Taoism and health tea culture

Taoism and tea have an inseparable complex. Taoists pay attention to the law of nature, the unity of man and nature, and pay attention to respecting life, valuing life, forgetting to sit, and being selfless. These Taoists integrated Taoist thoughts into tea drinking, which had a profound and long-lasting influence on the tea ceremony.

The Taoist tea drinking pursues the meaning of nature. In tea drinking, it is often manifested as people’s desire to return to nature and their understanding of “Tao”. Specifically, it is manifested in the willingness to get close to nature when tasting tea, being able to communicate with nature in thoughts and emotions, being able to compare with nature in personality, and realizing the laws of nature through tea practice. This kind of humanization of nature is a typical manifestation of the Taoist thought that “the world and I are born together, and all things are only me”.

Tea drinkers pay the most attention to the tea environment, just like Taoists practice, like mountains and wild forests, looking for a quiet place, and getting a peace of mind.

When drinking tea, tea utensils and utensils are indispensable. When Taoists drink tea, the tea utensils and utensils used are required to reflect the state of unity between man and nature. The blue and white cups and washbasins used are all hand-painted with the totem of fortune and longevity, and are round in shape. The bottom of the tray is painted with the Bagua diagram, which fully reflects the Taoist cosmology of “the sky is round and the earth is square”. The main brewing is filled with water in a pure copper handle pot. The covered bowl is the main body of the brewing. The covered bowl is also called the Sancai cup. It consists of a lid, a cup, and a tray, which respectively represent the combination of heaven, man, and earth. The hand-painted knife-shaped blue and white pattern combines the blue and nature of the Taoist tea ceremony as a whole. In addition to the tea sets mentioned above, the main brewing props also include Taoist instruments-whisks, incense burners for burning incense, etc.

When drinking tea, water is also very important. Lao Tzu’s “Tao Te Ching Chapter 8” says: The highest good is like water. Water is good for all things without competing, and it stays in what everyone hates, so it is close to Taoism. In ancient times, tea springs were particularly important for rainwater, snow, dew, etc. In addition to its sweet, cold, light and pure characteristics, it is also related to the concept of “water is born from heaven”, believing that water from heaven is “spiritual water” and “immortal drink”, which can be used to maintain health and prolong life. Drinking tea is beneficial to people’s cultivation of nature, just like the Taoists’ pursuit of health and longevity. Tasting a cup of good tea, stop your chaotic thoughts and look at this rich life quietly.

Taoism has a tradition of respecting people and cherishing life, and the combination of Taoism and tea also reflects this profound meaning. Ancient Taoism also produced many tea people, who made important contributions to the development of tea culture. The ancient “Tea Fairy” and “Tea God” began with Lu Yu, and this title originated from Taoism.

The following introduces 45 Taoist health teas

1 Goji berry tea

Ingredients: 10g goji berry, 3g scented tea, 10g rock sugar.
Usage: brew with 250ml boiling water and drink until the taste is light.
Function: nourish the kidney and moisten the lung, nourish the liver and improve eyesight.
Use: liver and kidney yang deficiency, sore waist and knees, dizziness, blurred vision and tears; cough due to asthenia; thirst; spermatorrhea.

2 Goji berry and raw earth tea


Ingredients: 5g goji berry, 3g raw earth, 3g green tea, 10g rock sugar.
Use: brew with 250ml boiling water and drink until the taste is light.
Function: nourish the liver and kidney, nourish yin and clear heat.
Use: low back pain, thirst, fever, night sweats, and hot flashes caused by liver and kidney yin deficiency.

3 Goji berry longan tea

Ingredients: 5g goji berry, 3g longan meat, 3g green tea, 10g rock sugar.
Use: use 300ml of the decoction of the first two herbs to make tea and drink with sugar.
Function: nourishes the kidney and heart, calms the mind.
Uses: palpitations, insomnia, and dreaminess due to insufficient yin and blood.

