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Leo KwanParticipantAnd I forgot to mention refined sugar and glucose syrup. Avoid them as much as possible, also food and drinks with them in it. They cause a lot of trouble in addition to eczema
Leo KwanParticipant@Gujar, eczema is a common problem in Hong Kong where I live. Besides seeing it frequently on people on the street, it is on people whom I know too. It is almost certain that most dermatologists are incapable of a cure.
A good TCM doctor with specialisation in this ailment may, but I am not able to recommend any where you live. Practitioners in TCM can be inapt in this job as any others.
However, there are things that help to reduce the symptoms for those I know that you may want to try:
Reduce intake of gluten and simple carbohydrates. Processed white flour is the number one enemy. Too much white rice is not good too. Diversify your carbohydrates sources to include less processed grains and other plants, such as fresh fruits and vegetables.
Less spicy food. If curry is in your daily diet, try to prepare your own by reducing the more stimulating ingredients and less of spices.
More sleep, and better quality of it. A regular pattern is useful, so are environment and duration. Many people neglect this: hygiene of the beddings — dust mites, fungal spores and other pathogens in the air multiply quickly in warm and relatively more humid fabrics and mattresses in our beds. Controlling their density by way of frequent changing, antiseptics and sunning helps a lot.
Non-sweating exercises. People with eczema tend to avoid sweating and thus move a lot less, which in turn fuels the growth of symptoms. Try exercising using routines that cause less sweating: certain forms of yoga, tai chi, or even stretching are important to maintain your bodily vitals to recover and counter the attacks.
Now, back to your question: where to get the tea that is suitable for you and what tea exactly:
Classic style Phoenix oolongs are a safe bet because it is not clear of your TCM condition by the scant info I have here. These are examples of them:
Phoenix Classic
Honey Orchid
Xingren Xiang ( trade name: Orchid Gratus )
Huangzhi Xiang ClassicThey are available in my own shop here: https://www.teahong.com/. You are welcome to compare quality with other shops, if they have them.
If your yin energy is not as frail as I guess, you may want to try these even more effective bouquet style Phoenix oolongs in cleaning your systems:
Eight Immortals
Da Bai Ye ( trade name: Big White )
Song Cultivar
Snow Orchid
Yashi Xiang ( trade name: Orchid Literati )Refrain from black tea ( especially broken grades that are popular in the mass market ), coffee, and alcohol ( in particular beer and liquor ). They exacerbate the condition, in that order in increasing severity.
Hope this helps.
Leo KwanParticipantHello Gujar, it seems to me that you have got a problem deeper than just skin issues. If you have already consulted a doctor, it would not be unwise to see another one for a second opinion to investigate what issue is in your constitution that symptomises in the various ailments on the surface of your body.
Without knowing more about you, I would not presume your condition. However, generally if you have ulcer after coffee and black tea, the heat “qi” in the body is unbridled. According to what you have described, it could mean that both your “yin” and “yang” energies are low at the same time.
The safest teas to use are lower heat baked oolongs. For the oolongs, avoid those that are very green. In another word, choose oolongs that are neutral-cool in Traditional Chinese Medicine property. Occasional, but not frequent neutral and cool TCM teas are okay.
Hopefully a habit of such teas will not only help you retain moisture, but also improve your digestion and sleep quality for better health.
If my guess is correct, the black tea your have been using is the broken leaf Indian kind. The original tea leaf before processing is innocent. It is the kind of industrial processing and commercial re-processing that make the tea not good for health.
Please share any more questions, and how you are progressing.
Leo KwanParticipantTo answer this question, I have a small story to tell.
Back track to 2001, when green tea was the hype and dyed green tea was not uncommon in the Chinese market, there were various kinds of funny herbal leaves infesting all shops in different tea wholesale markets. White tea was green. I asked my producers why even they, traditional farmers, are making such silly things. They said those things sell well.
I was probably the only “stupid” merchant collecting visually lesser appealing but real white teas and mature them.
By 2004, when puer cha bing was in high demand, people in white tea regions sold off their leaves to collectors from Yunnan to make the vast quantity of compressed tea that still circulate the market today. The tea collectors bought so much that the collection price for white peony went up about 30% — about 60% of today’s price — the subsequent year and there were not a lot products in the market. A couple of white tea producers got the idea and began experimenting with compressing white peony tea for selling at higher price.
At around the same time, some science reports said white tea was more potent than green tea in anti-oxidative effects. Some interpreted it as anti-ageing. Tea merchants from around the world began coming to China to get white tea. Again, most products remained green, for better visual appeal and higher price.
It was very difficult to get real white tea even for me. I had to force my producers to stick to old formulas at least for my stocks.
In 2007, when puer leaf collectors were no longer collecting in Fujian, a few producers are producing white tea cha bings and the products started to appear in the market. The idea of maturing white tea became more popular. naturally, they want to sell these things, and at a higher price. Some of my producers began bragging about their 2 year “matured” cha bings. Traditional style white teas became more dominant than white looking green tea.
So I hope this little piece of history illustrates the background to you.
That one three seven year saying or similar stuff actually happens in many tea regions. You know how good people are in brain-washing and receptive of being brain-washed in Mainland China.
The key in maturing a good white tea really is in the original quality and ageing conditions. Like any other teas. I have seen some good storage facilities in Fujian, but most products in the market are aged in the seller’s crappy storage or right in their shops. When you find a tea is stale and not worth drinking. It is so. Don’t get brain-washed.
One other key is that white tea do not stand long years of maturity. It seems to me that there is not much difference between products put away properly for 8 years and 12 years. I guess it plateaus at around that time.
I have not come across any reports on the health potency difference between matured and fresh white teas. I guess it does not have a priority like many other aspects of tea. If I were to sponsor one such study, I’d rather focus in pu’ers and oolongs.
Maturing white tea is more about the taste dimension to me.
I hope this gives you enough materials to come up with an answer of your own.
There are two photos below: a matured Zhenghe White Peony and a fresher one. For more about the topic:
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Leo KwanParticipantHello @mpham,
Apologies for late followup with this discussion. It has been tea season and really busy. I have attached these three photos of some of my personal favourites. You have probably seen them all before in the Tea Guardian site.
The first one is a large bead zhuni by He Yen Ping. This was a piece made in late last century. She has since focused in more elaborated carving, which I think has not best represented her talents.
The second one(s) are three by Jiang Zhi Ping. Sadly this very smart and fast rising artist very quickly gave up this career. I think he was unhappy about some conditions in the circle and trade of Yixing teapots.
The third one is a very fine representation of the work by Peng Yao Nian, with calligraphic work by Tan Quan Hai. I was quite unhappy when it was stolen.So you see I have a distinct preference for how my pots look and feel. Feel free to comment.
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Leo KwanParticipant@luo.mai, a longjing is better when infused for a proper duration. Flatter teapots dissipate heat more readily and are therefore not quite ideal for longer infusion time. I’d go for spherical for better convection during infusion and the need for it particularly because of the smaller pot size.
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