Herbal Tea

Herbal tea is curative and seen as essential for balance and harmony in the body. For example, someone who has overindulged in yang foods will usually head to one of Hong Kong’s Chinese herbal tea shops to have a hot bowl of “cooling tea” to counterbalance the yeet hei (internal heat). Herbal tea is one of three foods listed on Hong Kong’s Intangible Cultural Heritage list, along with HK Milk Tea and Poon Choi.

While each family-owned shop and herbalist has their own secret recipe for each of their herbal teas, some of Hong Kong’s most popular brews are the 24 Herbs Tea, or Ya Sei Mei 廿四味, a cure-all for everything, and a more fragrant Five Flower Tea, or Ng Fa Cha 五花茶. You can purchase both of these pre-packaged dried herb tea blends from Chinese supermarkets or stop by any herbalist shop, like fifty-year-old Kamwo Meridian Herbs in New York City’s Chinatown, to ask them to gather herbs for Five Flower Tea (for 24 Herbs Tea, one would need a specific recipe with measurements for all the ingredients).