Some people have a mellow taste and a sweet aftertaste while drinking tea. Some people feel dry after drinking tea. Is this normal? Is it because the tea is bad?
The reasons for this situation are complicated. We have summarized the experience of drinking tea and shared with you. The first thing that needs to be eliminated here is the background of the poor health of the tea drinker. Normal people’s tongue is generally moisturized with body fluid, which is reflected in the dryness of the tongue.
In Chinese medicine, moisturizing reflects the condition of body fluid in the body. Normal tongue coating is neither dry nor damp, but too little body fluid will make the tongue feel dry. Dryness without coating indicates that the body fluid has been consumed. Exogenous diseases are mostly dry heat and body fluid, and internal injuries are mostly Yin deficiency and body fluid deficiency.
Frequent dry mouth, which is not closely related to tea drinking itself, is another matter.
Apart from the pathological reasons, the main reasons for the dry mouth and tongue after drinking tea:
Dryness caused by tea polyphenols
Tea contains polyphenols. The entrance of this substance will form an impermeable membrane on the tongue, making the tongue dry and astringent. After this layer of film is broken, it turns into the common sweetness, which is also a sign of good tea.
At the same time, this situation is generally more pronounced in teas with higher tea polyphenol content, such as green tea and Shengpu.
Dryness caused by drinking overheated tea
Drinking tea is recommended to drink hot or warm, but drinking too hot will burn the mouth and produce a dry feeling. In fact, we will have similar feelings after drinking hot water.
In addition, Li Shizhen’s "Compendium of Materia Medica" mentioned: "Tea is bitter and cold, and it can reduce fire most. Fire is all diseases, and fire is clear. Warm drink will reduce the fire due to cold, and hot drink will increase tea due to fire. Disperse, but also relieve the poison of alcohol and food."
Some teas are so-called "hot"
On the one hand, traditional medicine believes that eating habits are divided into "four natures and five flavors": cold, cool, warm, and hot, and sour, bitter, sweet, pungent, and salty. Among the teas, green tea and white tea are the coolest. Newly-made ripe teas are hotter, while black tea and old-ripe teas are milder. On the other hand, some newly processed tea leaves, such as green tea that has just been cracked and dried, or tea that has just been roasted, are often "irritable". Drinking at this time, some people often have a dry feeling on the tongue and throat; However, most teas will not have this situation after a period of time.
In addition, some people are sensitive to tea, and for some teas, such as Biluochun, Baihao Yinzhen, etc., the throat will be irritated and will feel itchy and dry.
In this way, we understand why sometimes drinking tea will make the tongue feel dry. In fact, it is a normal phenomenon to some extent, just like we experience other tastes.