There is an old saying in China: "Seven necessities for running a household: firewood, rice, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, and tea." This saying illustrates that tea is an indispensable part of the lives of the Chinese people. However, while people know that drinking tea is enjoyable and beneficial to health, they are often unaware of the knowledge behind it, such as the great importance of drinking different teas in different seasons. Traditional Chinese medicine advocates: drink scented tea in spring, green tea in summer, oolong tea in autumn, and black tea in winter.
Spring: Drink Scented Tea
Most regions of China have a monsoon climate, with distinct seasons: warm spring, hot summer, cool autumn, and cold winter. In spring, the spring breeze awakens the land, and yang energy begins to grow, bringing vitality to all things. However, people often feel drowsy and lethargic, a phenomenon known as "spring lethargy."
Drinking scented tea can alleviate the adverse effects of spring lethargy. Scented tea is sweet and cool, yet also carries a fragrant and pungent aroma that helps to disperse the cold pathogen accumulated in the body during winter and promotes the generation of yang energy. It refreshes the mind and eliminates spring lethargy.
Scented tea is a treasured variety that combines the beauty of tea with the fragrance of flowers. "Flowers enhance the tea's aroma, and each brings out the best in the other." It is made by blending and scenting tea leaves, such as green tea and other types, with fresh flowers, taking advantage of the tea's ability to absorb aromas and the flowers' ability to release them. The most famous is jasmine tea, because jasmine has a pure and delicate fragrance that makes the tea rich, mellow, and refreshing. To brew high-quality scented tea, a transparent glass cup with a lid is recommended. Use 3 grams of tea, place it in the cup, and brew with boiled water cooled to about 90°C. Immediately cover the cup to prevent the aroma from escaping. After two or three minutes, it is ready to drink, and one will immediately be greeted by a fragrant aroma that is both refreshing and invigorating.
Summer: Drink Green Tea
Summer is hot and scorching. Sweating profusely in the heat, people expend a great deal of physical energy and their spirits flag. This is the best time to drink green tea. Green tea is unfermented and has a "cold" nature in traditional Chinese medicine. "Cold dispels heat," making it most effective for clearing internal heat, promoting the production of saliva to quench thirst, aiding digestion, and resolving phlegm. It also accelerates the healing of oral and mild gastric ulcers.
Furthermore, it is rich in nutrients and has medicinal value such as lowering blood fat and preventing vascular hardening. When brewed, green tea has a clear color, a delicate aroma, and a fresh taste. Drinking it daily in summer can clear heat and relieve summer heat, while strengthening the body. Treasured varieties of green tea include Longjing from Shifeng in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, which has a jade-green color and a delightful fragrance, acclaimed as the "finest of Chinese green teas"; Biluochun from Taihu Lake in Jiangsu, with a vibrant, tender green color and a rich aroma; and Huangshan Maofeng from Anhui, which has a fragrant taste.
To brew green tea, use water at 90°C. For high-quality and delicate green teas, whose leaves and buds are tender and whose aromas are often delicate with low boiling points, water at 80°C is sufficient. Do not cover the cup during brewing to avoid trapping hot steam, which would affect the tea's fresh taste.
Autumn: Drink Oolong Tea
In autumn, the sky is high and the clouds are light, a cool wind blows, and flowers and plants wither. The dry climate can cause a dry mouth, chapped lips, and a condition in traditional Chinese medicine known as "autumn dryness." This is the time to drink oolong tea. Oolong tea, also known as Wu Long tea, is semi-fermented, falling between green and black tea. It has a bluish-brown color, and when brewed, the center of the leaves appears green while the edges are red, earning it the beautiful name "green leaves with red rims." It has the delicate fragrance and natural floral notes of green tea, as well as the mellow taste of black tea. It is neither too cold nor too hot, but temperate. It moisturizes the skin and throat, promotes the production of saliva, clears internal heat, and helps the body adapt to the changing natural environment.
Famous varieties of oolong tea include Fujian oolong, Guangdong oolong, and Taiwan oolong, with Wuyi rock tea from northern Fujian and Tieguanyin from Anxi in southern Fujian being particularly renowned. However, oolong teas are often categorized by the tea plant variety, including Tieguanyin, Qilan, Meizhan, Shuixian, Taoren, and Maoxie. Oolong tea is traditionally consumed strong, with an emphasis on savoring the aroma. It requires 100°C boiling water for brewing. After steeping for a moment, pour the tea from the pot into cups to drink. The aroma is rich and lingers in the mouth.
Winter: Drink Black Tea
In winter, the weather is cold and the earth is frozen. All things lie dormant, and cold pathogens invade the body. The body's physiological functions decline, and yang energy gradually weakens. Traditional Chinese medicine believes: "In the depths of winter, the life force of all things is dormant, and the body's physiological activities are in a state of suppression. The key to health preservation is to guard against cold and keep warm." Therefore, black tea is the best choice for winter.
Black tea is sweet and warm, which can nourish the body's yang energy. It is rich in protein and sugar, generating heat to warm the abdomen and enhancing the body's ability to resist cold. It also aids digestion and removes greasiness. During processing, black tea is fully fermented, causing the tea tannins to oxidize, hence it is also called a fully fermented tea. The fresh tea leaves are oxidized to form red oxidative polymerization products—theaflavins, thearubigins, and theabrownins. Some of these pigments are water-soluble, creating the red tea soup when brewed.
Famous traditional black teas include Hunan Hong, Yichang Hong, Ning Hong, Min Hong, Taiwan Hong, and Keemun (Qi Hong), with Keemun from Qimen County, Anhui, being the most celebrated. To brew black tea, it is best to use freshly boiled water and cover the cup to preserve the aroma. The British commonly have the habit of "afternoon tea," often blending Keemun with Indian black tea and adding milk and sugar. In some parts of China, there is also a custom of drinking black tea with sugar, milk, and sesame, which can generate heat to warm the abdomen while adding nutrition and strengthening the body.
The health benefits of tea:
1. Quenches thirst, promotes saliva production, refreshes the mind, and sharpens the brain.
2. Prevents cancer, fights aging, and promotes longevity.
3. Lowers blood sugar and resists radiation.
4. Kills certain pathogenic bacteria in the intestines.
5. Supplies carotene.