Eight Treasures Tea 八宝茶

Eight Treasures Tea 八宝茶

 

Tasty, healthy and nutritious

Recipe source :  My own, through trial and error. 

 
I read about the goodness and health benefits of this eight treasures tea in a newspaper article when a feature writer interviewed a visiting chef from Hong Kong. The chef had created a few  dishes for promotion in a local top-notch hotel. At the same time, he talked about drinking this tea to help digestion. The chef was expounding on this wonderful tea which contains the good health benefits of Chinese herbs and how the Chinese tea leaves help to prevent a feeling of being bloated after a heavy meal. He went on to describe how this tea was served during banquets. He also mentioned the eight ingredients used to brew the tea but he omitted to give the precise measurements and the recipe!

I was intrigued by the chef's description of this healthy tea concoction but I felt very disappointed that he did not provide the recipe in that article. I quickly noted down the eight key ingredients described by him. After many trials and errors I am now happy with this combination. It's very fragrant when drunk warm.

I think this is the perfect tea to serve during the reunion dinner. A wonderfully smooth tea for the palate and the tummy. My family likes it and I hope you like it too!

Ingredients

1 tbsp chrysanthemum buds
1 tbsp American ginseng slices, or you can use 'yong sum soe'
5 red dates, remove the seeds
10 pieces of dried longan flesh
1 tbsp wolf berries, kei chi in Cantonese
10 lotus seeds
1 tbsp good grade Chinese tea leaves
40g cane rock sugar
1.5 litres water

Top row from left : chrysanthemum buds, 'yong sum soe' and lotus seeds

Middle row from left :  red dates, dried longan flesh and wolf berries

Bottom row from left :  rock cane sugar and Chinese tea leaves

Instructions

 

1.  Soak lotus seeds in hot boiling water for 20 minutes.
2.  Rinse the rest of the Chinese herbs in warm water. 
3.  Remove the germs (the green and bitter buds) from the lotus seeds. Drain and set aside.
4.  In a medium-sized pot, bring 1.5 litres of water to the boil.
5.  Add the lotus seeds and red dates. Boil for about 40 minutes until the lotus seeds are soft.
6.  Add in the chrysanthemum buds, dried longan flesh, wolf berries, yong sum soe and rock sugar. Boil for 5 minutes.
7.  Lastly, add in the Chinese tea leaves. Switch off the flame and cover the pot for 3 minutes.
8.  Pour out the drink through a sieve into a large jug. 
9.  Serve warm in individual tea cups.

I am submitting this post to Chinese New Year Delights 2013

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