by Drax » Jan 4th, '09, 15:15
I don't like dredging up old threads, but oh well. I've been trying a sample of the 2007 Menghai Feet of Crab today, and was searching around for some other thoughts on it, and found this thread.
First, I was surprised at all the comments about the odd taste. It hasn't been tasting too odd for me, especially coming off of yesterday's powerful sheng I was trying. But I wonder if 8-9 months have something to do with it? The original tastings for this were back in April of 2008.
Further, I got a lot of chuckles about everybody freaking out about the Feet of Crab. I think it's great all the information everybody was able to find. But I also noted a lot of general . . . overreaction about the Feet of Crab.
From what I remember from medicinal botany (which granted was over 10 years ago), mistletoe contains a compound that acts as a vasodilator -- that is, it lowers your blood pressure by relaxing (dilating) your veins and arteries. I remember this distinctly, because the professor showed pictures of "mistletoe tea" from a vitamin and supplement store, which included dried mistletoe berries, which would be the most deadly of the entire tea.
It's true, it's not a good idea to drink mistletoe tea.
However, what we have w/ the Feet of Crab is a plant related to mistletoe. We have a good link to its use in Nepalese medicine, which if you note, talks about its use in bone dislocation treatment, as an anti-pyrretic (fever reducer), and as an aphrodisiac (probably because of the vasodilation... viagra works this way).
Further, the Feet of Crab has only had twigs added. To be honest, they look like old twigs, too, and there's really not a lot. Twigs/stalks don't usually contain as much of any active compounds as berries and leaves. What all this means is that there's probably not much to worry about from the Feet of Crab.
The really funny part about this, to me, is that this is what a large part of tea is. It's extracting chemicals from plants and absorbing them into your own body. Even in the absence of the Feet of Crab, tea affects your body chemistry. So it's good to be very aware about what you're putting into your body, and not just in this case because it sounds weird.
Maybe the Feet of Crab just made people more keenly aware (and uncomfortable?) with that reality.