Tea Knowledge: How to Drink New Tea Properly
China has long been a country with a long history of growing, drinking, and tasting tea. Drinking tea is a good habit and an excellent way to maintain health and wellness. Many people like to drink new tea, thinking the fresher the better. However, this is not always true—not all teas are better when fresh; for example, Pu'er tea and dark tea are better when aged. So how can new tea be drunk more healthily?
How to Drink New Tea More Healthily
When tasting new tea, pay attention to the following five points.
1. Do not rush to drink new tea
Tea leaves harvested less than a month ago have not been stored for a long time, so beneficial substances like polyphenols, alcohols, and aldehydes have not fully oxidized. This can lead to gastrointestinal discomfort, diarrhea, bloating, and other adverse reactions after drinking. In addition, new tea has higher levels of caffeine, active alkaloids, and various aromatic compounds, which can easily stimulate the nervous system, causing symptoms such as weakness, cold sweats, and insomnia—known as "tea drunkenness."
2. Do not drink tea immediately after meals
This is because a large amount of water entering the stomach, which is digesting food, dilutes digestive juices and affects food digestion and absorption. Tea contains a lot of tannic acid. Drinking tea right after a meal causes undigested proteins to combine with tannic acid, forming an indigestible solid substance that affects protein absorption. Additionally, tea can interfere with the body's absorption of iron.
3. Avoid strong and scalding tea
Generally, tea should be light rather than strong. Brewing with boiling water allows the effective components of the tea to quickly infuse. For some very tender green teas, such as Longjing tea, water at 80°C to 85°C can be used to make the tea aroma pure and the taste sweet. The human esophagus is very delicate and can only tolerate food at 50°C to 60°C. Drinking tea that is too hot can easily scald the mouth, throat, and esophageal epithelial cells. Frequent scalding can easily cause cell mutations, becoming a cancer risk.
4. Do not drink tea at the same time as taking medication
Whether taking Chinese or Western medicine, do not drink tea immediately after taking medication, and do not use tea to swallow medicine, as it will affect the effective absorption of the drugs.
5. People with cardiovascular diseases, weak spleen and stomach, and those prone to insomnia should not drink large amounts of tea.
New tea has higher levels of caffeine, active alkaloids, and various aromatic compounds, which can easily stimulate the nervous system, having adverse effects on those with neurasthenia or cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. In addition, new tea contains more unoxidized polyphenols and aldehydes, which strongly irritate the gastrointestinal mucosa. People with poor gastrointestinal function, especially those with chronic gastroenteritis, may experience stomach pain, bloating, constipation, dry mouth, and other symptoms when drinking new tea.
Every year when new tea is heavily marketed, many people rush to buy large quantities to be the first to drink it, ignoring the potential risks of new tea. Long-term consumption of new tea can easily lead to gastric bleeding. How to drink new tea more healthily? I hope this helps you.