Pu-erh Tea Health Benefits

Pu-erh tea health benefits prove to be viable in recent studies. In China, that casserole that has been in the back of your refrigerator for ages might be valuable. They tend to have a penchant for aged food. The 1000 year old egg, normally only aged 100 days is one example and Pu-erth tea, often aged as long as a 100 years, is another. The difference is the egg is a gourmet treat and the tea has health benefits, but your casserole's moving green fuzz is only scary, not necessarily beneficial.

Pu-erh tea use dates back thousands of years to the Han Dynasty. The tea comes from a wild tree that grows in Southwest China and along the border near Vietnam and Burma.

There's a special process used once the workers pick the tea. It's aging. They either dry the leaves in cakes, called moachas, or create aged pu-erth tea by allowing it to ferment. In earlier years, they pressed the tea into cake and stored it to ferment for up to 100 years. Now, they use a faster method. The newer fermentation process requires that they moisten the leaves and turn them for up to 40 days. After that, they press the leaves into a maocha. The fermentation that takes place comes from bacteria and fungus performing their magic on the tealeaves. Similar to the casserole in your refrigerator, a variety of bacteria and fungi are on the pu-erth tea at this stage. If the factory has good quality control, you get excellent pu-erth tea. If however, there's minimum attention paid to details like humidity and the growth of aspergillus spp in the fermenting pile of leaves, you might as well put that casserole in a bag and soak it for tea.

The most amazing results occur when the tea is properly aged. The result is not just a flavorful tea but also one that has health benefits. The early Chinese practitioners of medicine knew of the benefits long before modern science even had a microscope. They used it to increase the blood circulation, cure poor eyesight, aid in weight loss, cure dysentery and remove toxins from the body. One other important use was as a hangover remedy.

Recent studies show that lab rats developed higher good cholesterol while lowering the bad cholesterol with pu-erth tea. If rats don't convince you, consider the study done at Kunming Medical College in China. They compared a cholesterol-lowering drug to the effects of three cups of pu-erth tea each day. While the drug did reduce the cholesterol by a few percentage points more, 66.67 percent compared to 64.29 percent, the results are still amazing. This non-prescription drink could eliminate the necessity for any cholesterol drugs if consumed over a lifetime. Another study also showed its antioxidant action protected the body from cancer and damage to the connective tissue. Damaged connective tissue does all types of harm, one of which is wrinkles.

Go buy a box of pu-erh tea, get a new hair-do to match your wrinkle free face and celebrate with a bottle or two of wine. Don't worry about the hangover; you have the tea available as a remedy. This ancient Chinese remedy does have remarkable benefits but even Pu-erh tea health benefits won't work if you live unhealthy in other ways.