Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Pu-erh Ginger

I have always had this terrible tendancy to over eat & I used to wind up feeling awful for the rest of the day. That was until last year when I started working at Elixir, and I discovered Pu-Erh Ginger. This tea is amazing! It's better than Pepto for a sore stomach, and it's a heck of alot more appetizing.

We all know that ginger is good for your stomach - I had to chug ginger ale when I had the flu as a kid - but not alot of people are familiar with pu-erh's benefits.

Pu-erh is actually the least known type of tea (and I think it's the most interesting).  Unlike any other type of tea, pu-erh is fermented. (Often, black and oolong teas are called 'fully fermented' or 'partially fermented', but this is incorrect. They're actually oxidized, but the Chinese use the same word for both oxidation and fermentation, which has caused a translation confusion. What happens when you cut open an apple and it browns is oxidation (purely a chemical reaction) - the creation of wine is fermentation (carried out through the actions of microbes)). Pu-erh can be very valuable, as it (again, unlike any other tea) gets better with age.

Pu-erh helps to boost blood flow which aids in the removal of toxins. It has an amazing ability to break down oily and fatty foods and aid in digestion. The combination of this Chinese "Wonder Tonic" and ginger creates an amazing stomach soothing blend. Even more important is that it's really delicious!
Pu-erh can often taste very earthy, musky and even dirty! I am a big pu-erh fan, but lots of people don't enjoy it, because of it's earthy flavor. Pu-erh Ginger is earthy but not overly so - the ginger is the star! The flavor is full bodied, sligtly spicy with a hint of cirtus! Yum! I feel as good as new and as an added bonus, I can usually get 4 or 5 steeps off of one tablespoon of leaves. I'm working on my third infusion now, and I'm still going strong! I would seriously reccomend this tea to anyone suffering from digestion problems, a sickness like the flu or even a store stomach because you've eaten too much.

More about Pu-erh Ginger available here!

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