Green, Red and Black...

The weather suddenly turned hot a few days ago here in Hong Kong and I felt dizzy. So I tried to give myself a nice jump start with a cup of Japanese green tea, which is rich in caffeine and effective in removing body heat.

But I could not get the desired effect. I continued to feel dizzy and there was slight discomfort in my gums. So did a cup of Fujianese Tieguanyin Wulong. So I realised the dizziness did not come from heat but lack of Qi in my body. (Wulong has the characterisics of both green and black teas. It is good at removing excessive body heat without cooling down the body too much.)

So I tried Ceylon black tea, Lipton's Yellow Label. It refreshed me a lot. Black tea (which is called red tea in China) is indeed a good qi suppliment. But my eyes stayed sore. Then I thought that perhaps I was so tired that my liver needed a special care.

Pu'er black tea from Yunnan province is usually a good remedy for sore eyes as it helps liver function. My favourite is the one from Xishuangpanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture close to the Laotian border. It is so black and thick that it tastes somewhat like coffee.

But I usually do not drink Pu'er in summer because it warms a body up. It's no wonder why Mongols and Tibetans love Pu'er. (If a person with excessive body heat drinks it, he might have a diarrhea. Well, I sometimes intentionally do this to clean my intestines, though.) So I was a bit reluctant to drink Pu'er but I gave myself a try, anyway.

A cup of very dark Pu'er gave me a feeling of regaining the balance of Qi. It is very unusual for me to feel this way after drinking Pu'er in summer. Perhaps it's a sign that I need a good rest now...

Anyway, there are bewilderingly many different kinds of teas in China. And you can rebalance your Qi by choosing different kinds of tea according to season or your condition.