Research On Chinese Ancient Tea And Soup For Health Care

The subject of this article is Chinese ancient tea and soup for health care, which is selected from large quantities of ancient healthy drinks, meaning traditional tea or non-tea drinks (soft drinks).The tea is only one of our many ancient healthy drinks, including those fruit drinks containing tea or not. In Song dynasty, the tea and soup with efficacy of improving health and treatment became a fashion in a period, making it a necessary part of citizen's daily life, and a custom of "coming visitors drinking tea while leaving drinking soup" appeared. Ancient medical books recorded large numbers of kinds of plant drinks with health and treatment, which are classified into different kinds. For example, there are "medical soup", "soup", "boiled water", "thirsty water" and "induced water" besides "tea". Many simple and effective healthy drinks are popular among the folks since the ancient times. These historical materials scattered in all kinds of literatures, lacking systemic accumulation or study while existing studies lack deeper digging accumulation or study. Famous doctors in the history once criticized the disadvantages of drinking tea although it has lasted till today. The custom of drinking tea which was popular in Song dynasty gradually eclipsed instead of continuing developed. The special phenomenon in the developing history of ancient healthy drinks lacks special deep research.Currently, all kinds of healthy drinks in society have developed from traditional efficacy of awakening, stimulating the appetite, and driving away the hotness to infant nutrition, weight loss, cosmetology and many other aspects. Businessmen take advantage of kinds of traditional or modern knowledge hotspots to provoke people's desire of acquiring health through drinks. Therefore, all kinds of drinks aimed at improving health are abundant at tables and packages, becoming a decoration of social thriving and a necessity for enriching the life. Right now, there has been nobody checking how much ancient beneficial experience being succeeded and paid attention by nowadays' drink industries.As a result, researches on developing history of ancient plant healthy drinks from medical history angle have double meanings of reality and history. The reality meaning lies on accumulating and digging the abundant materials of healthy drinks saved among related ancient TCM literatures. The history meaning lies on showing the experiences and lessons during ancient healthy drinks' development through studies on ancient "tea and soup" thriving and declining history, supplying historic references for current development of healthy drinks.We studied healthy "tea and soup" before 1840 from medical history angle in order of times. The specific contents is to discuss the origin and development of healthy "tea and soup", and their kinds, efficacy, production and other related contents, summing up developing rules and characters of "tea and soup" at every period.We divided the body into 6 parts (Pre-Qin, Han, Wei and Six dynasties, Tang and Five dynasties, Song, Yuan and Ming, Qing), emphasizing on discussing characters of healthy "tea and soup" at every times. The research result is as follows:①Water, wine, serofluid and tea in Pre-Qin: Ancestors most cared about the safety of the water quality, seeking and protecting clean water source with the right taste, so as to passively prohibit the body harm from the water of bad quality. People in the Spring and Autumn Period initiatively accommodated water to nourish their dispositions. The easiest healthy drink at that time is to produce different kinds of drinks with water and cereals (ferment or not), helping satisfy one's thirsty and preserve one's life.②The origin of tea and soup and non-tea drinks in Han, Wei and Six dynasties: Tea for medical use appeared at the beginning of the West Han, while the tea became a kind of drink rather than a medicine in late West Han. The effect of wakening from drunk and keeping awake, the shape, producing area, the way to boil the tea (tea or porridge)are gradually be known at the time of Three Kingdoms. At late Six Dynasties, the tea became a drink for fete or entertaining guests. Meanwhile, many kinds of plant drinks besides tea appeared.③Prosperous tea times of Tang and Five Dynasties and tea substitutes:《Herbs of Tang periods》(695) first concluded tea as an item. Buddhist flourish and spread in mid Tang made it possible for a need bloom of tea while drinking tea became popular around the country.《The tea history》which was written by Luyu, helped an improvement from drinking tea for health to for pleasure. The tea was so popular that helped exchanges for horses with tea. At the same time, there were tea substitutes and cold drinks for hot weather. People cared more and sought for drinks which were similar to tea and tea substitutes.④Tea and soup flourish in Song: There was a serious phenomenon of drinking tea with flavor, adding tea into a medicine and a mix of tea and medicine in Song. Making soup with fragrant herbs for daily self health care and entertaining guests became a custom. Healthy drinks were divided into tea and soup which included "boiled water" and other drinks.⑤The development and reflection of tea and soup in Yuan and Ming: Healthy drinks in Yuan and Meng period were influenced by the eating habit of northern nomads when butter was added into tea, which became sweeter with the flower and fruit as raw materials rather than salty with flavors. Healthy "tea and soup" was divided into five kinds, such as tea, soup, thirsty water, boiled water and serofluid. Leaf tea became popular in Ming dynasty, while flower tea, tea fruit and food for tea developed. Flavors adding into healthy tea in Song was criticized and gradually disappeared.⑥Revolution of tea and new drinks in Qing dynasty: Warm black tea (ferment), oolong and pu er cha (half ferment) made up for green tea's disadvantages. All kinds of tea substitutes appeared, for example, Chrysanthemum tea appeared in Zhejiang province while Ginseng leaf tea and Kuding tea gained marked among the folks. Flower, fruit, lichen, Shenqu and other products were made into new healthy drinks. Introduction of western medicine helped dew medicine became new tea products.Researches above proved the fact that Chinese ancient healthy "tea and soup" was an important part of Chinese food culture. There were many kinds of plant drinks for health with multiple functions and abroad adaptations, accumulating rich experiences and lessons during its development which worth researches and digging.We chose the weaker part of traditional Chinese dietotherapy-drinks, and the weaker part of healthy drinks-tea and soup to explore, making it a beginning of researches on ancient healthy non-tea soup and tea substitutes. We first checked and summed up the kinds and experiences of "tea and soup", bringing new findings and opinions. For example, we gathered more than 70 ancient tea substitutes in large account of medical and non-medical historical materials, textual researched each first-appeared period and usage; we sought and gathered more than 200 healthy soups in Song, Yuan and Ming dynasty, especially analyzed those more than 70 soups of Song in details including constitutes and characters of their efficacies; we studied histories of formation of the branches and the contents, making a differentiation of "medical soup", "soup", "drinks", "boiled water", "thirsty water", "SheLibie", "decocting", "serofluid", "dew medicine" and other blanches, while clearing their meanings and factures.We noticed not only abroad gathered history material, but also the combination of history. We concluded and commented the development characters of "tea and soup" in different periods, summing up historic experiences. Through studies, we considered tea as the outstanding one of ancient plant drinks for health while it could not substitute other ones. Researches from now on should care more about non-tea drinks for health when their history inspired us impressively, among which the most impressive one is adding medicine and using flavor in drinks in Song dynasty. Any healthy drinks with a single attribute have to be distributed to the appropriate person and be used according to differentiation. Drinking some with a single attribute too much or for a long time may be bad to the body.We preliminarily accumulated the history materials of "tea and soup" in ancient times, providing references for more characteristic of traditional Chinese production and usage of current healthy drinks. Study on thriving and declining history of ancient healthy "tea and soup" in medical history may provide references for healthy development of current healthy drinks.