In our daily life, we often hear that drinking green tea has the function of expelling toxins but will hurt the stomach, while drinking black tea has the function of nourishing the stomach but will affect sleep. So from the point of view of health, does drinking tea hurt the stomach?

Here, we will popularize some tea knowledge which, we hope, can be beneficial to all the tea lovers.

• Does tea cause “irritation”to the stomach?

The active substance in tea can be combined with pepsin, which can cause certain irritation to the stomach. And relatively speaking, Green Tea and Sheng Pu-erh Tea have stronger irritation. So some people with weaker gastrointestinal function will feel unwell after drinking tea, but it may also be caused by the tea drinking time, the tea concentration or the tea drinking amount.

But "irritation" is not necessarily a bad thing, because the effect of tea on the digestive system is complex. Theophylline has the function of relaxing gastrointestinal smooth muscle and can relieve the pain of gastrointestinal spasm; and caffeine can stimulate the secretion of gastric juice, promote the digestion and improve the appetite.

For the stomach, drinking tea to relieve the greasy feeling and promote the digestion is also an "irritation." After eating much greasy food, you will be full in your stomach and will also feel thirsty. So drink tea one hour after a meal! The tea liquor will react with lipid substances to promote the digestion of food in the stomach, and you will feel better in your stomach.

Drinking tea in a scientific and healthy way will not hurt the stomach.

But drinking tea in the following several wrong ways is prone to hurt the stomach.

• Drinking tea like this is proneto hurt the stomach.

Tea lovers, who are weak in gastrointestinal function and love drinking tea, must avoid these bad habits of drinking tea.

• Drinking tea on an empty stomach

Some people have the habit of drinking tea first in the morning. There is nothing in the stomach as a buffer, and the irritation of tea to the stomach is the strongest. When the Cantonese drink morning tea, they always eat a lot of snacks, especially some sweet food at the same time. When drinking tea at ordinary times, you can prepare some refreshments, such as biscuits and candied fruit, which not only can prevent you from being hungry while drinking tea or being intoxicated by tea, but also is a good way to relieve stomach irritation.

• Drinking strong tea

Those who are accustomed to strong tea will feel it less tasty when the tea is slightly lighter. But the various components inside the strong tea are relatively high in content. Drinking strong tea will cause excessive irritation to the stomach, in addition, high concentration of caffeine will also cause rapid heartbeat and faster blood flow. For drinking tea, it is reasonable to control the tea-water ratio at about 1:50, not too high.

• Drinking too miscellaneous

Drinking too miscellaneous, as well as eating too miscellaneous, will cause damage to the stomach. The harm to the stomach caused by drinking several kinds of tea uninterruptedly is too big. You’d better take a break after drinking a kind of tea, and then change another kind of tea, and you’d better not change the tea continuously more than three times.

• Drinking cold tea

It is appropriate to drink tea at the proper temperature. Just like drinking water, warm water is the best for the stomach. In particular, tea with not high degree of fermentation is cold in property. Cold tea will enhance the cold property. Too hot tea is also not good for the esophagus and stomach. It is best to cool the hot tea for a while and then drink it. But cold tea should be abandoned and not be drunk.

• How to drink tea toreduce the irritation to the stomach?

For drinking tea, it is best to have a warm feeling in the stomach.

It is more appropriate to choose Black Tea (such as Ancient China Golden Orthodox Yunnan High Grade Dianhong Gongfu Black Tea and Taiwan Formosa Mixiang Honey Fragrance Golden Black Loose Leaf High Mountain Tea), Shou Pu-erh Tea (such as Jingmai Mountain 1990s Emperor's Royal Pleasure Ripe/Cooked Pu-Erh Gong Ting (Palace) Loose Leaf Shou/Fermented Dark Tea and Organic Premium Quality Fermented/Shou/Ripe/Cooked/Ripened Pu-erh Tea from Yunnan China) and Aged Tea(such as 20 Year Organic Loose Leaf Chinese Ancient Fermented Vintage Aged Imperial Royal Pu’er/Puerh Tea from Yunnan). In fact, Black Tea is high in fermentation degree, Shu Pu-erh Tea undergoes pile fermentation, and Aged Tea, which is reasonably aged, becomes mild and warm and has small irritation after slow conversion of the substances inside the tea.

• Black Tea

Black tea is processed via fermenting and baking, and is warm and mild in property. And in winter, the stomach is susceptible to irritation of cold. Make a cup of black tea, and drink it after adding some brown sugar, if you like, then you will get warm from top to toe. Drinking black tea also has the effects of diminishing inflammation and protecting gastric mucosa.

• Shou Pu-erh Tea

Shou/Ripe Pu-erh Tea is very mellow, has weak irritation and contains a variety of beneficial bacteria and cellulose. As long as you haven’t drunk too strong and too much, Shou Pu-erh Tea is the most easily accepted by people. The irritation to the stomach is small, so the Shou Pu-erh Tea is also suitable for the elderly.

• Aged Tea

If the tea is stored in good condition, some irritant substances are converted naturally in the process of conversion and even produce some active enzymes which can warm the stomach and protect the stomach. In a word, the stomach knows best what is mild and soothing.

So people with weak gastrointestinal function should drink less green tea and Sheng Pu-erh Tea with strong irritation. As long as you can well master whether the tea drinking amount and frequency are in line with your own situation or not, then you do not need to particularly avoid drinking a certain kind of tea.

On the whole, drinking tea can help to keep healthy, but drinking tea in unscientific ways can be counterproductive.