Herbal Tea (Leung Cha)

Herbal tea is a traditional Lingnan drink simmered from honeysuckle, self-heal, chrysanthemum, liquorice, cogon grass root and other medicinal herbs, dark in colour, bitter to taste yet sweet in the finish, cooling by nature; herbal-tea shops line the streets of Hong Kong and Macau, the first remedy locals reach for when feeling the heat.

Herbal-tea culture is rooted in the hot, damp climate of Lingnan, its formulas traced to the Jin-dynasty Daoist Ge Hong and later developed across Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau; Macau's herbal tea is of one lineage with Hong Kong's, with full ranges of twenty-four-flavour, five-flower and cold remedies, and the preparation of herbal tea is inscribed on the national intangible heritage list.

Drunk fresh at a herbal-tea shop, or taken away hot or chilled in bottles; a bitter tea is often served with a dried plum to sweeten the aftertaste, taken as everyday health upkeep and a cooling drink.

The dark brown liquor, the bitter-yet-sweet herb flavour and the cooling, detoxifying remedy it offers, together with the street-corner herbal-tea shops of Hong Kong and Macau, are the hallmarks of Macau herbal tea.