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Acupuncture Today – January, 2010 (Vol. 11, Issue 01)

More on Wu Shi Cha

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.


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