Let Your Qi Flow

Let Your Qi Flow

Strengthens the immune system

This is a great herbal concoction to boost up one's immune system. It is believed to be good for  improving blood circulation and strengthens the "Qi" or the flow of energy throughout the body. This drink is slightly sweet in taste and is good for the whole family.

After the birth of my third and youngest child, my health deteriorated drastically.  That was despite the fact that I observed all the do's and don'ts during my confinement period. My health was in bad shape. I felt  lethargic all the time and my body ached all over. I consulted my regular doctor and was prescribed vitamins and supplements which improved my health a bit. However, the lethargy and body aches persisted.

Family elders advised that I consult a Chinese physician. I did as advised and was under treatment and drinking potions of vile tasting brews. My health improved gradually but yet I remained lethargic and my body continued to ache. The physician was very puzzled and asked me to repeat all the events that happened during my pregnancy, after delivery of my child and the period during my confinement. After recounting all the events that happened before, during and after my third pregnancy, the physician finally diagnosed that I had an overdose of antibiotics which weaken my  "qi".

The physician's prognosis was very simple. Make tea out of huang-qi and drink it as I would drink Chinese tea. She instructed that I do as she advised and that there is no need for me to see her again !.

When I bought the huang-qi at the Chinese medicine shops, the proprietor advised that I add in other ingredients like wolfberries, red dates and black dates to make the brew more potent and for added flavour.

Now the difficult part for me was that being a working mother with three small children to take care of,  where could  I find time to make the huang-qi tea everyday and drink it as I would Chinese tea ?. Twenty four hours in a day wasn't enough for me to accomplish so many chores and errands. So, I decided to take the easy and lazy way out. I bought myself a large vacuum flask. Every night before I went to bed, I put in all the herbs into the vacuum flask and added boiling water. The next morning, I lugged the huge flask to the office and drank from it. I followed that routine from Mondays to Fridays for a period of one month.  After that first month of drinking the huang-qi tea,  my  health improved tremendously.  I decided to cut down on the frequency of imbibing the huang-qi tea  from 5 times a week to alternate days and gradually stopped drinking as my health improved.

That was 15 years ago. Today, I am hale and hearty. Our family called this tea the "energiser". SK and I often make this for the children every time they are stressed out prior to taking important examinations.

Here's how you do it.....

You will need Chinese herbs and a vacuum flask.

Top left - huang-qi. Some people call it bei-qi. The Cantonese call it pak-kei

Top Right - Black dates and red dates. Use seedless red dates

Bottom : Wolfberries. The Cantonese call it kei-chee

I used a 1-litre vacuum flask. Make sure the vacuum flask can keep warm for at least 5 to 6 hours

Ingredients

10g huang qi / pak-kei

6 black dates

6 red dates,with seeds removed

1 tbsp wolfberries / kei-chee

1 litre of boiling water

Instructions

1. Wash the herbs with warm water.

2.  Drain dry

3.  Put all the herbs into the vacuum flask

4.  Add in 1 litre of boiling water

5.  Close the lid and let it steep for 5 hours

6.  After 5 hours, just pour out and drink

Sweet tasting tea