Traditional Herbal Teas in Southern China
Guangdong is a province in southern China, where located in subtropical region. Its climate is warm in winter and hot in summer, with high humidity and frequent rainfall. Historically, this environment has been associated with different kinds of epidemic diseases. The long hot summers along with local lifestyle habits, people in the region are prone to have internal heat, that often experience problems like acne, bad breath, hoarseness, constipation, irritability, sore throat, and painful gums. The hot and humid environment also promotes the growth of bacteria, making skin diseases, gastrointestinal issues, and infectious diseases more common.To counteract these effects, local people prefer using herbal remedies to clear heat, promote fluid production, dispel dampness, and detoxify the body. The selected herbs are often boiled into a drink known as “cooling tea”, which has become a unique cultural practice in Guangdong and surrounding areas. This tradition has been around for over 200 years, with people drinking different types of cooling tea throughout the year to maintain health and balance.
From a Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) perspective, the environment in Southern China can easily lead to accumulation of damp-heat pathogens inside the body. Damp-heat pathogens not only disturb the flow of qi (vital energy), but also consume body fluids and qi, leading to internal imbalances. When damp-heat affects the whole body, it often presents fever, irritability or restlessness, thirst, fatigue or heaviness in the limbs, chest tightness, nausea and diarrhea. When damp-heat targets specific areas, for example:- Joints and tendons: inflammation, localized redness, swelling, heat, and pain in the regions.
- Skin: eczema, acne, certain types of rashes on body surface.
- Spleen and stomach: bloating, abdominal discomfort, diarrhea, poor appetite, heavy limbs, loose stools, and deep-yellow urine.
- Liver and gallbladder: rib-side burning pain, bitter taste in the mouth, nausea, poor appetite, constipation, dark-color urine; may also include alternating chills and fever, yellowing of the face or body, and in women, yellowish foul-smelling vaginal discharge.
- Large Intestine: abdominal pain, diarrhea with mucus or pus or blood, burning sensation in the anus, dark urine, chills, fever, and thirst.
- Bladder: burning urination, yellow urine, frequent or urgent urination, lower abdominal bloating; may also include blood in urine, cloudy urine, fever, and lower back pain.
Herbal beverages are an ideal way to prevent the above conditions as they are made for clearing heat and dampness, replenishing qi, supplying fluid, nourishing yin and checking yang. These beverages are commonly known as "cooling teas" because of their bitter flavor, dark brown color and the cool or cold properties of their ingredients. Their healing properties are exerted in the following ways:- Clearing heat and promoting perspiration: this helps in the alleviation of colds and flu, upper respiratory infections, dysentery, and early signs of some epidemic diseases.
- Clearing heat and cooling blood: this can lower blood pressure and arrest nosebleeds.
- Clearing heat and resolving dampness: this helps in the treatment of digestive problems like stomach upsets, diarrhea, abdominal pain, liver and gall bladder problems.
- Clears heat and promotes urination: this helps in the treatment of urinary tract infections.
- Clears heat and aids detoxification: this helps in the treatment of tonsillitis, sore throat, mumps and skin infections.
People in Southern China have been drinking "cooling tea" for centuries. In addition to the heat-clearing herbs, they like to use some local ingredients, and brew according to their own preferences. At first, people brought the herbal ingredients back home and prepared the cooling teas themselves; gradually, herbal shops began to provide ready-made forms for convenience. In the early days, these drinks were effective and affordable remedies for ordinary people to treat and prevent diseases. Due to their general healing benefits, herbalists use multiple ingredients to prepare the herbal teas. A typical tea called "Twenty-four Flavor Tea" is claimed to have over 20 kinds of herbal ingredients. There are no standard prescriptions, and often the herbal shops keep their own recipes, which may alter ingredients due to seasonal or environmental factors.
Today, the traditional teas are still popular folk remedies in southern China. These natural fresh drinks are not only able to protect against climatic influences but also aim at relieving aliments caused by stressful urban lifestyles. Below are common teas found in Hong Kong.
Today, the traditional teas are still popular folk remedies in southern China. These natural fresh drinks are not only able to protect against climatic influences but also aim at relieving aliments caused by stressful urban lifestyles. Below are common teas found in Hong Kong.
