Asia has been known as the source of unique herbal teas thatF you can’t find commonly in the Western region. Among those teas is pu erh tea (read: Poo-air), an exciting ‘tea’ with different flavor profiles and tons of benefits.
What is pu erh tea?
For starts, pu erh ‘tea’ is not exactly a common tea like green tea or red tea. The tea—first cultivated in China’s Yunnan Province—is made from fermented pu erh leaves, similar to black tea.
What makes it different from black tea, however, is the fermentation process; it can go from weeks, months, years, or decades.
How does it affect the tea?
Well, the longer it is fermented, the richer the pu erh tea taste. Furthermore, you can gain even stronger pu erh tea benefits from the aged leaves, although it all depends on your preference.
After all, Chinese people can also make the tea from sun-dried and compressed raw pu erh leaves and still gains the benefits.
Pu Erh Tea benefits
There are 10 pu erh tea benefits you can gain from this ancient heritage from over 2000 years ago:
1. The pu erh tea can revitalize your energy
Does pu erh tea have caffeine? The answer is yes, approximately about 60-70 mg per serving, which isn’t as much as your regular coffee.
Because of that, it can revitalize your energy and improve your focus without getting the jittery feeling from drinking coffee.
2. It relieves hangover
Pu erh tea can also relieve your hangover. Said caffeine content from the tea can cure your headache and energize your spleen and liver to recover your body faster.
Therefore, drink a cup of pu erh tea in the morning every time you pass out from all the alcohol.
3. It can reduce your stress
One of the above pu erh tea benefits already explained that the caffeine content doesn’t make you jitter. On the contrary, the tea can relax your mind thanks to the theanine and GABA phytochemicals within it.
As you drink pu erh tea in the morning, these phytochemicals will increase your melatonin rate, making you fresh all day.
4. It boosts your immunity system
Pu erh tea contains a hefty amount of anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties, in addition to vitamin C that helps avoid common illness.
As a result, they all can boost your immunity system and bring more pu erh tea benefits to your body.
5. It helps your weight-loss diet
If you’re on diet lifestyle and doing exercise regularly, pu erh tea for weight loss can work wonders.
This is because the tea can both reduce and suppress the production of fatty acids, useful to reduce your overall fat percentage.
6. It also supports your digestive system
There are two pu erh tea benefits for your stomach: One is reducing fat percentage, and the other is supporting your digestive system.
All of these are the works of polyphenols and antioxidants, plus lovastatin that can also relieve constipation.
7. It removes toxins from your body
Traditionally, Chinese people have been using pu erh tea to remove toxins from their body.
The micro-organisms and simple sugars within it cleanse the blood, then give the blood oxidative properties to relieve headache.
Therefore, you can drink the tea regularly to maintain your body functions or just drink it sparingly to get rid of toxins.
8. It improves your heart condition
Lovastatin substance within pu erh tea is also helpful to reduce high LDL cholesterol rate and increase HDL cholesterol rate.
As a result, two pu erh tea benefits can be gained at once: Controlling your cholesterol rate and improving your heart condition against cardiovascular diseases.
9. It strengthens your bones
Many factors are contributing to the weaker bones as you age, from smoking, drinking, or lacking minerals and vitamins.
Fortunately, researches on pu erh tea conclude that polyphenols within it can increase your bone mass.
Additionally, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties can also minimize discomfort and pain.
10. It may prevent cancer
The last of these pu erh tea benefits is that it may prevent cancer, thanks to the oxidized tea polyphenols.
They can remove certain tumor cells and prevent any potential cancer cells from growing with little to no side effects.
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The Side Effects of Pu Erh Tea
Similar to other herbal teas, drinking pu erh tea in moderation is important. However, it is emphasized here because pu erh tea contains caffeine, unlike other herbal teas.
And as you know, too much caffeine inside your body may cause anxiety, jittery, bleeding disorder, gastrointestinal distress, and heart irregularity.
Therefore, only drink it once per day, especially if you drink pu erh tea for weight loss.
Pregnant women also need to be careful with this tea. Because pu erh tea contains caffeine and other substances, they may disrupt breast milk production and cause menstruation.
Always consult with your doctor firsthand before drinking pu erh tea.
Pu Erh Tea Recipe You Can Try at Home
All those side effects don’t ignore the fact that there are a lot of pu erh tea benefits you need. And luckily, pu erh tea recipe is so easy to follow, you can make one at home.
Of course, you don’t need to ferment the leaves firsthand because most pu erh tea leaves sold in local stores are already fermented.
They can either be in the form of solid cake or loose leaves—both forms have the same recipe anyway.
Without further ado, this is the pu erh tea recipe:
- Rinse 3 to 4 grams of pu erh tea with hot water in a tea infuser. Pour the water up so that it covers the leaves, stir the leaves, then discard the water.
- Pour very hot water (around 100o C) tothe infuser. The amount of water is 200 ml per 4 grams of pu erh tea, multiples apply.
- Wait for it to steep for 4 minutes.
- Pour the tea to a teacup. Add a natural sweetener if you don’t like the pu erh taste.
Conclusion
Pu erh tea does contain caffeine, but that gives it more benefits to your body than your regular cup of coffee. But because of the caffeine, drinking it in moderation is mandatory.
Aside from that, there are many pu erh tea benefits for your health, be it for your bones, mind, heart, or even weight loss.
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