Pu Erh and Penicillin Alergy

[foLster]

Read up on wikipedia that ripe pu-erh can potentially contain penicillin, I did some searching and found one source that said it should be alright, however due to a fairly nasty reaction I would like a second opinion. I would assume that chemical grade penicillin is many times stronger than anything that could be found in the fermentation process, and have read that there are 300+ strains of it.

(http://www.thewhistlingkettle.com/blog/ ... ight-loss/)

[paxl13]

I'm drinking pu'erh since more than 1 year and I do have a Penicillin
Alergy and it never was triggered. From what I've read it's not the same
strain.

From what I know, all soft cheeze like Brie, Camenbert and Blue cheeze is
done with the Penicillin bacteria too!

Cheers to you,
paxl13

[glenbo]

I wish that scientific articles or even pseudo-scientific articles would mention sheng our shou when making these claims. Is it only shou puerh that has penicilin? What about sheng puerh? Does young sheng puerh have penicilin, or is it something that increases with age. Does dry stored sheng have less or more penicilin?

It annoys me when puerh is treated as a single static entity when in reality it is huge and diverse.

[mr mopu]

I wish that scientific articles or even pseudo-scientific articles would mention sheng our shou when making these claims. Is it only shou puerh that has penicilin? What about sheng puerh? Does young sheng puerh have penicilin, or is it something that increases with age. Does dry stored sheng have less or more penicilin?

It annoys me when puerh is treated as a single static entity when in reality it is huge and diverse.

+1 glenbo

[Drax]

The original poster says ripe puerh, so that would be shou, yes? I could see the possibility of various bacteria and fungus to be greater in shou, given its composting processes.

The big problem I see here is that the exact composition of bacteria and fungus is likely to be very highly dependent upon way too many variables (the tea, the geographic region, the location where the tea was fermented, etc). I would want to get a sense of a broad production of shou from a wide variety of regions before coming to any general conclusions (and not withstanding the previous comments already made).

[glenbo]

The original poster says ripe puerh, so that would be shou, yes? I could see the possibility of various bacteria and fungus to be greater in shou, given its composting processes.

The big problem I see here is that the exact composition of bacteria and fungus is likely to be very highly dependent upon way too many variables (the tea, the geographic region, the location where the tea was fermented, etc). I would want to get a sense of a broad production of shou from a wide variety of regions before coming to any general conclusions (and not withstanding the previous comments already made).

I saw that too, but then the linked article didn't mention sheng or shou, ripe or raw. You're right though, there are way too many variables to say 'all shou puerh is this ...'.

[entropyembrace]

Something to consider: even if the tea was visibly covered with Penicillium growth the concentration of penicillin in the tea would be much less than a medicinal dose of penicillin.

I have had an allergic reaction to pu-erh once, and I am allergic to penicillin, but I don't know if it was to Penicillium for sure. The tea was visibly moldy aged sheng.

I do drink shu pu-erh fairly frequently and have not had problems with it.

I think if you have a severe Penicillin allergy you should be ok as long as you stay away from moldy tea. If your allergy is mild even tea with Penicillium growing on it might not trigger any reaction.

[glenbo]

I have had an allergic reaction to pu-erh once, and I am allergic to penicillin, but I don't know if it was to Penicillium for sure. The tea was visibly moldy aged sheng.

What was the reaction like? Do you know what it was you reacted to?

[kyarazen]

Something to consider: even if the tea was visibly covered with Penicillium growth the concentration of penicillin in the tea would be much less than a medicinal dose of penicillin.

I have had an allergic reaction to pu-erh once, and I am allergic to penicillin, but I don't know if it was to Penicillium for sure. The tea was visibly moldy aged sheng.

I do drink shu pu-erh fairly frequently and have not had problems with it.

I think if you have a severe Penicillin allergy you should be ok as long as you stay away from moldy tea. If your allergy is mild even tea with Penicillium growing on it might not trigger any reaction.

treat brew with beta lactamase before drinking!

[TwoDog2]

treat brew with beta lactamase before drinking!

That is some next level gongfu.

Another question, would boiling water kill/deactivate the penicillin? Or prevent an allergic reaction?

[kyarazen]

That is some next level gongfu.

Another question, would boiling water kill/deactivate the penicillin? Or prevent an allergic reaction?

depends on how allergic the individual is.. just like for peanuts a strong whiff or a lick's bad enough.

penicillin, just like many things, can be broken down with heat. if you boil it for a good while you might be able to clean it up

[Drax]

Hrm, good question. Although the beta-lactam core of penicillin is under a fair amount of strain, it is likely heat stable. Though it should be less stable under non-neutral pH... but I defer to somebody with more experience on the stability of these types of molecules.

[entropyembrace]

I have had an allergic reaction to pu-erh once, and I am allergic to penicillin, but I don't know if it was to Penicillium for sure. The tea was visibly moldy aged sheng.

What was the reaction like? Do you know what it was you reacted to?

My airways were constricting, I took a benadryl and tossed the tea (it was just a sample). I don't know what I reacted to exactly, it might not have been penicillin at all. This also only happened once, and theres plenty of puerh that I can drink without any issues But other people with mold allergies should be careful if the tea is moldy.