4 Lycium barbarum and peony tea

Raw materials: 5g Lycium barbarum, 3g white peony root, 3g green tea, 10g rock sugar.
Usage: brew with 250ml boiling water and drink until the taste is light.
Function: nourishes blood and softens the liver.
Uses: chronic hepatitis and cirrhosis of liver and kidney essence and blood deficiency; dizziness, palpitations, and insomnia due to yin deficiency and yang hyperactivity; menopausal syndrome

5 Lycium barbarum and dragon tea

Raw materials: 5g Lycium barbarum, 2g Gentiana scabra, 3g green tea, 10g rock sugar.
Usage: brew with 250ml boiling water and drink until the taste is light.
Function: nourishes the liver and blood, clears heat and removes dampness.
Uses: acute infectious hepatitis; high transaminase.

6 Dendrobium tea

Raw materials: 5g Dendrobium, 3g green tea.
Usage: brew with 200ml boiling water and drink. You can add rock sugar.
Function: nourish the stomach and produce fluid, clear heat and nourish yin.
Use: heat disease damages body fluid, dry mouth and thirst; deficiency heat after illness.

7 Lycium barbarum and five-flavor tea

Ingredients: 5g Lycium barbarum, 3g Schisandra chinensis, 3g Gentiana scabra, 3g Polygonum cuspidatum, 5g green tea, 10g rock sugar.
Usage: use 350ml of the decoction of the previous few herbs to make tea and drink until the taste is light.
Function: nourish yin and liver, detoxify and remove dampness; reduce transaminase.
Use: acute infectious hepatitis; abnormal liver function and high transaminase.

8 Rehmannia tea

Ingredients: 10g Rehmannia glutinosa, 3g green tea.
Usage: use 300ml of the decoction of Rehmannia glutinosa to make tea and drink until the taste is light.
Function: nourish yin and blood, lower blood sugar, raise blood pressure, diuretic, antibacterial, and protect the liver.
Uses: Yin deficiency fever, night sweats, dry mouth and thirst; irregular menstruation; restless fetal movement; Yin dryness and constipation; rheumatoid arthritis; infectious hepatitis; eczema, urticaria, neurodermatitis and other skin diseases.

9 Di Mai Cha

Ingredients: 5g of raw earth, 3g of Ophiopogon japonicus, 3g of Asparagus cochinchinensis, 3g of green tea.
Usage: brew with 250ml of boiling water and drink until the taste is light.
Function: clear heat and produce body fluid.
Use: damage to body fluid after fever, dry mouth and thirst, sweating; thirst.

10 Cang Cha

Ingredients: 5g of raw earth, 3g of Atractylodes lancea, 3g of green tea.
Usage: brew tea with 300ml of the decoction of the first two herbs and drink until the taste is light.
Function: dry dampness and nourish yin, and restrain spleen essence.
Uses: Chronic nephritis and kidney disease have been there for a long time, kidney yin deficiency and dampness are blocked and cannot be transformed, and symptoms of yin deficiency and dampness appear, such as soreness of waist and knees, thirst and dry throat, night sweats, hot flashes, thick and greasy yellow tongue coating, edema, proteinuria; chronic eczema.

11 Shengdi Ying Tea

Ingredients: 5g Shengdi, 3g Dandelion, 3g Green Tea.
Usage: Use 300ml of decoction of the first two herbs to make tea and drink it until the taste is light.
Function: Cool blood and detoxify, disperse knots and remove numbness.
Use: Rheumatoid arthritis, red, swollen, hot and painful joints; carbuncle, sore and swollen.

12 Shengdi Doujuan Tea

Ingredients: 5g Shengdi, 3g Doujuan, 3g Green Tea.
Usage: Use 300ml of decoction of the first two herbs to make tea and drink it until the taste is light.
Function: Clear and promote, nourish yin and relieve symptoms.
Uses: Damp heat enters the blood and causes fever, rashes, irritability, and restlessness; early onset of breast abscess; stomach heat and thirst.

13 Angelica Tea

Ingredients: 10g Angelica, 3g black tea.
Usage: Use 300ml of Angelica decoction to make tea and drink until the taste is light. Sugar can be added.
Function: Nourish blood and blood, regulate menstruation and relieve pain, moisturize and lubricate the intestines.
Uses: Irregular menstruation, amenorrhea; dysmenorrhea; dizziness, palpitations, fatigue due to blood deficiency; angina pectoris due to coronary heart disease; thromboangiitis obliterans; constipation due to blood deficiency; trauma; hypertension; chronic pelvic inflammatory disease.

