Tea: recipes for balanced health

Chinese Medicinal Teas: Simple, Proven, Folk Formulas for Common Diseases & Promoting Health. / by Zong Xiao-fan & Gary Liscum. Published by Blue Poppy Press, 2009, c1996.

“Chinese medicine treats disease by trying to restore balance to the body. In TCM, all disease is seen as imbalance.”, p. 2

Tea recipes in this book can help the body regain balance and good health, whether the herbs are readily available or must be purchased from Chinese herbal suppliers or pharmacies. The authors, practitioners of Chinese herbal medicine, offer remedies for imbalances in bodily systems, specially formulated for common syndromes or patterns of illness. The formulas in this book are traditional, and the herbs recommended can be researched to have indications similar to conditions described here.

In Chinese medicine, there is a view that energy can be understood as having a particular character. Disease is characterized as a type of malicious energy or energy out of control. If the energy is cold, it is called Yin; if hot, it is called Yang. The terms Yin and Yang are used to represent the varieties of energy that can exist, evolve, transform, or appear and reappear, manifesting as an imbalanced condition, or what we call disease. Chinese medicine uses herbs to cause change, such as to inhibit rebellious energy or to stimulate or invigorate energy when latent or suppressed.

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) seeks to charge the bodily system with the right energy for its present condition, thereby mending disharmony, alleviating discomfort, or rectifying imbalances. Today’s Chinese herbal medicine draws from a five thousand year history of indigenous medicine: when people repeatedly ate and drank certain substances with curative results, the plants became well-known for their healing powers. Edible substances forming the herbalist’s knowledge base came from the plants, and also from animal and mineral sources. Since the Chinese began to utilize the tea plant (Camellia sinensis) about 3000 years ago, black, white, red and green teas were taken as daily beverages. Supplemented with healing herbs, the teas in this book follow the successful folk remedies of generations of Chinese who are cognizant of their benefits.

“… what makes Traditional Chinese Medicine so effective and so safe is that it is prescribed both on the basis of the disease or major complaint but also… on the individual patient’s pattern of imbalance or disharmony.” p. 3

What makes this book a serious introduction to Chinese medicine is the dosage and recommended frequency of ingestion. The recipes are based on the benefit of certain substances for human imbalances, which at the same time target the function of an imbalance called a pattern. Patterns can be internal or external, and this refers to the pathology of a disease—is it concerned with organs that are external or internal? For colds or flus, considered exterior patterns, there are two types, again based on cold and heat. A wind-cold pattern will present a runny nose, headache and congestion, and as long as the mucus is clear, a recommended tea for this condition is Scallion and Sliced Ginger Tea (Cong Tou Jiang Pian Cha, p. 17). Since drinking the hot infusion of these ingredients causes sweating, the tea may dispel and so be beneficial against a wind-cold pattern. Someone with a wind-heat pattern will show signs of heat such as fever, some sweating, sore throat, cough with yellow phlegm, and a red tongue with yellow coating. For such a heat pattern, an herbal tea must “clear heat, dispel wind and transform phlegm”, and a recipe is given for Mulberry, Chrysanthemum and Loquat Tea (Sang Ju Pi Pa Cha, p. 19). These recipes, as well as those for similar respiratory patterns, with no sweating, with chest oppression, headache, and other syndromes, preventing colds, for Bronchitis and Bronchial Asthma, are given in the first chapter of the book, “Respiratory Diseases”. These are followed by chapters for all the bodily systems and most common disorders or types of diseases: “Gastrointestinal Diseases”, “Liver & Kidney Diseases”, “Cardiovascular Diseases”, “Musculoskeletal Diseases”, “Metabolic, Neurologic, & Endocrine Diseases”, “Parasitic Diseases”, “External & Dermatologic Diseases”, “Male Reproductive Diseases”, “Gynecological & Obstetrical Diseases”, “Pediatric Diseases”, “Diseases of the Eyes, Ears, Nose, Throat and Head”, “Cancers”, “Miscellaneous Diseases”, and “Teas for TCM Patterns”.

Chinese Medicinal Teas contains a Bibliography, and an Index that is mainly a list of conditions and diseases. Texts mentioned in the book are also included, as is a reference to Camellia sinensis (tea); however no other plant references are made there. The chapter “Getting Started” is helpful for locating Chinese ingredients from herbal suppliers, and for finding a practitioner; it also mentions possible reactions to medicinal teas and the benefits you can enjoy.

Recipes for teas that contain medicinal herbs are readily available for the TCM practitioner to dispense, including medicinal roots, seeds, or leaves and flowers. The inclusion of so many recipes for food-grade herbs alone that are strong enough to offer health benefits is a compelling reason for anyone to consult this book, especially for improving nutrition and dietary habits. Hawthorn and Walnut Tea (Zha Tao Cha, p. 28) is given for low back pain, depletion of liquids, dry stool, and food accumulation, among other patterns. Tangerine Peel Tea (Chen Pi Cha, p. 29) is suggested for stomach weakness, cough and asthma. Sesame Oil and Honey Tea (Xiang Mi Cha, p. 59) is given for chronic constipation.

Tea leaves have an advantage over herbs because the caffeine in tea can have the effect of speeding up the bodily systems. Tea leaves are also chosen for some conditions that could benefit from their astringent properties. For Gastrointestinal diseases, recipes for teas may add either green or black tea leaves. Consider Fresh Ginger Tea made with cut pieces of Ginger root and black tea leaves. This tea can regularize stomach rebellious energy and treat vomiting and nausea. Or Polished Rice and Ginger Tea (Jing Mi Jian Cha, p. 48), a tea for chronic stomach disharmony and diarrhea.

Although this review focuses on herbs readily available in the markets of large cities, most of the recipes in Chinese Medicinal Teas call for medicinal herbs: these herbs are not considered food-grade and in most cases the teas are made with the addition of sugar, perhaps to soften bitter taste. The authors include contraindications for pregnancy and other conditions, such as yin or yang deficiency, high blood pressure or other debilitating weakness, when it would be counter-productive or even dangerous to ingest a particular herb. From this it can be deduced that herbs even in teas, infused, rather than boiled as decoctions, are strong substances capable of causing change in bodily systems, reactions that are primarily good, but could be injurious if chosen poorly.

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