15 Tea-Based Food Recipes for Health and Wellness

Consuming tea or tea-based food products is not only novel and interesting but also enhances the health-preserving and wellness-supports effects of tea. Over the past decade or so, many tea-based food products have been manufactured and innovated both domestically and internationally. These products have not only been well-received by the public but have also attracted attention from the global medical community. If doctors and health experts provide reasonable guidance in this regard, it will elevate tea-based health preservation to a brand-new level.

1. Tea noodles: Grind green tea (or black tea) into a very fine powder and mix it with flour (the ratio of flour to tea powder is 100:1). Add appropriate seasonings to make tea dried noodles, tea soup noodles, tea instant noodles, tea hollow noodles, tea fried noodles, tea egg and milk noodles, etc.

2. Tea Steamed Buns: Grind tea leaves into a very fine powder and mix with flour (the ratio of tea leaves to flour is 1:100). Prepare sweet or savory steamed buns as usual and consume them regularly.

3. Tea Leaf Steamed Buns: Grind tea leaves into a fine powder and mix with meat or vegetable filling. Add appropriate seasonings to make steamed buns. They are delicious and have a unique flavor.

4. Tea-infused Dishes: Tea-infused dishes have existed since ancient times and have become increasingly popular in recent years. Renowned large restaurants offer famous dishes such as Longjing (Longjing tea) stir-fried shrimp, Longjing stir-fried eggs, Maofeng smoked chicken, and Maofeng smoked duck. Restaurants provide economical options like tea-flavored beef, shredded chicken with Biluochun tea, and five-spice tea eggs. Families also prepare dishes such as tea-infused minced meat tofu, tea eggs, seafood soup with tea leaves, and tea-infused baked potatoes.

(1) Five-spice Tea Eggs: Wash the eggs and place them in a pot with water. Cook until they are about 80% done, then gently crack the egg shells. Add tea leaves and a small amount of Sichuan peppercorns, star anise, salt, and soy sauce. Simmer over low heat for 1 hour until the egg shells take on a tiger-skin-like color. They are fragrant and not greasy when eaten.

(2) Tofu with Minced Pork and Tea Leaves: Stir-fry minced pork together with diced shiitake mushrooms and bamboo shoots until cooked. After it cools slightly, spread it evenly over the tofu and then sprinkle with ground tea leaves. This dish is not only delicious and refreshing but also visually appealing with its vibrant colors.

(3) Maofeng Smoked Duck: Place Huangshan Maofeng tea and a small amount of white sugar in a large wok, and roast over low heat to produce smoke. Meanwhile, place a duck that has been marinated in soy sauce and sugar on a steaming rack inside the wok, tightly cover the lid to smoke it, and then steam it to complete the dish. This smoked duck has a reddish and glossy appearance, a rich tea aroma, and is tender, succulent, and soft.

Tea-Flavored Beef: Cut 500 grams of beef into small pieces and cook in a pot of cold water. Skim off the foam when the water is about to boil, then simmer over low heat for half an hour. Remove the beef, drain, and rinse. Clean the original pot, add a small amount of vegetable oil, and stir-fry the beef briefly with scallion segments and ginger slices. Add 50 grams of wine, 75 grams of soy sauce, 25 grams of white sugar, 7 grams of green tea, 25 grams of red dates, a small amount of cinnamon and fennel, and an appropriate amount of water. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce to low heat and simmer for about one and a half hours until the beef is tender and fragrant with tea aroma. Finally, increase the heat to thicken the sauce. Tea-Flavored Beef has no fishy odor, with tender meat infused with tea aroma, suitable for both hot and cold consumption.

Steamed Common Carp with Green Tea: Take a live common carp, remove its gills, internal organs, and scales. Place green tea (50 grams of tea leaves) inside the fish’s abdomen, put it on a plate, add appropriate seasonings, and steam it thoroughly in a steamer. When serving, remove the tea leaves and eat the fish meat. This dish is delicious and can provide nourishment, promote diuresis and reduce swelling, stimulate lactation, and supports edema and insufficient milk production in postpartum women.

5. Preserved Egg (Tea-Processed Egg): Take 150 grams of black tea, add 3000 grams of water, boil, filter to obtain tea juice, and replenish the lost water with additional water. Place 1750 grams of salt, 1750 grams of quicklime, and 1000 grams of soda ash in a container, then add the tea juice, stir until evenly dissolved, ensuring full chemical reaction between the soda ash and quicklime. Finally, add 40 jin (20 kilograms) of plant ash and stir thoroughly until a paste is formed. The above ingredients can be used to coat 500 duck eggs.

