This thread about puerh tea caught my attention and has caused me to wonder if anyone here might know about a tea that I’ve been sipping daily for a few years: jiaogulan tea. (The plant is gynostemma pentaphyllum). Some folks call it “immortalitea”.
According to some sources, jiaogulan is supposed to healthy, but, as it doesn’t seem to be something mainstream society enjoys, I’m wondering about the potential for “woo”. I’ve found a number of sourcesthat indicate it is an “adaptogenic”, which apparently means that it regulates or “normalizes” biological systems. To me, this adds to the “woo” factor.
Here’s the Wikipedia entry.
I’ve found a number of resources that sound positive, but they’re written in scientificmed-speak, much of which goes over my head.
It’s a mild somewhat-sweet tea and, like I said, I drink it regularly, but I don’t know if it’s actually doing me any good health-wise. Would anyone here happen to be familiar with this tea? When I asked, none of my friends or family members had ever heard of it. Does anybody know about any benefits or disadvantages to drinking it?