Shaxi Herbal Tea (Yihe Tang)

Shaxi herbal tea grew out of the late-Qing "Huanghui Herbal Tea" of Shaxi in Zhongshan; it is said that a sedan-chair bearer who spent long days on the road gathered folk remedies and worked out a formula for seasonal colds and aching limbs that gradually spread, now over a century old. It is carried on today by Guangdong Yihe Tang Pharmaceutical under the name "Shaxi Herbal Tea."

Brewed from five herbs—gangmei, jinniukou, putao, choumoli and yedianqie—Shaxi herbal tea is prized for seasonal colds, hidden heat, aching limbs and chest fullness, a household standby across Lingnan and a staple taken overseas by Cantonese emigrants. It entered the first national ICH list in 2006.

Its making insists on authentic, carefully paired herbs, the five ingredients blended by a classical formula then selected, washed, decocted and concentrated into liquid or granules, keeping the efficacy of the traditional decoction while suiting modern brewing, the craft handed down for a century.

Shaxi herbal tea (Yihe Tang) is a China Time-Honoured Brand, and its making craft is a national ICH item.