Java tea

Java tea: what was it used for?

A tea for the kidneys and bladder. Kirtikar and Basu record that “In Java, the leaves are made into a tea and used in the treatment of diseases of the kidneys and bladder,” that Dr Van Itallie used them for gout and kidney disorders, and that in Holland and France they had been used successfully for diseases of the urinary organs. The European Medicines Agency’s assessment report adds its traditional use in Java for high blood pressure and diabetes.

Java tea: what does modern science say?

The European Medicines Agency’s herbal committee accepts the leaf as a traditional herbal medicine, “exclusively based upon long-standing use,” to increase the amount of urine and flush the urinary tract as an adjuvant in minor urinary complaints (monograph of 2021). Its assessment report finds potassium at about 3 per cent, diterpenes (the orthosiphols), lipophilic flavones such as sinensetin, and rosmarinic acid. It found the clinical evidence for the very effect claimed thin: of two clinical studies of its diuretic action, one found it weaker than horsetail and the other found no significant difference from placebo, and two pharmacological studies showed no significant change in urine volume. The use rests on long-standing use.

Java tea: what did the older authorities say?

The European Medicines Agency’s assessment report (2021)

European interest began with the scientific work of the Dutchman Van Itallie in 1886. Java tea entered the Dutch Pharmacopoeia in 1926 and the French in 1974, and has been used as a herbal substance in France since 1965 and in Germany since 1976.