The Wonders of Tea Drinking
Human civilization has advanced to a point where people no longer worry about basic needs like clothing and food. Pursuing beauty and physical fitness has become a social trend, reflecting a nation’s character. As the saying goes, “When people have enough food and clothing, rituals naturally arise.” Regarding slimming, beauty, and health care, Traditional Chinese Medicine offers profound wisdom and abundant content. Among the vast array of slimming and beautifying remedies, tea drinking is the most widespread.
*Supplement to the Materia Medica* further states: “Among all medicines for specific ailments, tea is the universal remedy.” It also claims: “Long-term consumption of tea can eliminate body fat and make one thin.” This clearly indicates tea’s weight-loss and slimming benefits. Moreover, tea will be hailed as the “drink of the 21st century.”
Tea comes in many varieties. Broadly speaking, there are unfermented green tea, fermented black tea, and semi-fermented oolong tea. From a TCM perspective, green tea is bitter and cold in nature; prolonged use may harm the spleen and stomach. Black tea is slightly warm; regular intake may injure gastric fluids. Oolong tea has a mild sweetness and warmth, offering the advantage of being nourishing without the drawbacks of bitterness and coldness—making it an excellent choice among teas.
Adding a single ingredient—kuding tea—to oolong tea makes it a medicinal formulation rather than ordinary tea. Kuding tea is bitter and cold, entering the liver, lung, and stomach meridians. By targeting the lung meridian, based on the TCM theory of mutual relationship between the lungs and large intestine, it cleanses accumulated waste in the large intestine, achieving detoxification and beautifying effects. Acting on the stomach meridian, it clears food stagnation. When combined with oolong tea, it forms oolong-kuding medicinal tea, specifically effective for lowering lipids and slimming, simple to consume—this is the principle behind such medicinal tea formulations. However, individuals with weak spleen and stomach (cold deficiency) should avoid long-term use.
<The Wonders of Tea Drinking>