14 Angelica, Astragalus and Jujube Tea

Ingredients: 5g Angelica, 5g Astragalus, 3 jujubes, 3g flower tea.
Usage: Use 350ml of the decoction of the previous few herbs to make tea and drink until the taste is light.
Function: Nourish blood and replenish qi.
Uses: Qi and blood deficiency, fatigue, tiredness, dry throat; irregular menstruation, scanty menstruation; postpartum Qi and blood deficiency; long-term illness with Qi and blood depletion; low immune function; aplastic anemia; Qi deficiency and low fever.

15 Angelica and Peony Tea

Ingredients: 5g Angelica, 3g White Peony, 3g Flower Tea.
Usage: Use 300ml of the decoction of the first two herbs to make tea and drink until the taste is light.
Function: nourish blood and calm the liver.
Use: liver cirrhosis, blood deficiency and blood stasis; dysmenorrhea; dysentery caused by damp heat and blood stasis.

16 Guisu Tea

Ingredients: 5g Angelica, 3g Perilla, 3g Flower Tea.
Use: Use 300ml of the decoction of the first two herbs to make tea and drink until the taste is light.
Function: harmonize blood, lower Qi, and eliminate phlegm.
Use: cough and asthma in the elderly; chronic bronchitis.

17 Angelica and Qiang Tea

Ingredients: 5g Angelica, 3g Qianghuo, 3g flower tea.
Usage: Use 300ml of the decoction of the first two herbs to make tea and drink it until the taste is light.
Function: Clear blood vessels and dispel cold stagnation.
Use: Coronary heart disease is induced by wind and cold, which aggravates chest tightness and pain, and upper limb soreness.

18 Angelica and Chuanlian Tea

Ingredients: 5g Angelica, 2g Chuanlianzi, 3g flower tea.
Usage: Use 300ml of the decoction of the first two herbs to make tea and drink it until the taste is light.
Function: Soothe the liver and activate blood circulation, regulate qi and relieve pain.
Use: Qi stagnation and blood stasis, abdominal pain, tendon spasm; chronic enteritis.

19 Angelica and Bairen Tea

Ingredients: 5g Angelica, 3g Baiziren, 3g flower tea.
Usage: Use 300ml of the decoction of the first two herbs to make tea and drink it until the taste is light.
Function: Nourish blood and moisten dryness. Uses: Constipation in the elderly; amenorrhea due to blood deficiency.

20 Angelica and Angelica Tea

Ingredients: 5g Angelica, 3g Angelica Dahurica, 3g Green Tea.
Usage: Use 300ml of the decoction of the first two herbs to make tea and drink it until the taste is light.
Function: Activate blood circulation and nourish blood, eliminate dampness and detoxify.
Use: Ulcers, sores, swellings, and cancers due to deficiency of qi and blood.

21 Polygonum multiflorum tea

Ingredients: 5g Polygonum multiflorum, 3g black tea.
Usage: Boil Polygonum multiflorum in 200ml water for 5 to 10 minutes after the water boils, and brew black tea for drinking. Drink until the taste is light. It can also be drunk directly.
Function: Nourish the liver and kidney, nourish blood and dispel wind; lower blood lipids, and resist bacteria.
Use: Liver and kidney yin deficiency, premature graying of hair and beard, dizziness, spermatorrhea, soreness of waist and knees; chronic hepatitis; carbuncle; scrofula; hemorrhoids.

22 He Feng Tea

Ingredients: 5g Polygonum multiflorum, 3g Saposhnikovia divaricata, 3g mint, 3g green tea.
Usage: Use 300ml of the decoction of the first two herbs to brew mint and green tea for drinking, and drink until the taste is light.
Function: nourish blood, dispel wind, remove dampness, and detoxify.
Use: sores, swelling, itching and pain all over the body.

23 Polygonum multiflorum and peony root tea

Ingredients: 5g Polygonum multiflorum, 3g white peony root, 3g green tea.
Usage: Use 300ml of the decoction of the first two herbs to brew tea for drinking. Tea is not required.
Function: benefit the liver and kidney, nourish the heart and blood.
Use: liver and kidney deficiency, heart and blood deficiency, insomnia, palpitations, dizziness and tinnitus; hypertension, cerebral arteriosclerosis belong to liver and kidney yin deficiency

24 White Peony Tea

Ingredients: 10g white peony root, 3g green tea.
Usage: brew with 300ml boiling water and drink, and drink until the taste is light. Function: nourishing blood and softening liver, relieving pain, constricting yin and sweating; antibacterial.
Uses: chest and flank pain; yin deficiency fever; irregular menstruation; diarrhea and abdominal pain; metrorrhagia.

