Let’s take a closer look at Fucha in all of its splendor. Fermented teas come in many forms, but Pu-erh is the most common tea for these unique shapes. Fucha follows in Pu-erh’s footsteps with its popular compressed shape and structure. Two of the most popular forms of Kurocha are Toucha, which is compressed into a bowl shape, and Heicha, which is compressed into a disc shape. Korucha presents itself in a myriad of ways, not simply these two, whose forms we will expand upon in another post.
Kurocha (koo-ro-cha) is a highly valued post-fermentation tea, which is kept in conditions of high temperature and high humidity where airborne microbes cause the tea to further ferment. As time passes, this tea increases in mellowness, depth and flavor and becomes easy to drink. Kurocha is a fairly new tea in the Western market, appealing to health-minded individuals because it promotes digestion and is an effective at washing away fat inside the body.
The miraculous Fu Cha is produced during the final stages of the Kurocha fermentation process. During the final forty days of the manufacturing process, the tea is dried, creating Fu Cha. The fine yellow powder, called the Golden Flower, which Fu Cha yields, is unique to this tea. High-grade Fucha is harvested by selecting only young leaves that are three to a stem. The long fermentation process coupled with the unique property of the Golden Flower creates a type of metabolic and digestive harmony, supplying a rich content of catechins, dietary fiber and amino acids. Because of Fucha’s abundance of vitamins and minerals, such as calcium iron and zinc (it is very gentle on ones body with the extremely low caffeine content – less than that of green tea), many cultures recommend a daily drink for adults and children.
The conditions must be perfect to create the Golden Flower. If they are not, the Fucha tea will lose its function and the Golden Flower will not form. The diet of our modern western society has come to resemble that of the Northwestern Chinese, Mongolian and Tibetan nomadic people, in that their diet is mainly composed of heavy oily foods with lots of meat and milk products and a reliance on saturated fats. In these regions this seemingly unhealthy diet is maintainable because they burn so many calories living in a high altitude and dealing with extreme weather conditions. However, our similar diet is not counter balanced by our environment and so it throws our bodies out of whack. By exploring the diet and choices of other tribes around the world perhaps we can find healthy alternatives in our society. By drinking Fucha in conjunction with a natural diet it is possible to maintain one’s health and to offset the disturbance to the balance of nutrients and minerals that occurs during improper dieting.
