Why does my tongue feel dry after drinking tea?

The first thing that needs to be ruled out here is the tea drinker's own poor physical condition. The surface of a normal person's tongue is usually moisturized by body fluids, which is reflected as the moistness of the tongue surface. In traditional Chinese medicine, moistening and drying reflects the condition of body fluids. So why does your tongue become astringent after drinking tea?

1. Dryness caused by tea polyphenols

Tea contains polyphenols, which form an impermeable film on the tongue when it enters the mouth, making the tongue dry and astringent. After this membrane is broken, it turns into the sweet aftertaste that we are all familiar with, which is also a sign of good tea.

At the same time, this situation is generally more obvious in teas with higher content of tea polyphenols, such as green tea, raw Pu'er, etc.

2. Dryness caused by drinking overheated tea.

It is recommended to drink tea hot or warm, but drinking it too hot will burn your mouth and create a dry feeling. In fact, we will have a similar feeling when we drink overheated water.

In addition, Li Shizhen mentioned in Compendium of Materia Medica: "Tea is bitter and cold, and it can reduce internal heat the most. Internal heat is the root of all diseases, and when internal heat is reduced, the body becomes clear. When drinking warm tea, internal heat is reduced by the cold air, and when drinking hot tea, internal heat is dispersed by the heat, and it can also detoxify alcohol and food."

3. Some teas are said to have a strong "heaty" effect

On the one hand, traditional medicine believes that food has "four properties and five flavors", namely cold, cool, warm and hot, and sour, bitter, sweet, spicy and salty. Among all types of tea, green tea and white tea are the coolest, black tea and yellow tea are relatively mild, and black tea and dark tea are relatively warm.

On the other hand, some newly processed teas, such as green tea that has just been withered and dried or tea that has just been roasted, often have "heat" that has not yet subsided. When drinking them at this time, some people often feel a dryness on the tongue and throat; however, most teas will not have this condition after a period of time.

In addition, some people are sensitive to tea hairs. For some teas with many hairs, such as Biluochun, Baihao Yinzhen, etc., their throats will be irritated and they will feel itchy and dry.