Rehmannia tea (地黄茶, Dì Huáng Chá) is made from the root of Rehmannia glutinosa.
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What Is Rehmannia
Rehmannia glutinosa is a perennial herb. It is called Di Huang in Chinese because its underground root is yellow-white. Di means “ground” and Huang means “yellow”.
The root of Rehmannia glutinosa is a kind of traditional Chinese medicine, which was first recorded in <Shennong Ben Cao Jing>.
In traditional Chinese medicine, according to the processing method, rehmannia can be divided into raw rehmannia (Sheng Di Huang) and prepared rehmannia (Shu Di Huang). Those two kinds of rehmannia have great differences in appearance and medicinal efficacy.
Raw rehmannia is directly dried without special processing. Its color is yellow or brown. Prepared rehmannia requires to be steamed with other materials before being dried. Its color is black and looks shiny.
The medicinal property of raw rehmannia is cold and that of prepared rehmannia is warm. Raw rehmannia is usually used for clearing heat and cooling blood. Prepared rehmannia is usually used for nourishing blood. The famous Chinese medicine Liu Wei Di Huang Wan is made from prepared rehmannia.
How to Make Rehmannia Tea
Both raw rehmannia and prepared rehmannia can be made into tea. Take 10-15g of rehmannia, steep it in boiling water for a few minutes to drink. If possible, it’s best to boil it in water to make the effective components more easily dissolve into the tea.
When making rehmannia tea, you can add some other materials such as green tea, wolfberry, angelica, lily, etc. This will have different medicinal effects.
In addition to making tea, rehmannia can also be used to make medicinal meals. As early as a thousand years ago, people in the Central Plains of China began to use rehmannia as a common food material. They often used it to make soup, porridge, and wine.
Benefits of Rehmannia Tea
Modern pharmacological experiments show that the effective components of rehmannia are mainly glycosides, among which the iridoid glucosides are the main components. Rehmannia also includes organic acids, amino acids, phenols, sugars, etc.
Nourish Blood
Prepared rehmannia tea can stimulate the bone marrow and increase the number of red blood cells, platelets, and hemoglobin in the blood, and play the role of blood supply.
Treat Hypertension
Scientific experiments show that the extract of rehmannia has an obvious antihypertensive effect on hypertension.
Boost Immune System
Rehmannia can obviously improve the synthesis of DNA and protein of lymphocytes, enhance the low cellular immune function, and play a role in preventing and treating diseases.
Clear Heat and Cool Blood
In traditional Chinese medicine, there is a disease called heat blood. Its symptoms are thirst, upset, constipation, insomnia, skin rash, and fever. Raw rehmannia tea can clear heat and cool blood to relieve these symptoms.
Improve Cardiovascular System
The iridoid glycosides of rehmannia can improve cardiovascular system function and strengthen heart function.
Anti-inflammatory and Antibacterial
Rehmannia has an inhibitory effect on arthritis and some skin fungi.
In addition, rehmannia has the functions of anti-tumor, anti-aging, regulating endocrine, hemostasis, etc.
Side Effects of Rehmannia Tea
Raw rehmannia tea and prepared rehmannia tea have different medicinal properties and effects. We should choose according to our own situation.
Women with menstruation and pregnant women are not suitable to drink raw rehmannia tea.
People with a cold constitution or weak stomach and spleen are not suitable to drink raw rehmannia tea, otherwise, it will cause diarrhea and stomach pain.
Patients with typhoid are not suitable to drink prepared rehmannia tea, which is easy to aggravate the disease and not conducive to a healthy recovery.