Tea is a traditional Chinese beverage, but improper tea drinking is often harmful rather than beneficial to the body. Therefore, attention should be paid to the following points when drinking tea.

1. Special Groups Should Drink Tea with Caution

Those with neurasthenia should be cautious. Caffeine stimulates the nerves. Drinking strong tea, especially in the afternoon and evening, can cause insomnia and worsen the condition. Tea can be consumed once in the morning and once in the afternoon. It is recommended to drink flower tea in the morning and green tea in the afternoon, avoiding tea in the evening.

Pregnant women can drink tea, but not strong tea. Tea contains large amounts of polyphenols, caffeine, etc., which are unfavorable to the fetus. To ensure normal intellectual development of the fetus and avoid excessive stimulation from caffeine, pregnant women should drink little or no tea.

Women during lactation should not drink strong tea. During breastfeeding, drinking strong tea allows excessive caffeine to enter the breast milk. After ingestion by the infant, it indirectly causes excitement, easily leading to restlessness and frequent crying.

Ulcer patients should drink tea cautiously. Tea is a stimulant for gastric acid secretion, increasing irritation to the ulcer site. Regularly drinking strong tea can worsen the condition. However, mild patients can drink some weak tea two hours after taking medication, which may also have a certain effect on ulcers. Drinking tea can also block the synthesis of nitrosamine compounds, preventing precancerous mutations.

Those who are intoxicated should be cautious about drinking strong tea. Tea stimulates the nerve center. Drinking strong tea after intoxication increases the burden on the heart. Tea drinking accelerates diuresis, causing toxic aldehydes from alcohol, which have not yet been decomposed, to be excreted from the kidneys, significantly irritating the kidneys.

The elderly should not drink raw tea. Raw tea refers to green tea that is dried directly after de-enzyming without rolling. Raw tea has a natural green appearance. Its internal components are basically the same as the compounds contained in fresh leaves, with little transformation and volatilization of low-boiling-point aldehyde and alcohol compounds, resulting in a strong raw, grassy aroma. Elderly people drinking this type of green tea may experience strong stomach irritation and stomach pain after consumption; young people may also feel stomach discomfort, described as "scraping the stomach."

2. Six Situations Where Tea Should Not Be Drunk

Avoid drinking tea on an empty stomach. Drinking tea on an empty stomach dilutes stomach acid, inhibits gastric juice secretion, hinders digestion, and can even cause "tea drunkenness" phenomena such as palpitations, headaches, stomach discomfort, dizziness, and irritability. It also affects protein absorption and can cause gastritis. If "tea drunkenness" occurs, sucking candy or drinking some sugar water can alleviate it.

Avoid drinking large amounts of tea immediately before or after meals. It is not advisable to drink tea about 20 minutes before or after meals. Tea dilutes gastric juice, affecting food digestion. Moreover, because tea contains oxalic acid, it reacts with iron and protein in food, affecting their absorption.

Avoid drinking tea before bed. It is best not to drink tea within two hours before sleep. Tea can cause mental excitement, affecting sleep and even causing insomnia. This is especially true for freshly picked green tea, which can easily overstimulate nerves and cause insomnia.

Overnight tea should not be drunk. Tea is best drunk freshly brewed. After tea sits for a long time, it not only loses nutrients like vitamins but the tea soup can also oxidize and breed microorganisms, easily becoming spoiled and causing illness if consumed.

Do not drink overly strong new tea. New tea contains relatively high amounts of tannic acid, caffeine, alkaloids, aromatic oils, etc. Excessive strength can highly excite the nervous system, leading to "tea drunkenness" phenomena like increased heart rate, palpitations, and shortness of breath.

3. Poor Tea Drinking Habits

Using a thermos cup to brew tea: Tea is best brewed in ceramic pots or cups, not thermos cups. Brewing tea leaves in a thermos cup keeps the tea water at a high temperature for a long time, causing some aromatic oils to escape and reducing fragrance; excessive tannic acid and theophylline leach out, creating a bitter taste and thus losing some nutritional components.

Steeping tea for too long: Tea is best consumed after steeping for 4-6 minutes. By then, about 80% of the caffeine and 60% of other soluble substances have been extracted. Steeping for too long makes the tea taste bitter. Tea boiled for a long time in a thermos or on a stove undergoes chemical changes and should not be consumed. Furthermore, steeping a large cup of tea all day prevents tasting the true flavor of the tea, and prolonged steeping can easily cause heavy metals in the tea to leach out, which is unhealthy. It is best to separate tea leaves from water when drinking. Even without professional tea sets, one can prepare a teapot or cup with a filter.

Throwing away brewed tea leaves: Most people throw away used tea leaves after brewing. This is actually not economical. After brewing, high-quality green tea leaves should be eaten. The leaves of high-quality green tea are very tender and contain more carotene, crude fiber, and other nutrients.

Habitually brewing strong tea: Brewing a cup of tea with appropriate strength generally requires about 5 grams of tea leaves. Some people prefer strong tea. If the tea is too strong, it leaches excessive caffeine and tannic acid, which greatly irritates the stomach and intestines.

Additionally, "not washing new tea, not discarding leftover tea, and not cleaning tea stains" are also common mistakes people make when drinking tea. Whether it's tender new tea or precious aged tea, the surface may have pesticide residues or dust mite contamination. Oolong tea and dark tea are best "rinsed"—pour out the first infusion and do not drink it. Some people are reluctant to clean tea stains from their cups. Tea stains are not only unhealthy but also affect the taste of the tea.

4. Two Misconceptions About Drinking Tea

First, thinking that more expensive tea is better. Nowadays, there are increasingly high-priced teas, which not only satisfy people's taste demands but also serve as a status symbol. The price of tea should be determined by its quality and grade. Quality mainly refers to the tea's origin and cultivar, such as West Lake Longjing. Grade is mainly related to picking time and part—buds, one bud one leaf, one bud two leaves—the prices differ considerably. For the same Longjing, tea picked before Qingming (Mingqian tea) is the most expensive. Actually, there's no need to buy high-end tea; one can choose based on personal budget and taste. Tea priced between 100-300 yuan per jin is quite suitable. At this price, one can already buy tea with very good quality. Therefore, when purchasing, prioritize quality over grade. Some high-grade teas are picked too early and are too tender, while part of the tea's nutrition is precisely in the stems. Some cheaper teas have better health preservation effects.

Second, only drinking tea without savoring it. There are two kinds of tea: one is the tea among "firewood, rice, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, tea," and the other is the tea among "zither, chess, calligraphy, painting, poetry, wine, tea." The first kind of tea can satisfy people's needs for "nourishing the body," such as quenching thirst, refreshing, reducing internal heat, aiding digestion, etc. The second kind of tea can satisfy people's needs for "nourishing the heart," such as expressing emotions, observing etiquette, and comprehending truths. The greatest value of tea for people is primarily nourishing the heart, with nourishing the body as secondary. Especially for middle-aged people, who are busy with work and under high pressure, they should give themselves some time to patiently brew a pot of tea and savor a pot of tea. People are prone to making wrong decisions when agitated. At such times, it's also advisable to slowly savor a pot of tea first before making a decision.