Damp-Eliminating Tea (去濕茶)
The main ingredients include Indian bread, water plantian rhizome, white mulberry rootbark, fresh ginger and tangerine peel. This beverage induces urination to facilitate dampness elimination and detoxify. This drink is helpful to relieve fatigue, check stuffiness, bloating, head and limb heaviness, poor appetite and urinary difficulty, it also manages body weight.
Five Flowers Tea (五花茶)
The main floral ingredients are honeysuckle, chrysanthemum, silk cotton, kudzu and Frangipani. This beverage can clear heat, detoxify, drain dampness, disperse wind and anti-inflammation, which helps to alleviate symptoms like sore throat, headache, dizziness, coughing, thirst, irritability, hangover and urinary difficulty. It is also helpful to fatigue, abdominal discomfort, loose bowels, insomnia and prevent cold and flu. Canton Love-pes Vine Tea (雞骨草)
Canton Love-pes vine (herba abri) can remove toxic heat, induce urination, enhance liver functioning and remove stasis. This beverage helps to relieve fatigue, blurred version, low spirits, throat dryness, gastric distension and pain; it is also drunk to prevent hepatitis and urinary stones.
Chrysanthemum Tea (銀菊露 / 菊花茶)
Chrysanthemum is the main ingredient in this beverage; it can clear toxic heat and sharpen the eyesight. It is suitable for individuals who always feel thirsty and who have a bitter taste in the mouth, or who have a sore throat, hoarseness, deep-yellow urine, blurred vision or headache due to a wind attack the head region.
Selfheal Spike Tea (夏枯草)
Selfheal spike is an ingredient used to clear liver fire. Other herbs used in this beverage may include Fructus Momordicae, liquorice root and pagoda tree flower. The drink is usually drunk to clear internal fire, prevent hepatitis and heatstroke in summer; it also relieves symptoms like crusty lips, hoarseness, bloodshot eyes, excessive secretion in the eyes, irritability, coughing, constipation, headache and bone aching.Hemp Seed Tea (火麻仁)
Hemp seed is used to lubricate the intestines and promote movement of the bowels. This beverage is suitable for individuals with constipation along with excessive sweating or dry skin, that indicate blood or body fluid insufficiency.
Bamboo Cane and Cogongrass Rhizome Drink (竹蔗茅根水)
Sugarcane aids moistening the body and promotes body fluid production; cogongrass rhizome cools the blood, clears heat and induces urination. This beverage helps to replenish body fluids and clears dryness and heat symptoms such as thirst, mouth sores, dry throat, bad breath, crusty lips, nasal bleeding and scanty urine. This is a favorable summer drink for those who sweat a lot. Sour Plum Drink (酸梅湯)
The main ingredients in this soup are smoked plum, hawthorn fruit and liquorice root. This is a sour drink that helps promote the appetite and assist in digestion. It can also enhance liver function and raise the spirits.
Flu Tea (感冒茶)
Many ingredients can be used in this tea such as the lophatherum herb, fermented soybean, isatis root, loquat leaf, honeysuckle, Fructus Forsythiae, Herba Schizonepetae, basket fern and Houttuynia, which makes it taste very bitter. It is recommended when you have early symptoms of cold or flu such as heaviness in the forehead, fatigue, general weakness and slightly runny nose. In some herbal shops, the tea will be separately prepared for specific patterns of cold or flu, it will get more desirable results if drunk according to specific symptom patterns. Twenty-four Flavors Tea (廿四味)
Over 20 kinds of herbs are used in this tea with many of them only grown in Southern China. This is a very bitter tea used for excessive fire in the body and is helpful to many aliments. The brew helps to alleviate sore throat, high fever, common cold and flu, inflammation, hypertension and skin problems. Those who often stay overnight is recommended to drink this brew too.
Generally, the cooling teas provided by herbal shops may target more specific conditions, as each of the shops has its own unique formulation for various types of tea. It should be noted that these cooling teas are only indicated for individuals who have excessive fire or heat. These individuals always feel hot, have a dry mouth, prefer cold drinks when thirsty; they also may have a reddish complexion, are easily annoyed, and tend to suffer from insomnia or acne. Symptoms also present may include scanty yellowish urine and hard stools. The elderly, children or menstruating women or others suffering from some weakness should not drink these preparations. The cooling properties can cause side effects like profuse sweating and urination, dizziness, chest oppression, and even palpitations and fainting.
