Drink the Right Herbal Tea at Kopitiam! Understand the Benefits of Common Herbal Teas
Drink the Right Herbal Tea at Kopitiam! Understand the Benefits of Common Herbal Teas
Benefits of Common Herbal Teas
Herbal tea, as a medicinal herbal infusion, is classified as a heat-clearing remedy and has a relatively cold nature. Therefore, it is more suitable for people with exuberant yang energy who are prone to "heatiness". Conversely, people with weak constitutions and cold spleen and stomach should avoid drinking herbal tea. Furthermore, herbal teas can be classified into two main categories: sweet and cool, or bitter and cold. Both types have a heat-clearing effect but to varying degrees.
From a Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) standpoint, herbal teas come in a wide variety of types. Therefore, when choosing a herbal tea, it's crucial to understand how to "prescribe the right medicine for the right illness." Let's take a look at five common types of herbal teas found in kopitiams, along with their ingredients and benefits:
Benefits of Eight Treasures Herbal Tea
The specific ingredients of Eight Treasures herbal tea can vary from place to place, but they generally include eight types of Chinese herbs such as Lophatherum gracile, kudzu root, chrysanthemum, sugarcane, honeysuckle, forsythia, and isatis root. These herbs work together to effectively clear heat, detoxify, generate fluids to quench thirst, and eliminate summer heat and dampness. It is particularly suitable for symptoms such as fever, thirst, sore throat, and heat-induced boils caused by summer heat.
Benefits of Monk Fruit (Luo Han Guo) Herbal Tea
Luo Han Guo, or monk fruit, is sweet and cool in nature. Its fruit is rich in glycosides, making it a natural sweetener with high sweetness and low calories. In addition to clearing heat, nourishing the lungs, relieving coughs, promoting the production of body fluids, and quenching thirst, Luo Han Guo also has the benefits of beautifying the skin and delaying aging. It is suitable for symptoms such as lung heat cough, sore throat, dry mouth and tongue, and constipation.
Benefits of Bamboo Cane Herbal Tea
Sugarcane is cold in nature and sweet in taste. It is rich in various vitamins and minerals. In addition to clearing heat, generating fluids, moisturizing dryness, relieving coughs, promoting urination, and reducing swelling, sugarcane also has the benefits of strengthening the spleen and stomach, nourishing blood, and generating fluids. It is particularly suitable for symptoms such as thirst from febrile diseases, dry mouth and tongue, difficulty urinating, and loss of appetite.
Benefits of Prunella Vulgaris and Lithospermum Erythrorhizon Herbal Tea
Prunella Vulgaris and Lithospermum Erythrorhizon herbal tea is a common type of herbal tea that clears heat, detoxifies, and soothes the liver and disperses nodules. Prunella Vulgarisclears heat, disperses nodules, and soothes the liver, and is often used to treat symptoms such as red and swollen eyes, breast hyperplasia, and goitre. Lithospermum Erythrorhizon clears heat, cools blood, activates blood circulation, and removes swelling, and is often used to treat symptoms such as heat-induced sores, injuries, and trauma. This combination of herbs is particularly suitable for symptoms such as excessive liver fire, red and swollen eyes, breast hyperplasia, and menstrual irregularities.
Benefits of Chrysanthemum Herbal Tea
Chrysanthemum is cool in nature and has a sweet and bitter taste. In addition to clearing heat, detoxifying, calming the liver and improving eyesight, dispersing wind, and clearing heat, it also has antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and blood pressure-lowering effects. There are many varieties of chrysanthemum, and the effects of different varieties vary slightly. For example, Hangbai chrysanthemum has a strong effect of clearing heat and detoxifying, while wild chrysanthemum is good at clearing heat, detoxifying, and dispersing wind-heat. Chrysanthemum tea is suitable for symptoms such as wind-heat colds, headache, dizziness, dry mouth and tongue, and high blood pressure.
Drink the Right Herbal Tea According to Your Body Type and Symptoms
For individuals with a strong constitution and exuberant yang energy
Symptoms: Feeling hot or experiencing heat toxicity, high fever, excessive thirst, profuse sweating, and even sore throat or painful skin abscesses.
Suitable herbal teas: Bitterly cold formulas (e.g., 24-flavor herbal tea, Ban Sha herbal tea)
For individuals with Yin deficiency
Symptoms: Frequent staying up late, internal heat, mouth ulcers, bitter taste in the mouth, and dry throat.
Suitable herbal teas: Sweetly cool formulas (e.g., Xia Sang Ju, Sugarcane herbal tea)
For individuals with internal damp heat (Due to a diet high in spicy, greasy, or fried foods, or excessive smoking and alcohol consumption)
Symptoms: Bitter taste in the mouth, bad breath, and a thick, greasy coating on the tongue.
Suitable herbal teas: Formulas for clearing heat and dampness (e.g., dampness-clearing tea)
For individuals with excessive liver fire
Symptoms: Irritability, acne, and bitter taste in the mouth and dry throat.
Suitable herbal teas: Formulas for clearing liver heat (e.g., Wu Hua tea, Summer Snapdragon, chrysanthemum)
The following types of individuals are not suitable for drinking herbal tea:
Individuals with a cold constitution: People who easily have cold hands and feet, feel cold, and have poor digestion should avoid long-term consumption of herbal tea.
Individuals with yang deficiency: Often manifested as fear of cold, cold extremities, and easy fatigue.
Women (pregnant or menstruating), children, and the elderly: Women during menstruation and postpartum periods have relatively weak bodies, children are still in the stage of physical development, and the yang energy of the elderly gradually decreases, so they are not suitable for drinking herbal tea.
Kontea Recommendation Products
In addition to the common herbal teas found in kopitiams, Kontea also offers high-quality herbal tea products to meet the needs of customers with different body types and requirements. Our herbal teas are carefully crafted with premium medicinal herbs and are designed to cater to various health needs. Whether you're looking to clear heat and detoxify, soothe the throat and relieve cough, or combat fatigue, our teas can provide you with the desired benefits. Below is an introduction to the effects and target groups of some common herbal teas on the market, helping you to choose the most suitable health drink for yourself.
Eight Ingredients Herbal Tea - Heart Cleanser
Effects:Lophaterum is a kind of perennial herb, which is able to eliminate heat, facilitate urination, improve symptoms from gum swelling, discomfort, and stomatitis. Lophaterum can be simmered with dried bamboo cane and rehmannia, thus adding sweetness to the drink and eliminate excessive heat at the same time.
Suitable for: Troubled working adults, boils on the tongue, yellowish urine, restless nights.
Luo Han Guo Herbal Tea
Effects: Monk Fruit (Luo Han Guo) has the effects of clearing heat, moistening the lungs, relieving cough and phlegm, and promoting bowel movements. It is cool in nature and sweet in taste.
Suitable for: Individuals with high blood pressure, hyperlipidemia, hyperglycemia, cough, or constipation
Bamboo Cane Herbal Tea
Effects: Great for dryness, cough, increased urine, soothing heat, calm anger, and nourish the heart and spleen.
Suitable for: Hot days when you are thirsty and agitated, excessive sweating, vomiting, cough, and people with dry stool.
Self Heal Herbal Tea
Effects: Helps with liver functions and clearer vision, as well as various results of liver inflammation like swelling, poor eyesight. It helps to reduce heat and swelling in lymph nodes, reduce pressure, and dilate blood vessels. Self-heal also helps with rashes and intestinal inflammation, especially diarrhoea caused by excessive heat and moisture in the intestines.
Suitable for: People with hot tempers, headaches and dizziness caused by stress, swollen lymph nodes, and skin with redness but without the itchiness. Drink to relieve these symptoms.
Chrysanthemum Tea
Effects:Chrysanthemum is balanced, has a bittersweet taste, and promotes liver-cleansing, clearer vision, and detoxification. It is mainly used to soothe heaty body, fever, headache, dizziness, redness and pain, swelling, and boils.
Suitable for: Yellow eyes with a lot of discharge, red eyes, swelling on the head. People with anxiety, easily irritated, and has heaty liver can drink chrysanthemum to sooth their nervous system and headaches.
Kang Won Herbalist
Kang Won TCM Practitioner also recommends seeking medical attention as soon as rheumatic symptoms begin to appear. Early consultation allows us to provide you with suitable treatment and prevention plans based on your symptoms and underlying causes.
Our TCM Practitioner specializes in diagnosing and treating various internal health issues in the internal medicine field. We are dedicated to balancing the body's energy flow to alleviate internal problems and improve overall health. Therefore, if you have any concerns about rheumatic diseases, we welcome you to consult with us in person to learn more.
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