Heat Clearing Sugarcane and Water Chestnuts and Imperatae Root Herbal Tea

Heat Clearing Sugarcane and Water Chestnuts and Imperatae Root Herbal Tea

Heat Clearing Sugarcane and Water Chestnuts and Imperatae Root Herbal Tea

Soup Name:

Heat clearing sugarcane and water chestnuts and imperatae root herbal tea

Traditional Chinese Name:

竹蔗茅根馬蹄湯 (zhú zhè máogēn mǎtí tāng)

 

For videos, visit us on YouTube. 

A traditional Chinese drink which helps cool the body, reduce heatiness, and clear phlegm and unwanted body fluids. It’s natural sweetness is perfect for hot summer days and this can be drank cold or hot. It is commonly found as a drink in most herbal dessert shops and is even bottled commercially.

The key to this heat clearing tea is the water chestnuts.  I don’t use them often as this version also uses corn, carrots, or corn silk, but I’ve kept it simple for heat clearing only.  The water chestnuts are a very cooling ingredient and combined with the imperatae (or mao gen) root, is extra potent to clear excess yang.  

What’s involved?

Prep time: 10 mins

Cook time: 30 minutes

Total time: 40 mins

Serves: 6 bowls

Ingredients

 

Cooking Instructions

  1. Prepare your sugar cane by chopping into smaller 2-inch length pieces
  2. Rinse, peel and rinse the water chestnuts.  You can cut into bite-sized edible pieces if you also like eating them.  
  3. Add to cold water into your soup pot
  4. Boil on medium heat covered for 30 minutes
  5. 5 minutes before serving, drop in your rock sugar.
  6. Serve and enjoy!

Any benefits?

  • This is a great tea for BBQ’ing or hotpot as it’s cooling and removes heat from the body, especially the stomach
  • It can served as a tea or soup
  • It is vegetarian, so perfect for any soup or tea drinker
  • This can be drank cold or hot (you’ll often find this as a heated drink served in the streets of Hong Kong)
  • You can make a big pot and store in the fridge for one week.  Just be sure to let it sit to room temperature or heat up before consumption
  • You can have a few variations of this soup or tea depending on ingredients at home (such as adding sugared dried winter melon, water chestnuts, or simply using sugar cane and imperatae)

For videos, visit us on YouTube. 

Fresh water chestnuts are crispy, firm, and high in water content.  They don’t have the best storage life, so keep them in the fridge as much as you can.  As the water chestnuts “age”, they’ll breakdown and become starchy, have a crumbly texture, and lose it’s moisture content.  Which in turn, makes your soup or tea cloudy, which is still OK, as long as the water chestnuts still hold some of their firmness. 

For other variations of this tea:

Sugar Cane and Imperatae Drink

 

EXPLORE MORE

Hong Kong Styled Russian Borscht Soup

Soup Name: Hong Kong Styled Russian Borscht (with oxtail) Traditional Chinese Name: 羅宋湯 (luó sòng tāng) Nature:  Warming Taste: Savory, sweet, and slightly sour For more videos, you can follow us on YouTube.  Did you know the secret ingredient to an HK-styled...

What are good replacement ingredients for peanut allergies in Chinese Soups?

Here are suggestions for replacement ingredients for peanuts in Chinese soupsOne guiding principle in Traditional Chinese Medicine is the yin yang theory.  In the natural world, there exists a balance between 2 opposing and co-existing forces and yet, they also exist...

Healing Chinese Chicken Herbal Soup with Fish Maw

Soup Name: Healing Chinese Chicken Herbal Soup with Fish Maw Traditional Chinese Name: 花膠雞湯 (huā jiāo jī tāng) Nature:  Warming Taste: Sweet and savory For more videos, you can follow us on YouTube.  The star of this soup is FISH MAW.  This takes collagen to the...

Delicious One Pot Vegetable Vermicelli Soup for Dinner

Soup Name: Delicious One Pot Vegetable Vermicelli Soup for Dinner.  Literal translation from Chinese is "Mixed vegetables vermicelli pot soup". Traditional Chinese Name: 雜菜粉絲鍋湯 (zá cài fěnsī guō tāng) Nature:  Neutral Taste: Sweet and savory For more videos, you...

