Tea Science | Using the past to guide the present, how can we use tea to relieve the discomfort caused by a cold?

Recently, with the temperature fluctuating, many people are troubled by headaches, fever, cough, sore throat, and fatigue. When we feel unwell, we usually go to the hospital for treatment. In ancient times, how did people treat colds? Some methods are related to tea.

Tea has the effects of clearing away evil spirits from the internal organs, digesting food and removing stagnation, and refreshing the mind. The Shennong's Herbal Classic records that tea "controls evil spirits from the five internal organs, aversion to food, and stomach paralysis." Tea can "break up heat, remove miasma, and benefit the large and small intestines." Wang Tao of the Tang Dynasty detailed the preparation, drinking, and indications of medicinal tea in his Waitai Miyao.

Today, let's take a look at how the ancients used tea to relieve the discomfort of a cold. When we deal with a cold, we may want to try it in combination with the doctor's advice.

1

Onion, ginger, hawthorn tea

Source: Volume 1 of "Health Treasures"

Prescription: 3 scallions, 1 qian of perilla leaves, 2 qian of ginger, 3 qian of hawthorn, and 3 qian of aged tea.

Functions and indications: Typhoid fever without sweating, headache and fever.

Instructions: This medicinal tea is made of scallion, perilla, ginger and other wind-cold dispersing medicines, combined with tea leaves that clear the head. It has a certain effect on relieving the initial upper respiratory tract symptoms, such as nasal congestion, runny nose, headache, etc., as well as chills, limb aches and pains. Because it contains hawthorn, which helps digestion, it also has a certain effect on improving the poor appetite caused by colds. When used at home, you can boil 3 scallions, 5 slices of ginger, 3g perilla, 6g hawthorn, and tea leaves in cold water for 5-10 minutes before drinking. Or you can use 3g perilla leaves and 3g tea leaves, and brew it with boiling water.

2

Chuanxiong Tea Powder

Source: Volume 4 of Medical Enlightenment

Prescription: Chuanxiong (mixed with wine) 1 liang, Schizonepeta tenuifolia 1 liang, Angelica dahurica 1 liang, Platycodon grandiflorum (fried) 1 liang, Licorice root 1 liang, Scutellaria baicalensis (fried with wine) 1 liang, Fritillaria cirrhosa (core removed) 1 liang, Gardenia jasminoides 2 liang.

Function and indications: Clears away heat and clears away nasal discharge.

Dosage and Administration: Take 2 qian each time, mixed with Chen Songluo fine tea after meals, 3 times a day.

Instructions for use: Songluo tea belongs to the category of green tea, with a green color, lasting floral fragrance, uniform leaf bottom, bright green soup color, green olive fragrance in the tea soup, sweet and refreshing, with the effects of expectorant and cough, clearing heat and detoxifying. Combined with wind-cold dispersing drugs such as Chuanxiong, Angelica dahurica, and Nepeta tenuifolia, heat-clearing drugs such as Scutellaria baicalensis, Gardenia jasminoides, and tea, as well as expectorant and pus-discharging drugs such as Platycodon grandiflorum, Licorice, and Fritillaria cirrhosa, it has a certain relief effect on colds or rhinitis, nasal congestion, runny nose and other discomforts. However, this prescription has a heavy medicinal property, so be cautious when drinking it daily. At home, you can simply choose 3g of Angelica dahurica and 3g of tea (all kinds of tea are fine), and brew it with boiling water. Angelica dahurica is a common spice in the kitchen (if you can't find it, you can look through your mother's marinade bag). It has the effect of clearing the orifices and discharging pus. Combined with tea that clears the head, it has a certain improvement effect on nasal congestion, runny nose, and headache, helping to get rid of the state of confusion after a cold.

3

Afternoon Tea

Source: "Experienced Internal and External Prescriptions for Treating Hundreds of Diseases"

Prescription: black tea, patchouli, angelica root, perilla leaves, atractylodes, forsythia, magnolia bark, Liushenqu (fried), hawthorn, malt (fried), licorice, bupleurum, saposhnikovia, angelica dahurica, chuanxiong, peucedanum, tangerine peel, immature bitter orange, platycodon, etc.

Functions and indications: dispel wind and relieve exterior symptoms, eliminate dampness and harmonize the middle. It is used for exogenous wind-cold and internal injury and food accumulation syndrome, with symptoms of aversion to cold and fever, headache and body pain, chest and abdominal fullness, nausea and vomiting, abdominal pain and diarrhea.

Instructions for use: Noon tea is effective for daily colds, abdominal distension and diarrhea caused by improper eating, and dizziness, fatigue, chest tightness and nausea caused by cold and dampness in summer. Follow the doctor's advice when using it.

Through the above introduction, I believe everyone has a certain understanding of the effect of tea in "clearing the head". Drinking tea can relieve headaches and throat discomfort during colds to a certain extent. I hope these cups of tea left by our "ancestors" can bring some "comfort" to everyone during the cold-prone season. I wish you good health!

Tips

Warm reminder: Due to the influence of different factors such as personal constitution and usage methods, the effects may vary. Please go to a medical institution to seek medical help if necessary.

About the Author

Wang Tao

Chief Chinese medicine physician of the Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine of Zhejiang Hospital, Master of Traditional Chinese Medicine, graduated from Zhejiang University of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Clinically, he follows the methods of colds, febrile diseases, Dongyuan, and Zhang Xichun, and is good at diagnosing and treating geriatric diseases, spleen and stomach diseases, and miscellaneous internal medicine diseases. He presided over one project of Zhejiang Provincial Traditional Chinese Medicine Science and Technology Plan, published one monograph "Essentials of Clinical Practice of Sarcopenia in the Elderly", participated in the editing of three books, and published several papers in domestic and foreign journals.

Reviewers: Yang Minchun, chief physician of the Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Zhejiang Hospital, and Gao Ying, associate researcher at the Tea Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences