Simple Herbal Tea Recipe

Herbal tea is a kind of beverage with the effect of clearing heat and detoxification, generating fluids and quenching thirst, dispelling fire and removing dampness that accompanies people's daily life, which is consumed and summarized by the people of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao according to the characteristics of the local climate, soil and water, and with the guidance of Chinese medicine's theory of health maintenance in the process of long-term prevention of diseases and health care, and with the use of Chinese herbs as the raw materials. It has specific terminology to guide people's daily consumption, and there is no dosage limitation nor need for doctor's guidance [1] .

Herbal tea is a common name for herbal plant-based beverages, and it is also a common drink in summer. The name is related to its function. Although it is called herbal tea, there is actually no tea in the drink. Herbal tea is mainly formulated with Chicken Bone Grass, Xia Ku Cao, Honeysuckle, Luo Han Guo, etc. [8] The so-called "cool" refers to the decoction of herbal medicines that are cold in nature and capable of dissipating the body's internal heat as a beverage to eliminate the summer heat from the body in the summer or to treat ailments such as a sore throat caused by dryness in the winter [9] .

Process Edit

Traditional Herbal Tea Production Process

The production process of traditional herbal tea generally consists of seven basic steps: cutting and grinding of herbs, weighing, soaking, boiling, adding water, simmering, and storing***.

1. Cutting and grinding: the cutting and grinding of herbs is mainly to make the original larger herbs into small pieces, so that the herbs in the boiling to increase the contact surface with the water, reducing the time required for boiling; secondly, through the cutting and grinding of the herbs is smaller in size, and it is also convenient to weigh accurately.

2. Weighing: In order to ensure that the dosage of herbs meets the requirements of the formula, generally in the herbs need to be rigorously weighed before soaking. Excessive amount of herbs will make the herbal tea potency too strong, easy to produce adverse effects on the human body, while too little will reduce the efficacy, can not achieve the normal health effects.

3. Steeping: After steeping the herbs, the water seeps in to dissolve the active ingredients of the herbs, thus ensuring the efficacy. General flowers, leaves, grass-based herbal tea should be steeped for about 20 minutes, roots, seeds, fruit-based herbal tea should be steeped for 1 hour. Higher temperatures in summer can shorten its steeping time; in winter when the drug is dry and hard, the steeping time can be slightly longer.

4. Into the pot: due to the herbs in the simmering will produce complex chemical reactions, so pot herbal tea to ceramic as the best choice. If you choose metal utensils, the metal elements in the boiling process is easy to chemical reaction with the herbal ingredients in the herbs, reducing the efficacy of herbal tea. In addition, ceramic heat transfer performance moderate, uniform heat, is conducive to herbal tea simmering.

5. Add water: the ancient boiled water is more delicate, according to the "Compendium of Materia Medica" mentioned in the water is divided into two categories of Tianshui, ground water **** 43 kinds of more. In fact, for modern people, wherever possible to drink pure, unadulterated water can be used to make herbal tea. As for the portion of water used, it is usually appropriate to place the medicine in a pot and spread it out flat, then add water to soak more than 2~3 centimeters (about 1 knuckle) of the herbs.

6. Simmering: general herbal tea simmering should be "first Wu after the text", that is, first boil with the fire, and then use the fire to maintain the state of micro-boiling, so as to avoid overflow of medicinal juice or decoction paste. In addition, pay special attention to the herbal tea boiling should not be often "uncovered" stirring, because the herbal tea medicinal properties of more fragrant XinShan, if repeated "uncovered" will make the volatile components of the drug with the rise of the dispersion, thereby reducing the efficacy of the herbal tea.

7. Storage: the general single-store storage mode uses thermos flasks to ensure that the flavor of the herbal tea will not be lost, and the quality of the tea will not deteriorate in the short term; chain stores or franchises use fixed plastic containers to transport the herbal tea from the production site to the store, and then put it into the refrigerator for storage, and then cold or heated according to the needs of the guests to drink it when selling [10].

Modern process of Guangdong herbal tea in Tetra Pak

Guangdong herbal tea is cleaned and boiled with water, filtered, filtrate, vacuum compression, wine sinking, recovered wine, vacuum concentration, thick paste + water + cane sugar, herbal tea liquid, filtered, 1 kg/cm2 pressure, instant autoclave at 120 degrees Celsius, cooled, put into box, sealing, packing, and put into storage [10].

Inheritance and Protection Editor

Inheritance Value

The long history of herbal tea culture and its extensive folklore, recognized validity, strict inheritance, and later development effect have made it a "dark horse" of the world beverage. The output of herbal tea exceeds 2 million tons (including Hong Kong and Macao), and the sales range covers the whole country and nearly 20 countries such as the United States, Canada, France, Britain, Italy, Germany, Australia and New Zealand. As an integral part of Chinese food culture, it is of practical significance to protect and promote the culture of herbal tea

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