ABC Soup in a Collagen Rich Salmon Head and Chicken Feet Broth

Soup Name: ABC Chinese Soup in a collagen rich Salmon Broth (with Chicken Feet) Traditional Chinese Name: 雜菜蕃茄三文魚湯 (zá cài fānjiā sānwènyú tāng) Nature:  Slightly cooling Taste: Sweet and savory For more videos, you can follow us on YouTube.  Taking collagen to...

Hong Kong Styled Russian Borscht Soup

Soup Name: Hong Kong Styled Russian Borscht (with oxtail) Traditional Chinese Name: 羅宋湯 (luó sòng tāng) Nature:  Warming Taste: Savory, sweet, and slightly sour For more videos, you can follow us on YouTube.  Did you know the secret ingredient to an HK-styled...

ABC Soup in a Collagen Rich Salmon Head and Chicken Feet Broth

Soup Name: ABC Chinese Soup in a collagen rich Salmon Broth (with Chicken Feet) Traditional Chinese Name: 雜菜蕃茄三文魚湯 (zá cài fānjiā sānwènyú tāng) Nature:  Slightly cooling Taste: Sweet and savory For more videos, you can follow us on YouTube.  Taking collagen to...

5 Tips for Exercising in the Cold (from a Traditional Chinese Medicine Perspective)

5 Tips for Exercising in the Cold (from a Traditional Chinese Medicine Perspective)One guiding principle in Traditional Chinese Medicine is the yin yang theory.  In the natural world, there exists a balance between 2 opposing and co-existing forces and yet, they also...

Turn leftover rice into a delicious, warming congee with shrimp and yams

Soup Name: Shrimp Congee with Fresh Yams and Lettuce Traditional Chinese Name: 蝦粥 (xiā zhōu) Nature: Neutral Taste: Sweet  For more videos, you can follow us on YouTube. Want something easy?  Want something delicious? This is the perfect lunch to make in 30 minutes...

Making a Delicious Lotus Root with Vegetables in Pork Broth Chinese Soup (with Roasted Fresh Peanuts!)

Soup Name: Making a Delicious Lotus Root with Vegetables in Pork Broth Chinese Soup (with Roasted Fresh Peanuts!) Traditional Chinese Name: 蓮藕豬骨湯 (Lián'ǒu zhū gǔ tāng) Nature: Neutral Taste: Sweet  For more videos, you can follow us on YouTube. For this post, I made 6...

Heat Clearing Herbal Tea

Heat Clearing Herbal Tea

Heat Clearing Herbal Tea

Herbal Tea Name: Heat Clearing Herbal Tea

Traditional Chinese Name: 清肝火茶 (qīng gān huǒ chá)

This herbal tea is cooling in nature and sweet to taste.

For more videos on soups and teas, you can follow us on YouTube.

 

The literal translation of “qīng gān huǒ chá” is clear liver heat, however this tea has various uses and is meant for people with extreme heat or fiery feeling in their bodies.  Symptoms includes a dry, sore throat (not from screaming or shouting), dry eyes (so when wind blows against it, there is a stingy sensation), cold sores inside or out of the mouth, a sore and or painful rib feeling and or overall feeling of heatiness.  It was recommended to me by my herbalist when I developed an extremely sore throat with no associated cough (as cooling teas should be avoided if there is a cough).  As ugly as this drink looks or even tastes without added sugar, it helped relieve the heatiness in my body and in a few days, helped “cool” my throat.

What’s involved?

Prep time: 5 mins

Cook time: 60 mins

Total time: 65 mins

Serves: 4 bowls

Ingredients

Cooking Instructions

  1. Boil water
  2. Rinse ingredients in warm water briefly (except rock sugar)
  3. When water boils, add all ingredients together
  4. Boil for an hour on medium heat
  5. Strain ingredients from liquid
  6. Add rock sugar and let dissolve
  7. Cool in fridge or with ice (optional)
  8. Serve and enjoy!

