When people dine at restaurants, they are accustomed to ordering a pot of tea to cut the grease and cleanse the palate. Nowadays, the "richly-ingredient" Babao Gaiwan Tea is becoming increasingly popular. Bright red goji berries, tender green tea leaves, paired with refreshing rock sugar, create a delightful flavor.
Both green tea and goji berries are highly nutritious. Green tea contains catechins and β-carotene, vitamin C, vitamin E, and other compounds, offering multiple benefits such as eliminating free radicals, delaying aging, and preventing cancer. Goji berries are neutral in nature and sweet in taste, and are believed to tonify the kidneys and nourish essence, nourish yin and enrich blood, nourish the liver and improve eyesight, and moisten the lungs and relieve cough. Many health-promoting and wellness medicines contain goji berries. However, this seemingly healthy combination is actually not very advisable.
The large amount of tannic acid in green tea has an astringent and adsorbing effect, which can adsorb the trace elements from goji berries, forming substances that are difficult for the human body to absorb. Therefore, if considering health benefits, it might be better to drink green tea and goji berries separately. Drink a cup of green tea in the morning to stimulate the appetite and refresh the mind; steep and drink goji berries in the afternoon to improve your physical condition and aid sleep. If you are concerned that the invigorating effects of the green tea will last into the afternoon or evening, you can simply discard the initial brew after about three minutes, then add more hot water and drink it.