🌱 Why do the Chinese drink tea?

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  🍃 It actually has to do with the Chinese theory of the five elements - wood, metal, fire, water, and earth:

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  🍃 Tea comes from a plant - Camellia sinensis - the Tea Leaf Tree - that is used to make all true teas: green, black, white, and oolong. The Tea Tree contains the element of wood (木) 🌳
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  🍃 When it's roasted in a cast-iron pan, it gains the element of metal (金)
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  🍃 Then it's dried over fire, adding the element of fire (火) 🔥
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  🍃 When it's brewed with boiling water, the element of water enters (水) 💦
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  🍃 Finally, tea is poured into a clay vessel, symbolizing the element of earth (土) 🍯
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  🍃 In this way, all five elements - wood, metal, fire, water, and earth - come together in a single cup.
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  🍃 The plant grows slowly and can thrive in containers or frost-free gardens with sun to semi-shade.

📚 Learn more from previous posts:

🎋 What is the most beautiful ginger? 5 most spectacular Ginger species.

• 🍭 Hedychium flavum x coronarium - Yellow Butterfly Ginger, Nardo Ginger Lily - rare hybrid of White Butterfly ginger we mentioned earlier, it is more vigorous and tall than its parent. With attractive long green leaves with a slight fuzziness, this ginger has open long spikes of pastel yellow flowers with a beautiful heady aroma. Exquisitely fragrant!
• 🍭 Costus arabicus (amazonicus) variegata - Variegated Spiral Ginger - is a show stopper! Very popular in Hawaii and Florida. Spiraling stems rise with a strong white variegation and topped with green and white cone like flowers. Vigorous grower, it prefers shade, moist soil and lots of water.
• 🍭 Zingiber Zerumbet - Pine Cone Ginger, Shampoo Ginger - is probably the most popular one. All parts of this ginger are spicy fragrant. The cone shaped flowers are long lasting and useful for cut flower arrangements. It is in fact used as a shampoo in Asia and Hawaii, and as an ingredient in several commercial shampoos! Pinecone ginger is considered a "canoe plant", that is, a plant introduced throughout the Pacific by the ancient Polynesian settlers.
• 🍭 Costus vargasii - Spiral Ginger Raspberry Yogurt - The name refers to the colorful raspberry colored stem, but that's not the only colorful thing about it: the leaves are dark green, long and glossy with velvety deep purple undersides. The inflorescence is a vivid red with tight bracts and bold yellow flowers. The butterflies love to drink the nectar from the flowers. Large vigorous ginger, growing up to 5-6 ft tall.
• 🍭 Costus fissiligulatus - African Princess, Cameroon Costus - from Gabon in West Africa. It has a dazzling pink trumpet flower with a yellow throat. It is very floriferous with an inflorescence of numerous flower buds on a shortish plant of 3-4 ft that stands very erect. It is an easy grower

📚 More gingers in previous posts:

☕️ How to grow your own tea? Where does the tea come from? From Camellia!

• 🍃 Did you know that tea comes from a Camellia plant?
Camellia sinensis - Tea Leaf Tree - is the plant used to make all types of true tea: green, black, white, and oolong.
• 🍃Tea is the second most consumed beverage in the world, after water.
• 🍃Green tea is rich in antioxidants, which help protect your cells from damage.
• 🍃Drinking tea can boost your immune system, help fight off infections, improve oral health by reducing the growth of bacteria.
• 🍃Regular tea consumption is linked to improved bone health and reduced risk of osteoporosis. It can aid in weight loss by boosting metabolism and help reduce the risk of heart disease.
• 🍃Tea contains caffeine, which can improve mental alertness and focus. On the other hand, tea contains L-theanine, an amino acid that promotes relaxation and reduces stress.
• 🍃The plant is very slow growing, can be grown in container or in the ground in frost-free areas. Takes sun to semi-shade.

How to make healthy food taste delicious? Longevity Spinach Super-food Recipes.

• ☘️ Gynura procubens (Longevity Spinach, Okinawa Spinach) is one of the Superfoods, known for its longevity-promoting properties in traditional medicine.
• ☘️ Native to Indonesia, commercially grown in China. It is a relatively hardy perennial that once planted, you will have these healthy greens for many years!
• ☘️ Both the stems and the leaves are edible and nutritious, can be eaten raw or cooked. They have a unique flavor with a faint hint of pine, and will add a beautiful aesthetic element to cuisine.
• ☘️ This green is also known as cholesterol spinach, and there are many claims that it lowers can cholesterol.
• ☘️ Perfect for hot and humid climates unlike traditional Spinach that only grown in cooler areas. It will thrive in any type of soil, any type of light other than dark shade, and is pest-free.
• ☘️ Very adaptable to container gardening and even grows well on a windowsill.
• ☘️ The leaves and young shoot tips can be steamed, used in stir fry, tempura, stews, and soups. Just add them at the very end.