Chinese Herbal Tea: An Origin Story
A quick dive into the history of leung cha 涼 茶
Chinese herbal tea — 涼 茶 pronounced leung cha in Cantonese— is a well-known and popular drink originating from southern China’s Guangdong province.
It directly translates to “cooling tea” and is brewed from traditional Chinese medicinal herbs. Its exact ingredients can vary and there are multiple versions of leung cha, but it is nevertheless widely recognized and consumed.
While many traditional Chinese medicinal herbs are known for being bitter and difficult to drink, leung cha is lightly sweetened with a smooth, refreshing taste. Mention leung cha to anyone of East Asian descent and you’ll get a nod of recognition.
Perhaps they’ll even smile as they reminisce about drinking their family’s home-brewed version to combat “heatiness” in their body (熱氣 — pronounced yeet hay in Cantonese). In my family, my mother liked to store her freshly brewed leung cha in Coca-Cola bottles!
Chinese herbal tea has been around since the early 1800s during the Qing Dynasty.
The invention of this drink has been credited to 王泽邦 — Wong Chat Bong in Cantonese or Wang Zebang in Mandarin. He was a doctor from the southern Guangdong province of China and it’s believed that he established the first tea shop…