Roll each wrapped duck egg on the rice husks to coat the outer wrapping with a layer of rice husks, helps maintain the wrapped eggs from sticking to each other. Finally, place the wrapped duck eggs one by one into a jar. After filling the jar, seal the mouth of the jar with a mixture of wet loess and some salt. The eggs will turn into preserved eggs after 15 days in summer, 20 days in spring and autumn, and 30 days in winter.

Preserved eggs taste fresh, refreshing, and palatable. They can stimulate appetite, reduce inflammation, stop diarrhea, and provide nourishment. They are suitable for conditions such as enteritis, bacterial dysentery, loss of appetite, and overconsumption of meat products. They are also an excellent accompaniment to alcoholic beverages.

6. Tea Biscuits: Grind tea leaves into a very fine powder and combine with an appropriate amount of refined flour, eggs, sugar, and other seasonings to craft tea biscuits. These biscuits are not only delicious and nutritious but also promote health and helps maintain wellness, helping to regulate the body’s acid-base balance. Currently, many food factories produce and sell tea biscuits.

7. Tea candy: Tea-based sugar products have a long history in China. For example, the tea pear syrup candy from Kaifeng and the one from Yuyuan Garden in Shanghai are both very famous. These candies are not only sweet and delicious but also have the effects of moistening the Lungs to helps with occasional cough and invigorating the stomach to aid digestion. In recent years, many candy factories in towns and cities have produced tea-filled candy, tea chocolate, black tea toffee, green tea toffee, tea chewing gum, tea candy balls, and so on.

Tea-flavored pastries: In Japan, many women enjoy eating tea dregs cakes and Japanese-style pastries with oolong tea flavor sold in stores. Guangzhou and Shenzhen have also started to produce tea-flavored pastries, which are highly favored by health enthusiasts.

9. Tea-flavored cold snacks and beverages such as tea ice cream: In the 1980s, domestic and foreign food factories began to produce tea popsicles, tea ice cream, and tea-flavored ice cream bars. Taking tea popsicles as an example, there were varieties such as black tea cream popsicles, green tea jasmine popsicles, and green tea sugar popsicles.

10. Tea-flavored beverages such as tea soda: In the 1980s, the domestic and international food industries began producing beverages like tea soda and tea sherbet. These drinks not only offer the delightful taste of sherbet but also possess the fragrant aroma and health benefits of tea. For instance, Henan produced a tea soda with a Coca-Cola-like flavor called “Kekoupi,” which became very popular.

Tea Wine: There are many types of tea wine circulating among the folk in China, which are made by soaking different types of tea (sometimes with the addition of other foods or medicinal herbs) in wine. Some food factories also produce sparkling tea wine. The Japanese food industry has produced “Oolong Tea Wine,” which is very popular in the market. In the United States, black tea is poured into a container with ice cubes, and then wine and sugar are added to make grape iced tea wine. Additionally, there is a type of kombucha wine. After the kombucha is prepared, the kombucha liquid is filtered into a narrow-necked bottle, tightly corked, and sealed to helps maintain air from entering. This inhibits the acetic acid bacteria, while the yeast can produce alcohol in an oxygen-deprived environment (because yeast can convert sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide in an oxygen-deprived environment), resulting in kombucha wine. This wine can stimulate saliva secretion to quench thirst, clear heat and helps with occasional summer heat, and stimulate appetite and aid digestion.

12. Tea Vinegar: After preparing the kombucha, filter the kombucha liquid into a wide-mouthed bottle without covering the bottle opening to allow air circulation. The yeast in the kombucha will become active and produce a large amount of acetic acid, resulting in tea vinegar. Filter out this solution, boil it for disinfection, and then bottle it. Consume 20 – 50 milliliters each time, 1 – 2 times a day. Tea vinegar has the effects of promoting the secretion of body fluids to quench thirst, stimulating the appetite and aiding digestion, and exerting antibacterial and anti-inflammatory actions.

13. Milk tea and buttered tea: For ethnic minorities such as the Tibetans and Uyghurs, milk tea made from Pu’er tea, brick tea, and milk (or goat’s milk) is a daily necessity for local residents.

Iced tea: Iced tea is popular in the United States. It is made by pouring black tea infusion into a container with ice cubes or cooling it in the refrigerator, and then adding an appropriate amount of sugar, honey, lemon, etc. before drinking.

15. Tea porridge: Brew an appropriate amount of black tea or oolong tea, and use the tea to cook rice (or millet) into tea porridge. Sugar, mutton, oil, salt, and other seasonings can also be added.