25 Peony Ginger Tea

Raw materials: 5g white peony, 3g dried ginger, 3g black tea.
Usage: use 300ml of decoction of the first two herbs to make tea and drink until the taste is light.
Function: warming the meridians and relieving pain.
Uses: dysmenorrhea; cold stomach and abdominal pain.

26 White Peony Plum Tea

Raw materials: 5g white peony, 2 black plums, 3g papaya, 3g green tea.
Usage: brew with 250ml boiling water and drink until the taste is light.
Function: constricting liver and nourishing stomach.
Uses: insufficient stomach yin, loss of appetite, thirst, red tongue with little coating; atrophic gastritis; chronic diarrhea; prolonged vomiting during pregnancy and damage to body fluid; hyperthyroidism.

27 White Peony and Wildflower Tea

Ingredients: 5g white peony, 3g wildflower, 3g green tea.
Usage: brew with 250ml boiling water and drink until the taste is light.
Function: nourish yin and blood, clear liver heat.
Use: hypertension; hematuria, metrorrhagia, fever during menstruation, proteinuria due to yin deficiency and blood heat.

28 White Peony and Wildflower Tea

Ingredients: 5g white peony, 3g wildflower, 3g green tea.
Usage: brew with 250ml boiling water and drink until the taste is light.
Function: soften liver and clear heat, calm liver and extinguish wind.
Use: dizziness, hypertension, red eyes due to hyperactivity of liver yang.

29 Schisandra Tea

Ingredients: 5g Schisandra, 3g green tea.
Usage: brew tea with 250ml of Schisandra decoction and drink until the taste is light.
Function: nourish the lungs and kidneys, produce body fluid, collect sweat and astringe semen. Uses: asthma and cough due to lung deficiency, dry mouth, spontaneous sweating and night sweats; nocturnal emission and spermatorrhea; non-icteric infectious hepatitis; acute intestinal infection; neurasthenia.

30 Shengmai Tea

Ingredients: 5g Schisandra, 3g Ginseng, 3g Ophiopogon, 3g Flower Tea, 10g Rock Sugar.
Usage: brew with 300ml boiling water and drink until the taste is light.
Uses: Heat damages the vital energy, limb fatigue, shortness of breath and laziness, dry mouth and thirst, and sweating.

31 Wuwei Shahu Tea

Ingredients: 5g Schisandra, 3g Adenophora, 3g Dendrobium, 3g Green Tea, 10g Rock Sugar
Usage: brew with 300ml boiling water and drink until the taste is light.
Function: nourish the stomach and benefit the body fluid.
Uses: long-term diarrhea damages the body fluid or damages the body fluid after fever.

32 Cornus officinalis tea

Ingredients: 5g Cornus officinalis, 3g Flower Tea.
Usage: brew with 200ml of boiling water and drink until the taste is light.
Function: nourish liver and kidney, astringe essence and qi, consolidate collapse; antibacterial.
Uses: sore waist and knees; dizziness; tinnitus; impotence; spermatorrhea; enuresis.

33 Asparagus tea

Raw materials: 10g asparagus, 3g green tea.
Usage: brew with 300ml of boiling water and drink, you can add rock sugar.
Function: nourish yin and moisten dryness, clear lungs and reduce fire; antibacterial, anti-tumor.
Uses: Yin deficiency fever; cough and vomiting blood; lung abscess; sore throat; thirst; constipation; breast tumor.

34 Sancai tea

Raw materials: 5g asparagus, 3g ginseng, 3g raw earth, 3g flower tea.
Usage: use 350ml of the decoction of the first two herbs to make tea and drink, you can add rock sugar.
Function: nourish yin and qi, moisten lungs and relieve cough.
Uses: cough due to lung qi deficiency and yin.

35 Tianbei Tea

Ingredients: 5g Asparagus, 3g Fritillaria, 3g Poria, 3g Ejiao, 3g Almond, 3g Green Tea.
Usage: Use 400ml of the decoction of the first five herbs to brew green tea for drinking.
Function: Clear the lungs and eliminate phlegm.
Use: Coughing and coughing up blood due to lung heat; vomiting blood; lung cancer; breast cancer.

