In Japan and Europe there have been recent studies on the effectiveness of a particular tea called Fucha (Fu Cha). Fucha is a fully fermented dark tea that has undergone a double fermentation process, twice as long and time intensive as the cycle for producing Pu-erh tea.
Fucha is relatively new to the Western world, however, it has been consumed for centuries as a staple part of the Nomadic people’s diet in North Western China, Tibet and various regions in the Himalayas where high ratios of meat, mutton, and cheese are part of their standard diet.
Recent studies have shown that great progress has been made in weight management and lowering blood sugar in molecular levels via two new found active substances which have been named Fucha Su A and Fucha Su B. Case studies are in action on the benefits of Fucha’s ability to effectively aid in digestion, metabolize fat, lower blood sugar, and adjust cholesterol and blood pressure.
During the last 40 days of the fermentation process a natural enzyme is produced, the Chinese refer to this enzyme as the Golden Flower. This enzyme is researched for its abilitiy to help the body to digest heavy meat and dairy based foods. In our next posting on Fu Cha Tea we will elaborate more on the Golden Flower.
Begining July 1st 2007 Art of Tea will be honored to launch in North America Vintage Dark Tea. Vintage Dark tea is a 2003 Fucha tea as part of the TNT Teas and Tisanes line of products.
I love your blog.
Hello,
Fu Cha is similar to puerh only that it is pressed into bricks for ease of transport. You are confusing it with Cooked (Shu) Puerh throughout this article.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wrongfucha/4534281234/lightbox/
This photo of a Fu Cha brick is twiggy, wild tea leaves harvested in Sichuan for export to Tibet. It is not post-fermented (cooked) as puerh often is.
Cooked puerh has long been popular in Canton and Hong Kong, and is marketed recently in the West for the specious health claims repeated in this article.
Fu Cha, on the other hand, is drank in Tibet to provide certain nutrients that are not available in the entirely meat-based diet of people living at high elevation.
Addt. research – fu cha is in fact partly post-fermented by the purposeful addition of fungus – not heat and moisture as in post-fermented puerh.
Good starting point:
http://www.panix.com/~perin/babelcarp.cgi?phrase=fuzhuan
More reading/re-reading – perhaps you really are going to market a Sichuan tea in the familiar form of cooked puerh ‘coins.’
This sort of tea has a very unique taste and calming feeling for me, very exciting product!