More on Wu Shi Cha

By Brenton Harvey, LAc, CH and Hong Ji

Thank you for your responses to the recent article (October 2009) on Wu Shi Cha. To answer some of the questions you sent us, we have provided some more specific information we researched in our numerous books about the history of cha (tea) in China.

Wu Shi Cha is a common patent pill/extract that varies in formulation, depending upon the manufacturer, and labeled under different formula names. Wu Shi Cha has several distinct characteristics. Hong cha (red/black tea) is the main herb in the formula. The formula is complex and consists of many herbs, as seen in the table. It is aromatic, tonifies and warms the spleen, resolves dampness, and spreads and regulates qi (wei qi in particular). Noontime is the best time of day to cook the herbs for the tea. This is why the name translates as Noontime Tea Extract. Wu Shi Cha was originally found in historical TCM texts, more than 500 years ago.

Ingredients For Wu Shi Cha

Black atractylodes	cang zhu	300g	P. citri reticulae	chen pi	300g
Rx. bupleuri	chai hu	300g	Fr. forsythia	lian qiao	300g
White atractylodes	bai zhi	300g	Fr. citri immaturus	zhi shi	300g
Fr. crataegi	shan zha rou	300g	Rz. notopterygii	qiang huo	300g
Rx. peucedani	qian hu	300g	Rx. ledebouriellae	fang feng	300g
H. agastaches	huo xiang	300g	Rx. glycyrrhizae	gan cao	300g
Massa fermentata	shen qu	300g	Rx. ligustici	chuan xiong	300g
Ct. magnoliae	hou po	450g	Rx. platycodi g.	jie geng	450g
Fr. hordei vulgaris	mai ya	450g	Folium perillae	su ye	450g
Red tea	hong cha	10,000g	Fresh ginger	sheng jiang	2,500g
White flower	mian fen	3,250g

Preparation: Extract juice from the fresh ginger (sheng jiang) and set aside. Dry out herbs in the sun or dry fry in a wok. Grind herbs into a powder. Add in sheng jiang juice and white flower (mian fen) and mix. This makes 15g pills.

Dosage: One to two pills cooked with water. Drink warm. Wrap blanket around patient to induce sweating. If the decoction is drunk at a cool temperature, it will have less effect.

Function: Disperses wind cold. It is gentle to stomach and aids in digestion. Treats common cold and flu, head and body aches. Resolves internal damp cold blockage, unblocks stuck food masses, cold disorder transforming into heat, stifling sensation in chest, nausea, lack of appetite, fatigue and more.

It is amazing that the longer I live in China, the more I learn about what I originally thought was the simple subject of tea.

Click here for previous articles by Brenton Harvey, LAc, CH.

Click here for more information about Hong Ji.