Why Green Tea or Raw Puer Tea At Frost's Descent?

In ancient Chinese figured out from the calendar that we not only have four basic seasons, we actually have 24 different seasons ( 24 Solar Terms ) in a year, and even now, most Chinese farmers still follow the lunar calendar while farming. On November 30, 2016, UNESCO officially inscribed China’s “24 Solar Terms” on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Also, in traditional Chinese medicine, these 24 solar terms have great significance when it comes to maintaining people's health.

Today, in 24 solar terms, here we're going to talk about a one of solar term, called 'Frost's Descent', in Chinese is Shuang Jiang ( 霜降 ).
In the Chinese lunar calendar, Frost's Descent is the 15th solar terms of the year, which usually occurs between the 23rd and 24th of October in the Gregorian calendar. When the Frost's Descent comes, the weather begins a new kind of change:

At this moment, water vapor on the ground tend to condense into frost in cold days. Frost's Descent does not necessarily mean that is frosts; instead, it suggests that it is cold. Leaves of ever-green plants turn yellow and fall. Dormant insects bracing for winter stop eating and moving around for dormancy.

Why Green Tea or Raw Puer Tea At Frost's Descent?

In ancient Chinese medical theory, there is a basic guideline for health care:

春夏养阳，即养生养长
During spring and summer, nourish our Yang energy. Focus on going 'outward', flourishing and using your energy to grow.
秋冬养阴，即养收养藏
During autumn and winter, nourish our Yin energy, Focus on going 'inward', resting, storing and restoring.

Since Frost's Descent is the last solar terms of autumn season and will be followed by winter, so this solar term has a very important impact on the changes of our body. The classical literature in Chinese medicine - Yellow Emperor inner classics ( Huang Di Nei Jing / 黄帝内经 ) was recorded:" People should keep their mind in peace to alleviate the soughing effect of autumn, moderating mental activity to balance Autumn-Qi and preventing outward manifestation of sentiments to harmonize Lung-Qi. This is what adaptation to autumn-Qi means and this is the Tao ( principle ) for cultivation of health and regulation of daily life. Any violation of this rule will impair the lung and leads to diarrhea with undigested food in it in winter due to insufficient supply for storage in winter."

Therefore, according to the principles of classical medicine, we can clearly understand that when autumn and winter come, it is the time to hide our energy in our body and not to leak out easily, only then, following the laws of nature and referring to the principle of animal hibernation, this is also the time when the human body is naturally accumulating energy inward. So, the most intuitive way to do this is to find a way to help us with how to build up our energy as autumn and winter approach.

And in ancient Chinese medicine theory, the fundamental to keep the body healthy is not to treat the diseases that already exist, but how to prevent and nourish the body health to prevent the body from diseases. So in classical Chinese medical theory, nourishing the body is a very therapeutic concept.

The key to nourishing the body is to apply daily habits and foods flexibly to all aspects of life in order to achieve a healthy balance in the body. This is why it is important to understand how the seasons affect the body and how to use different means of nourishing the body in different seasons, at specific times of the year.

Therefore, tea in ancient China was not a simple drink, but a very important "medicine" in people's daily health care. And it is very important to choose different teas at different times for body conditioning. Choose the right tea, the body has a very good health effect, choose the wrong tea, may cause unhealthy damage to the body.

So, we have been working for a long time to explain to many tea lovers about what the five elements of tea are and how to choose the five elements of tea to use at different times of the year to help us condition our bodies to achieve a healthy and balanced state.

For more information on what teas should be used to nourish and care for our bodies throughout the four seasons, please check out:
1. How to Drink Tea According to the Calendar
2. What are the Five Elements?
3. 5 Element Tea

After you have read these articles, you will have a basic idea of：
1. Autumn belongs to the metal element of the Five Elements theory (Metal, Wood, Water, Fire and Earth) in ancient Chinese medical theory.
2. The internal organs of the body corresponding to the Metal element are the lungs and the large intestine.
3. In order to achieve a healthy and balanced state for the internal organs of the Metal element, the most basic way to nourish the body with tea is to use tea belonging to the earth element and metal element to nourish the internal organs of the Metal element.
4. The tea that belongs to the earth element is usually ripe pu-erh tea (please read 5 Element Tea for the specific theoretical basis).
5. Teas belonging to the metal element are usually herbal teas such as Wild Schizandra ( Wu Wei Zi ), etc. (specific theoretical basis, as above).
Therefore, according to the basic five elements concept, it is fundamental to find the tea that can nourish the inner organs of the Metal elements in autumn season.

Based on this theoretical basis, we can know that the best way to nourish our body throughout the autumn is to use earth element teas or metal element teas to nourish our metal element internal organs.
But for the special day that we are going to discuss in the fall: The Frost's Descent, should we also follow the basic rules of the five elements and use earth element teas or metal element teas to nourish our bodies on this day? The answer is no.

As we have mentioned above, the day of Frost's Descent is the last day of solar terms in autumn, and from this day onwards, the weather will become colder and colder, and then enter the winter season.

When the weather becomes cold, it is also described in the Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine: " In cold weather, Yang Qi ( Yang Energy ) flows in the body just like a door-hinge rotating in the door-mortar. Any rash action in daily life will disperse Spirit-Qi ( Spirit Energy )."

And in Chinese medicine theory, our Spirit and our Heart are closely related. When the weather suddenly becomes cold, the heart is the first organ that must get attention, and only if the heart stays healthy and balanced, can it be our spirit to stay healthy in our body.

In our 5 Element Tea theory, the tea of choice to keep the heart healthy and balanced is green tea or raw puer tea. This is because the heart belongs to the fire element, and in order for the fire element to function in balance, it first needs to be nourished by the wood element, and green tea or raw puer teas belongs to the wood element. Therefore, when the Frost's Descent comes, your best choice is actually a cup of green tea or raw pu-erh tea.

After that, we will move to the winter season and throughout the winter you can check out our 5 Element Tea theory to find out what winter teas in general we can choose throughout the winter to keep our body balanced, and to choose different specific teas to enhance your health during specific solar terms in different seasons.

May you keep your body in healthy balance all year round, and with each of the 24 solar terms.

In Good Tea

Now, you understand why we should use tea as medicine. It's the time for you to explore more:

1.  How to Drink Tea According to the Calendar
2. What are the Five Elements?
3. 5 Element Tea

@ All copy right reserved by Wild Tea Qi & International Tea Academy