Tea was once a kind of traditional Chinese medicine. As people gradually realized that the value of tea was greater than its medicinal value, the tea industry flourished during the Tang and Song Dynasties, then developed during the Ming and Qing Dynasties, becoming a national drink. A post-fermented tea, Pu-erh ripe tea has mild tea properties. The benefits of drinking Pu-erh ripe tea include warming the stomach and resisting colds, relieving fatigue, and diuresis, eliminating dampness, promoting metabolism, anti-oxidation, facilitating digestion, and relieving greasy conditions. Taking Pu-erh ripe tea for a long period can refresh your mind, stimulate fluid, and quench your thirst. There are, however, some disadvantages to drinking it. To avoid gastrointestinal irritation, people with weak intestines and stomachs, as well as those taking medications, should not use it.

Health Benefits of Drinking Pu-erh Ripe Tea

1、 Nutritional supplements

Among the nutrients that ripe tea contains are vitamins and minerals, as well as proteins, amino acids, sugars, etc.

In Northwest China, where raw meat, mutton, and cheese are the main staple foods and vegetables and fruits are rare, cooked tea is an important source of minerals and vitamins.

2、 It can help digestion, remove greasy and smooth stomach

Cooked tea contains caffeine, vitamins, amino acids, and phospholipids that help regulate fat metabolism and digestion.

As caffeine increases the secretion of gastric juice, it enhances appetite and aids digestion.

It has been proved by Japanese scholars that cooked tea is effective at relieving greasiness and reducing food intake, which is why meat-eating ethnic groups especially enjoy drinking it.

The food structure of ethnic minorities in Northwest China is beef, mutton, and cheese, which is why it is said that “it’s better to not eat for three days than not drink for one day.” There is a strong connection between this and the effects of tea on “removing fat and greasiness” and “relieving meat and fishy smells”.

Also, a traditional Chinese method for treating abdominal distension, dysentery, and non-consumption of cooked tea is to improve the intestinal microbiome and smooth the intestines and stomach.

3、 Adjust fat, lose weight, soften human blood vessels, prevent cardiovascular disease

When the blood lipid content in the body is high, lipids will be deposited on the lining of the blood vessels, leading to arteriosclerosis and thrombosis.

It has a positive effect on fat regulation, anticoagulation, and fibrinolysis, and can significantly inhibit platelet aggregation when cooked. Additionally, it reduces blood pressure, softens blood vessels, and prevents and cures common cardiovascular diseases by relaxing the vascular wall and increasing the diameter of blood vessels, thus inhibiting the formation of atherosclerotic plaque on the inner wall of the aorta and coronary artery.

The epidemiological survey in Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, Qinghai, and other key consumption areas of cooked tea showed that long-term drinking of cooked tea has a positive effect on blood lipids, blood glucose, blood pressure, and vascular sclerosis. As a result, body weight and body shape are well-regulated.

4、 Antioxidant, antiaging

Free radicals are constantly produced and eliminated in the human body under normal physiological conditions, according to the theory of free radicals related to aging. Besides being rich in antioxidants like catechins, tea pigments, flavonoids, vitamin C, vitamin E, and carotene, Pu-erh ripe tea also contains several trace elements with antioxidant effects, such as zinc, manganese, copper (the constituent elements of SOD) and selenium (the constituent elements of GSHPx).

Catechins, theaflavins, theanine, and tea polysaccharides in cooked tea, especially the complex flavonoids with high content, have the function of scavenging free radicals and delaying aging processes.

5、 Anticancer, antimutagenic

Tea or tea extract has been shown to inhibit the occurrence of various types of cancers since the late 1970s, according to scientists around the world. To study the high-throughput screening of the tumor cell model of cooked tea at Hunan Agricultural University, cutting-edge technology of modern drug screening was used, which proved that cooked tea has a significant inhibitory effect.

6、 Regulating blood pressure

Recently, it was reported in Japan that theanine, an amino acid in Pu-erh ripe tea, inhibits the rise of blood pressure by activating dopaminergic neurons.

Caffeine and catechins in tea also relax blood vessel walls, increase blood vessel diameters, and lower blood pressure through vasodilation.

7、 Prevent and cure diabetes mellitus and improve carbohydrate metabolism.

Pu-erh ripe tea contains a complex polysaccharide complex, also known as tea polysaccharide, that regulates blood glucose. The tea polysaccharide complex, commonly known as tea polysaccharide, consists of many components and changes over time. As a result of fermented tea, tea polysaccharides were found to be the highest in cooked tea, and their activity was stronger than other kinds of tea because they were in cooked tea.

It is due to the action of glucosidase, protease, and hydrolase that the sugar chain and peptide chain are relatively short. It is easier to absorb short peptide chains and long peptide chains, and their biological activity is stronger as well. The effect of fermented tea, especially cooked tea polysaccharide, on blood glucose regulation may be better than that of other teas for this reason.

8、 Anti-inflammation and sterilization

As a result of theaflavins and rubins, Pu-erh ripe tea is a vibrant color. As well as being an effective free radical scavenger and antioxidant, theaflavin has a clear antibacterial effect against Bacillus botulinum, Enterobacteriaceae, Staphylococcus aureus, capsular bacillus, and Bacillus cereus.

Moreover, theaflavin inhibits rotavirus and enterovirus infections, as well as influenza virus invasion.

9、 Detoxification through diuretics, reduces tobacco and alcohol toxicity

The diuretic effect of caffeine in cooked tea is achieved by increasing the kidney’s filtration rate of water in urine. It promotes bladder stimulation and relieves alcohol withdrawal.

Also, the polyphenols in cooked tea can reduce the harmful effects of smoke on the human body and also precipitate nicotine in tobacco. Due to the strong adsorption of heavy metal poisons by tea polyphenols, drinking more tea can also lower heavy metal toxicity.

Side Effects of Drinking Ripe Pu-erh Tea

Drinking ripe Pu-erh tea has many health benefits, but there are still some side effects you should be aware of.

1. Drinking overnight ripe Pu’er tea and cold tea soup is prohibited, since overnight tea breeds putrefactive bacteria when exposed to air for a long time, causing diarrhea when consumed.
2. The consumption of ripe Pu’er tea on an empty stomach is inappropriate. A large number of harmful ingredients enter the bloodstream when you drink tea on an empty stomach as a result of diluted gastric juice, reduced digestion, and increased water absorption. As a result, you feel dizziness, panic, weakness in your hands, and other symptoms. The consumption of ripe Pu’er tea on an empty stomach is inappropriate. A large number of harmful ingredients enter the bloodstream when you drink tea on an empty stomach as a result of diluted gastric juice, reduced digestion, and increased water absorption. As a result, you feel dizziness, panic, weakness in your hands, and other symptoms.
3. Drinking too much Pu’er tea can make it hard for you to sleep: Strong tea is high in caffeine, so if you drink strong tea regularly, you’re likely to experience a nervous system excitatory effect, overexciting your brain. Drinking strong tea at night can negatively affect sleep.