Have you ever heard about Pu-erh tea, or you may have even tasted it? This particular tea is one of the 5 classes of Chinese tea: green, red, oolong, black, and Pu-erh. But, what makes it different from others is the microbial fermentation process that it goes through.
This type of fermentation boosts it with active bacteria, yeast, molds, and fungal cultures, giving it a unique chemical composition as well as flavor.
Generally, the Chinese drink it with meals for better digestion, bowel movement, and many other health benefits.
This tea contains the extremely helpful ingredients gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and theophylline. They help relieve symptoms of anxiety, asthma, arthritis, and many more.
Here are several good reasons why you should drink this amazing tea.
The Best Health Benefits of Pu-Erh Tea
1. Cardiovascular Disease
Medical News Today published a study that compared this tea to green, black, and oolong tea regarding its cholesterol-suppressing and weight-loss effects.
The results showed that Pu-erh and oolong tea are the most effective in these areas. But, when it comes to reducing total cholesterol, Pu-erh tea proved to have the biggest impact.
The journal Mansa published a study that analyzed the effects of unfermented and fermented Pu-erh tea on cholesterol levels and weight gain in rats.
Researchers concluded that fermented Pu-erh tea has potent lipid-lowering and antioxidant effects which can lower the risk of cardiovascular diseases.
What’s more, the caffeine content in this tea stimulates the heart, central nervous system, and muscles.
As WebMD explains, it contains antioxidants and other compounds that protect the blood vessels and heart.
Unlike other teas, Pu-erh tea contains traces of lovastatin – a prescribed drug for reducing cholesterol.
2. Epilepsy
The Journal of Biological Sciences published a study conducted by researchers from Yuanpei University, Taiwan, which analyzed how Pu-erh tea affects oxidative stress in people with epilepsy.
They concluded that the combination of GABA and Pu-erh tea could have clinical applications in epilepsy.
3. Diabetes
A newspaper published in Nature claims Pu-erh tea is helpful in the treatment of diabetes.
Scientists from the Changchun Science and Technology University and Jilin University in China analyzed the tea’s effects on blood glucose levels in 20 obese rats with high glucose levels.
They gave Pu-erh tea only to half of them for 11 months, while the other ten rats didn’t get any tea. After this period, eight of the ten rats that didn’t receive Pu-erh tea developed diabetes as well as sores before dying.
On the other hand, all ten rats that were fed with the tea survived the year without any trace of diabetes or sores.
The next step was comparing the effects of the tea with Rosiglitazone – a popular blood-glucose-lowering drug.
After two weeks, the rats that received the drug had a 36.5% reduction in blood glucose levels, whereas those fed with Pu-erh tea had a 42% reduction in blood glucose.
These amazing findings led the scientists to conduct a human trial about the effects of Pu-erh tea on 120 people with diabetes. The participants drank the tea regularly without making any changes in their diet.
However, they were asked to stop taking their medicines. The results showed that 70% of them had a reduction in blood glucose levels to below 7 mmol/L. The general reduction among the participants was 35%.
How to Use
You’ll find this tea tightly compressed in the form of a round cake or brick.
So, you must first pry off a piece from the Pu-erh cake for the brewing process. But, since the bricks can be packed tightly, the praying apart can be quite challenging.
The video below shows how to break compressed Pu-erh tea properly.
