Basic Introduction to Tuanfeng Broom Tea
Tuanfeng Broom Tea is a specialty of Tuanfeng County, Hubei Province. It is named for its bitter taste and the resemblance of its tree shape to a broom. The tea has various functions including invigorating the mind, clearing heat from the body, improving vision, reducing swelling, promoting diuresis, lowering blood pressure, and aiding digestion. It is particularly effective in treating intestinal inflammation, diarrhea, dysentery, and other gastrointestinal diseases. Broom Tea contains multiple nutrients and mineral elements needed by the human body, including the two anti-cancer trace elements, selenium and germanium. It possesses functions such as invigorating the mind, clearing heat from the body, improving vision, reducing swelling, promoting diuresis, lowering blood pressure, and aiding digestion. It is especially effective in treating intestinal inflammation, diarrhea, dysentery, and other gastrointestinal diseases. It contains multiple nutrients and mineral elements needed by the human body, including the two anti-cancer trace elements, selenium and germanium.
Tuanfeng Broom Tea is produced in Tuanfeng County, Hubei Province. Tuanfeng County is located in a plain and lake area along the river, with some low hills and terraces. Its altitude ranges from 19 to 36 meters, and the terrain is relatively flat. The county's topography is characterized by Daxiaoqi Mountain as its backbone, gradually transitioning from medium-low mountains, hills, and plains from northeast to southwest, forming a parallelogram shape. The northern part is higher with low mountains and hills, while the southern part is lower with plains, making it suitable for growing Tuanfeng Broom Tea.
The production area of Tuanfeng Broom Tea covers the administrative regions of Jiamiao Township and Dupi Township in Tuanfeng County, Hubei Province.
Nutritional Value
Broom Tea contains rich and complex nutrients, offering unique health benefits and medicinal functions. Also known as medicinal tea, Broom Tea is described by Li Shizhen in his “Compendium of Materia Medica” as “slightly bitter, cool, non-toxic, can be soaked in wine to strengthen the waist and legs, the leaves and bark are used together…”. This tea acts on the spleen, stomach, intestines, lungs, and liver, possessing functions such as clearing heat and detoxifying, improving vision and mental focus, invigorating the mind, aiding digestion, cooling the liver and dispersing wind, reducing fat and aiding weight loss, lowering blood pressure, reducing inflammation, and killing bacteria. It is particularly effective in treating diarrhea, intestinal inflammation, dysentery, and other gastrointestinal diseases, and also has good therapeutic effects on oral inflammation, cholecystitis, conjunctivitis, pharyngitis, prostatitis, skin diseases, headaches, colds, and more. It can improve taste perception, enhance appetite, beautify the face when used for washing, relieve skin itching and treat unknown swellings when used for bathing, and can treat eye diseases when the tea is used to fumigate the eyes. It can also eliminate bad breath and alleviate hangovers. Fishing enthusiasts can use the steeped tea leaves in bamboo tubes, and earthworms will remain alive for a week during summer. Adding tea water to clear water can increase oxygen levels, allowing fish to survive for several days longer.
Broom Tea is rich in selenium, tea polyphenols, and flavonoids. Its selenium content is unparalleled among all selenium-containing plants. Selenium is considered the king of cancer-fighting elements. Due to its strong antioxidant properties, it can directly combat cancer cells, reduce their proliferation rate within the body, inhibit their metabolism, and thus enhance human immunity, achieving preventive and curative effects against various types of cancer.
Tea polyphenols are also natural antioxidants. Flavonoids are an essential life substance in the human body, indispensable for the formation of sperm and eggs, and play a role in creating and sustaining life. The content of flavonoids in Broom Tea is 3.5 times higher than that of tea polyphenols.
The remarkable durability of Broom Tea is another distinctive feature. A small amount of Broom Tea leaves or two to three whole leaves can be steeped throughout the day, and the flavor is still noticeable after five days. One pound of concentrated Broom Tea can last for ten months, or twelve months if prepared more lightly. The tea does not spoil within a week, has no off-flavors, and does not easily develop a glazed coating on the cup walls. Broom Tea has a strong disinfectant and antibacterial effect, making it an excellent remedy for air conditioning syndrome.
Product Characteristics
Broom Tea is a tea drink with a bitter initial taste followed by a sweet aftertaste, a clean and pure mouthfeel, and a lingering sweetness that becomes increasingly pleasant, leaving one feeling refreshed and invigorated. Broom Tea is extremely durable, with a water extraction rate of 48-55%, and 50 grams can be used as much as 500 grams of ordinary tea. The tea remains fresh overnight without turning sour, does not stain tea wares, and even when consumed in large quantities does not cause insomnia. When mixed with regular tea in certain proportions, it creates a unique flavor. When used medicinally, it is effective in reducing fat and blood pressure, removing heat, detoxifying, promoting diuresis, and treating abdominal and intestinal inflammation and eliminating various inflammations. Additionally, it has certain anticancer effects. People often refer to it as “treasure tea” and “longevity tea.”
Historical and Folklore
In the Ming Dynasty, “Compendium of Materia Medica” had records about Tuanfeng Broom Tea.
In 1977, the Hubei Provincial Botanical Research Institute verified that Broom Tea is a variant of the “cat's claw tree.”
In 1991, the people of Tuanfeng County began artificial cultivation of Tuanfeng Broom Tea.
From 1999 to 2004, Tuanfeng County government constructed a Broom Tea garden base centered around Quanhua Village in Jiamiao Township and the Dupi Martyrs' Cemetery.
Awards and Honors for Tuanfeng Broom Tea
In September 2014, the former General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine approved geographical indication product protection for “Tuanfeng Broom Tea.”