Herbal teas is an amazing category of Chinese drinks that are more purposeful and intentional in its creation and consumption.  They aren’t always medicinal and have some more common ingredients that we always drink because they taste so good!

Explore all our herbal drinks here! 

 

 

EXPLORE MORE

Hong Kong Styled Russian Borscht Soup

Soup Name: Hong Kong Styled Russian Borscht (with oxtail) Traditional Chinese Name: 羅宋湯 (luó sòng tāng) Nature:  Warming Taste: Savory, sweet, and slightly sour For more videos, you can follow us on YouTube.  Did you know the secret ingredient to an HK-styled...

What are good replacement ingredients for peanut allergies in Chinese Soups?

Here are suggestions for replacement ingredients for peanuts in Chinese soupsOne guiding principle in Traditional Chinese Medicine is the yin yang theory.  In the natural world, there exists a balance between 2 opposing and co-existing forces and yet, they also exist...

Healing Chinese Chicken Herbal Soup with Fish Maw

Soup Name: Healing Chinese Chicken Herbal Soup with Fish Maw Traditional Chinese Name: 花膠雞湯 (huā jiāo jī tāng) Nature:  Warming Taste: Sweet and savory For more videos, you can follow us on YouTube.  The star of this soup is FISH MAW.  This takes collagen to the...

Delicious One Pot Vegetable Vermicelli Soup for Dinner

Soup Name: Delicious One Pot Vegetable Vermicelli Soup for Dinner.  Literal translation from Chinese is "Mixed vegetables vermicelli pot soup". Traditional Chinese Name: 雜菜粉絲鍋湯 (zá cài fěnsī guō tāng) Nature:  Neutral Taste: Sweet and savory For more videos, you...

ABC Soup in a Collagen Rich Salmon Head and Chicken Feet Broth

Soup Name: ABC Chinese Soup in a collagen rich Salmon Broth (with Chicken Feet) Traditional Chinese Name: 雜菜蕃茄三文魚湯 (zá cài fānjiā sānwènyú tāng) Nature:  Slightly cooling Taste: Sweet and savory For more videos, you can follow us on YouTube.  Taking collagen to...

Hong Kong Styled Russian Borscht Soup

Soup Name: Hong Kong Styled Russian Borscht (with oxtail) Traditional Chinese Name: 羅宋湯 (luó sòng tāng) Nature:  Warming Taste: Savory, sweet, and slightly sour For more videos, you can follow us on YouTube.  Did you know the secret ingredient to an HK-styled...

ABC Soup in a Collagen Rich Salmon Head and Chicken Feet Broth

Soup Name: ABC Chinese Soup in a collagen rich Salmon Broth (with Chicken Feet) Traditional Chinese Name: 雜菜蕃茄三文魚湯 (zá cài fānjiā sānwènyú tāng) Nature:  Slightly cooling Taste: Sweet and savory For more videos, you can follow us on YouTube.  Taking collagen to...

5 Tips for Exercising in the Cold (from a Traditional Chinese Medicine Perspective)

5 Tips for Exercising in the Cold (from a Traditional Chinese Medicine Perspective)One guiding principle in Traditional Chinese Medicine is the yin yang theory.  In the natural world, there exists a balance between 2 opposing and co-existing forces and yet, they also...

Turn leftover rice into a delicious, warming congee with shrimp and yams

Soup Name: Shrimp Congee with Fresh Yams and Lettuce Traditional Chinese Name: 蝦粥 (xiā zhōu) Nature: Neutral Taste: Sweet  For more videos, you can follow us on YouTube. Want something easy?  Want something delicious? This is the perfect lunch to make in 30 minutes...

Making a Delicious Lotus Root with Vegetables in Pork Broth Chinese Soup (with Roasted Fresh Peanuts!)

Soup Name: Making a Delicious Lotus Root with Vegetables in Pork Broth Chinese Soup (with Roasted Fresh Peanuts!) Traditional Chinese Name: 蓮藕豬骨湯 (Lián'ǒu zhū gǔ tāng) Nature: Neutral Taste: Sweet  For more videos, you can follow us on YouTube. For this post, I made 6...

GIVE YOUR LOVE OF SOUP.

FOLLOW US AND SHARE.