Young sheng health concerns.
So I keep hearing this occasionally pop up that you shouldnt drink young sheng. First of all I wonder about this since isnt young sheng mostly just a green tea. That isnt completely killgreened? Also drinking only 10yr old sheng could get really expensive really quick, and the idea of sitting on a pile of tea for 10-20 years before drinknig it isnt appealing at my age.
Now what does make a certain amount of sense and ive seen mentioned is rotate your tea.. drink all types of tea, and rotate them in and out of your drinking schedule, under the old proverb everything you eat or drink does something good and something bad, and you should keep everything in moderation.
I do this anyway, as I like to keep a variety of flavors and aromas around for when I get in a certain mood, lately its been oolong and sencha.
What are your thoughts on this?
There is no reason for most people to avoid drinking young sheng. In my understanding it does bother some people’s stomachs. I think the reason they say you shouldn’t drink young sheng is this and to some people it just doesn’t taste that good, they want something with an aged taste. I have often found that I prefer young sheng to aged sheng myself. It really depends on the sheng and it almost never bothers my stomach.
It almost never bothers my stomach either. I actually like young sheng. I like that tangy bitterness, in some ways better than green teas.
That being said, I do enjoy a good shou as well…
Agree, there are a lot of people i know that only drink young sheng, simply because they don’t like aged shengpu. It’s just a matter of personal preference.
Health wise, you can see it as a green tea. The only thing I can think of is younger teas, are considered more ‘cooling’. For older aged tea drinkers, it may easily case cold hands and feet. If that’s the case, it’s better to switch to older pu erh or ripe puerh. If that’s not the case, then there’s no problem for you. It’s better to listen to your own body then to what people write online.
Here’s some science for you…
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6546540
I think it really depends on the tea, the person’s health/constitution, and their consumption/brewing habits. Are you drinking one session of 5g/day or 5 sessions of 5g/day? Are you flash steeping or 30 second steeping? Do you drink young sheng daily or 1-2 times a week?
From a TCM perspective I think its similar to going on a raw diet which is very cooling and generally not recommended for the long term.
Just consume in moderation. listen to your body. Its about perspective and your individual experience. And a lot of people recommend not drinking sheng on an empty stomach.
I also think the young shengs of today are different to some degree than young shengs of the past. There seem to be more oolongy young shengs that are meant to be enjoyed young, rather than the harsh young shengs of old that begged to be aged.
Here’s another article.
http://www.marshaln.com/2014/09/dont-drink-shincha/
I have heard that before, never drink green tea on an empty stomach. So the same applying to sheng makes sense. I always try to have at least a small cookie if If Im having a cup of green or sheng.
Though I do find it funny that doctors are now encouraging people to drink green tea , especially softer ones like sencha because of the heart benefits.
I have experienced the lightheaded sensation from drinking alot of tea, I always assumed this was just a light case of tea drunk.
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