We talk most about the effects of Pu'er tea on digestion and greasiness, lowering fat and weight loss, nourishing the stomach and calming the mind. In this regard, you only need to look at modern scientific clinical experiments and theoretical data that are reasonable and well-established to know a thing or two. The theory of traditional Chinese medicine is good at prescribing the right medicine based on the cold and heat properties of the human body. Although Pu'er tea is not a medicine, its effect in health care is very obvious.

Then:

Is Pu'er tea cold or hot in nature?

Which side do the ancients tend to favor in their evaluation of Pu'er tea?

How should we choose the appropriate type of Pu'er tea according to our own constitution?

On the cold nature of Pu'er tea

Zhang Hong of the Qing Dynasty's "Southern Yunnan New Words": "Dian tea has a bitter taste and extremely cold nature, and can dispel fever and diseases."

"Yan Tea Discussion" contains: "The heat of highland barley cannot be explained by tea. Therefore, we cannot rely on it."

Zhao Xuemin of the Qing Dynasty's "Compendium of Materia Medica": "Pu'er tea paste, black as lacquer, is the first to sober up, green is better; it digests and resolves phlegm, clears the stomach and promotes body fluids. Pu'er tea, steamed into a ball, obtained from Xifan City, is the best at transforming substances. Pu'er tea has a bitter taste and can relieve greasy cattle and sheep poisons.

Wang Chang of the Qing Dynasty's "Catalogue of Travel to Yunnan": "Pu'er tea has a deep flavor and can cure diseases."

Wang Shixiong of the Qing Dynasty's "Suixiju Diet Manual" contains: "Tea is slightly bitter, slightly sweet and cool, clearing the mind and waking up sleep, removing annoyances, cooling the liver and gallbladder, clearing away heat and inflammation, soothing the lungs and stomach, improving eyesight and quenching thirst. Pu'er products have a strong taste, are good at vomiting wind and phlegm, and can eliminate meat. If the symptoms of abdominal pain, cholera and dysentery begin to appear in the summer, they will be cured by drinking it."

"Nanzhao Preparatory Examination": "Pu'er Prefecture produces tea from six tea mountains: Youle, Geden, Yibang, Mangzhi, Manzhuan, Manzhuan, and Yibang and Manzhuan have better taste. The taste is bitter in nature and can relieve the poison of greasy cattle and sheep. It is contraindicated by people with weak constitution. Bitter and astringent, it can expel phlegm and lower Qi, scrape the intestines and relieve diarrhea."…

Judging from the records about the efficacy of Pu'er tea in the above documents, the ancients used the cold-natured efficacy of Pu'er tea as a health care product to maintain health. This is similar to our modern experience of Pu'er raw tea: the newly made raw tea we drink now is divided according to the source of raw materials. As long as the process is correct, the raw tea from the platform is cold in nature, and the tea from ancient trees is cooler in nature. This is empirical data obtained through drinking and physical sensation.

On the warm nature of Pu'er tea

According to "Weibu" in Volume 6 of Zhao Xuemin's "Compendium of Materia Medica" of the Qing Dynasty, "Pu'er tea paste can cure all kinds of diseases. For example, abdominal distension and colds can be dispersed with ginger decoction, which can be cured by sweating; if the mouth is broken, the throat is painful, and the pain is caused by heat, use (tea paste) for 5 minutes and leave it in the mouth overnight.

Wu Daxun of the Qing Dynasty wrote in "Records of Hearings and Seeings in Southern Yunnan": "Tuancha can help digest food and regulate qi, remove stagnation, and dispel wind and cold. It is the most beneficial thing."

Qing Dynasty Ruan Fu's "Pu'er Tea Notes": "Xieshi, dispersing cold and detoxifying."

"Simao Hall Interview": "It helps digestion, dispels cold, and has detoxification effect."

"Yunnan Chronicles": "Pu'er Mountain is in the car where the military and civilians comfort the Sibei. It produces tea, which is warm in nature and fragrant, and is named Pu'er tea."

"Yuanjiang Prefecture Chronicles": "Pu'er tea comes from Pu'er Mountain. It has a warm nature and a fragrant taste, which is different from other products."

"Brahma Tian Lu Cong Lu": "Pu'er tea is produced in Pu'er Mountain, Yunnan, and is warm in nature and thick in flavor."

　…

From the descriptions in the above documents, we have come to a completely opposite conclusion about the performance of Pu'er tea - Pu'er tea is warm in nature and can drive away cold! There are many documents supporting this statement, among which Zhao Xuemin's "Compendium of Materia Medica" is even more extreme. In the same book, the same author uses two different contradictory properties to describe Pu'er tea! What is the reason for this?

How to choose Pu’er tea

The presence of two contradictory characteristics in the same tea can only mean that the tea has undergone fundamental changes. Some clues can be seen in Zhao Xuemin's "Compendium of Materia Medica". It's Pu'er tea, but it says "if you catch a cold, use ginger soup to spread it" refers to the tea paste. We don't know what qualitative changes took place between tea and tea paste, nor do we know what the ancients' secret recipe was for making tea paste, but we do know that the tea paste has become "warm in nature".

In addition, there is a passage in the "Compendium of Materia Medica": "The real tea is cold in nature, but the tea from Mengshan Mountain in Yazhou is warm and the main factor is disease." This record has given us a lot of inspiration. The "Man from Mengshan" recorded in the book should be what we are talking about now, Mengding Huangya, which is a kind of yellow tea. After yellow tea undergoes a yellowing process, the catechins undergo oxidation and isomerization, which reduces the bitterness of the tea leaves and the coldness of the tea products. What changes the nature of tea is the manufacturing process rather than the tea type itself. Is the "warm nature" of Pu'er tea similar to this?

It seems that the ancients were also very entangled with the fact that the same tea can repel cold and heat. In fact, from the perspective of modern Pu'er tea, there is no contradiction. New Pu'er tea is cold in nature, and gradually transforms into neutral and warm as the years of storage increase. Therefore, it has the functions of dispelling heat and dispelling cold, while new tea dispels heat and old tea dispels cold. Another situation is that the newly made Pu'er tea has been fermented during the production process because the initial production process is not in place. The processed new tea is completely different from our current raw tea. Instead, it is similar to today's cooked tea, so it also has some of the warm properties of cooked tea. At that time, the ancients did not distinguish between old and new Pu'er, let alone raw and cooked Pu'er. No wonder they came to contradictory conclusions.

Knowing the truth about the cold and warm nature of Pu'er tea, we can scientifically choose new raw tea with "cold nature", cooked tea with "warm nature" or old tea with "warm nature" according to our physical condition.

　 (Editor: Bonnie)

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