also help relieve summer heat, and it is more beneficial than drinking general beverages. The main benefits of drinking tea in summer are as follows:
1. Drinking tea can prevent gastrointestinal and digestive diseases.
In hot summer, if dietary hygiene is slightly neglected, bacteria can multiply rapidly. Summer is a season with frequent digestive tract diseases. Scientific research shows that tea has antibacterial, bactericidal, and gut microbiome-improving functions. Drinking tea can inhibit the growth of harmful bacteria while promoting the proliferation of beneficial bacteria, enhancing intestinal immunity.
2. Drinking tea can replenish potassium salts and fluids.
High summer temperatures cause people to sweat more, leading to the loss of a large amount of potassium salts from the body through sweat. At the same time, the accumulation of metabolic intermediates such as pyruvic acid, lactic acid, and carbon dioxide due to physical exertion can disrupt the body's acid-base balance and metabolism, potentially causing arrhythmia, leading to symptoms like fatigue, drowsiness, loss of appetite, weakness, and even dizziness. Tea is a potassium-containing food. Researchers using atomic absorption spectrometry determined that the average potassium leaching content in black tea soup is 24.1 mg per gram of tea soup, and 10.7 mg for green tea. Drinking tea in summer can replenish potassium salts, helping maintain normal osmotic pressure inside and outside cells and acid-base balance in the body, supporting normal physiological metabolic activities. This is an important reason why drinking tea is advisable in summer when sweating is profuse.
3. Tea is a natural beverage without additives.
No additives are added during the tea production process. The formation of its color, aroma, and taste depends only on the raw material quality and production mechanism. In contrast, many other beverages often require the addition of chemical substances such as pigments, flavors, and sweeteners during manufacturing to improve their sensory properties and enhance color, aroma, and taste. Sometimes, depending on the beverage's purpose, stimulants, anesthetics, or preservatives are appropriately added. Currently, over two hundred types of food additives are used in China. Experts recommend drinking fewer beverages containing chemical additives and more natural beverages. Tea is an ideal natural beverage.
4. Drinking tea has the effects of dissipating heat, cooling down, promoting salivation, and quenching thirst.
During the scorching heat of midsummer, tea's cooling and thirst-quenching effects far surpass those of general beverages. This is due to the combined action of various effective components in tea. The caffeine in tea soup plays an important role in regulating the body's hypothalamic temperature control center. Meanwhile, the aromatic substances in tea themselves act as cooling agents, carrying away a certain amount of heat from the body's skin pores during evaporation. Drinking hot tea in summer provides the best heat dissipation and cooling effect. The caffeine in tea also has a diuretic effect. Additionally, components like tea polyphenols, amino acids, water-soluble pectin, and aromatic substances in tea soup can stimulate the oral mucosa, promote saliva secretion, and have thirst-quenching effects.
3. Six Kinds of Foods for Removing Dampness and Detoxifying in Summer
1. Mung Beans
Mung beans have the effects of clearing heat and toxins, removing dampness and promoting diuresis, and relieving summer heat and thirst. Drinking more mung bean soup is beneficial for detoxification and reducing swelling. However, the cooking time should not be too long to avoid destroying organic acids and vitamins, which would reduce their effectiveness.
2. Chinese Yam (Shanyao)
Chinese yam can regulate the digestive system, reduce subcutaneous fat deposition, prevent obesity, and enhance immune function. Eating it raw has the best detoxification effect. You can cut peeled white yam and pineapple into small pieces, blend them together into juice, which has stomach-invigorating and intestine-regulating functions.
3. Coix Seed (Job's Tears, Yiyiren)
It has the effects of promoting diuresis and reducing swelling, invigorating the spleen and removing dampness, relaxing tendons and relieving stiffness, clearing heat, and draining pus. It is a commonly used diuretic and dampness-percolating herb. Coix seed water is a good detoxification method. Simply boil coix seeds in water until soft, add a little sugar to personal taste. It is a natural skincare product for whitening.
4. Oats
Oats can lubricate the intestines and promote bowel movements, increasing stool volume and moisture content. Combined with fiber, they promote gastrointestinal peristalsis, exerting laxative and detoxifying effects. Drinking blended steamed oats as a beverage is a good choice. Other ingredients like apples and raisins can be added during blending for nutrition and promoting bowel movements.
5. Burdock (Niubang)
Burdock can promote blood circulation, metabolism, and has intestinal function-regulating effects. The dietary fiber it contains can retain water, soften stools, aid detoxification, and relieve constipation. It can be made into burdock tea for drinking anytime, suitable for long-term consumption.
6. Red Beans (Adzuki Beans, Hongdou)
Red beans, neutral to slightly cool in nature, sweet in taste, contain protein, fat, carbohydrates, B vitamins, potassium, iron, phosphorus, etc. Red beans can promote the activation of heart and blood vessels and have diuretic effects. People experiencing symptoms like chills, low blood pressure, and easy fatigue can often eat red beans to improve these discomforts. Additionally, red beans have the effects of invigorating the stomach, promoting salivation, removing dampness, and boosting energy, making them good medicinal and healthy food.