36 Tiandong Isatis Tea

Ingredients: 5g Asparagus, 3g Isatis Root, 3g Green Tea.
Usage: Brew with 250ml boiling water and drink. You can add rock sugar.
Function: Clear heat, nourish yin, and detoxify.
Use: Fever due to fever, dry mouth and thirst; sore throat; tonsillitis; mouth and tongue sores.

37 Maimendong Tea

Ingredients: 5g Maimendong, 3g Green Tea.
Usage: Brew with 200ml boiling water and drink, you can add rock sugar.
Function: nourishing yin and moistening lungs, clearing heart and eliminating vexation, benefiting stomach and producing fluid; antibacterial, lowering blood sugar.
Uses: dry cough and hemoptysis due to dry lungs; pulmonary tuberculosis; lung abscess; thirst; fatigue and fever; heat damage due to fever, dry throat and mouth, constipation.

38 Mai Di Tea

Raw materials: 5g Ophiopogon japonicus, 3g Rehmannia glutinosa, 3g green tea.
Usage: brew with 250ml boiling water or use the decoction of the first two herbs to make tea for drinking. You can add rock sugar.
Function: nourishing yin and clearing heat.
Uses: fever and thirst, nosebleed; throat discomfort.

39 Mai Dong Di Gu Tea

Raw materials: 5g Ophiopogon japonicus, 3g Rehmannia glutinosa, 3g green tea.
Usage: brew with 250ml boiling water and drink. You can add rock sugar.
Function: nourishing lung yin and clearing heat.
Uses: bone steaming and lung tuberculosis, limbs and fever, inability to eat, dry mouth.

40 Maidongxia Tea

Ingredients: 5g of Ophiopogon japonicus, 3g of Pinellia ternata, 3g of Ginseng, 3g of Japonica rice, 3g of Licorice, 5g of Green Tea.
Usage: Use 350ml of the decoction of the first five herbs to make tea and drink until the taste is light.
Function: Nourishing Yin and Qi, benefiting the throat.
Use: Fire reversal, throat discomfort, dry cough and sputum.

41 Adenophora tea

Ingredients: 10g of Adenophora ternata, 3g of Green Tea.
Use: Brew with 300ml of boiling water and drink. Can add rock sugar.
Function: Nourishing Yin and clearing the lungs, removing phlegm and relieving cough; strengthening the heart, antifungal, lowering blood pressure.
Use: Lung heat and dry cough; chronic cough due to deficiency; dry throat and sore throat due to Yin injury.

42 Shamai tea

Ingredients: 5g of Adenophora ternata, 3g of Ophiopogon japonicus, 3g of Polygonatum odoratum, 2g of winter mulberry leaves, 3g of Licorice, 3g of Green Tea.
Usage: Use 400ml of the decoction of the first four herbs to soak licorice and green tea for drinking, and drink until the taste is light.
Function: Clear the lungs and moisten dryness.
Use: Dryness damages the lungs and causes yin deficiency, fever, cough, and dry mouth.

43 Polygonatum tea

Raw materials: 10g Polygonatum, 3g green tea.
Usage: Brew with 300ml boiling water and drink. You can add rock sugar.
Function: Nourish yin and moisten dryness, eliminate restlessness and quench thirst.
Use: Heat disease damages yin, cough and thirst, fatigue and fever, easy digestion, frequent urination, and sore throat.

44 Stomach-benefiting tea

Raw materials: 5g Polygonatum, 3g Adenophora, 3g Ophiopogon, 3g Rehmannia, 3g Green tea, 10g rock sugar.
Usage: Brew with 300ml boiling water and drink until the taste is light.
Function: Benefit the stomach and produce fluid.
Uses: After sweating due to fever, the yin should be restored to nourish the damaged stomach fluid; sore throat.

45 Yuzhu Tea

Ingredients: 5g Yuzhu, 3g mint, 3g chrysanthemum, 3g green tea.
Usage: brew with 300ml boiling water and drink. Can add rock sugar.
Function: nourish yin, soothe the exterior, and improve eyesight.
Use: red and painful eyes and blurred vision after exogenous fever.