Witnessed by: TCM · Western
Tea (Camellia sinensis), of the Theaceae family. Evergreen shrub or small tree, kept clipped low in cultivation; native range: the mountains of south-west China and Assam; cultivated across the monsoon tropics and subtropics. Globally recognized as cha ye (茶葉) in Chinese, and green tea, black tea, cha in English. The part used is young leaf and leaf bud. Glossy leaves that dry to a fragrant, astringent, faintly bitter infusion, greener or darker by the degree of firing and fermentation.
In this cross-tradition database, we analyze how this substance operates across world medicine systems — tracking its traditional tastes, temperatures, tissue affinities, post-digestive effects, and planetary correspondences across Ayurveda, Unani, and Western herbalism.
TEA
IDENTITY
Name
- Common
- Tea
- Scientific name
- Camellia sinensis (L.) Kuntze
- Family
- Theaceae
Form
- Part used
- young leaf and leaf bud
PROPERTIES
Nature
Taste
how the plant declares itself on the tongue
- TCM
- bitter · sweet
- Western
- bitter · astringent
Temperature
- TCM
- cool
- Western
- cool
Affinity
where in the body it travels
Organs / channels
- TCM
- Heart · Lung · Stomach · Kidney · Liver
- Western
- nerves · digestion · kidneys · heart
PRACTICE
Virtue
Actions
- TCM
- clears heat, quenches thirst, resolves phlegm and food stagnation, promotes urination and brightens the eyes and head
- Western
- stimulant, astringent, nervine, diuretic
Cautions
Contraindications: insomnia, palpitations, anxiety and nervous excitability; taken with meals it hinders the uptake of iron
Toxicity: excess causes wakefulness, tremor, palpitation and gastric irritation from caffeine and tannin
Interactions
- Western
- stimulants: additive CNS and cardiac stimulation from caffeine · anticoagulants: vitamin K in the leaf may oppose warfarin
This is the card. Sign in for the full four-tradition entry — the aligned TCM · Ayurveda · Western · Unani reading, actions, dosing and cautions.