Tonic Teas

Peanut and Ginger tea

This is a nice restoring drink to have when your exhausted from overwork, especially hard, manual work or when your feeling run down.

You should use unsalted, raw peanuts which still have their skins. Look for stringy, old but not dried root ginger rather than plump, young juicy ginger.

20 raw peanuts
5-6 slices of root ginger
tea of your choice
3 cups (850ml) water

wash the ginger and cut abotu 5-6 slices across the root, each about 1/8" (3mm) thick. Roughly chop these slices. Take about 20 raw peanuts with their skins and use a pestle and mortar or food processor to grind them. Alternaatively you can use a knife. Put the ground nuts and chopped ginger into a teapot and add the tea leaves . Bring water to a fast boil and pour into the pot. Let stand for 2-3 minutes before drinking


Lychee and Plum tea

this delightful fruit tea not only pleases the palate but also boosts energy levels. However only take this take twice a week as lychees have very strong yang energy. The plum used is a perserved plum that you will find in Chinese stores and looks simular to a date. You need to use fresh lychee and rock sugar.
Lychees are in season from May through August. You can spice up the flavor of the tea if you want by adding a little fresh ginger root.

1 fresh lychee
1 preserved plum
1 small piece rock sugar
1 thin slice giner root (optional)
1 1/2 cups (430ml) water

Cut the plum in half and remove the stone. Peel the lychee and remove the stone. Put the lychee, plum, sugar, and giner into a large Chinese mug. Fill up the mug with boiling water, stir quickly and put the lid on. Let stand for 2-3 minutes, stir then drink.
If you'd like you can add a pinch of green tea to freshen the taste. You can also top of th emug with more water and eat the fruit after you finished the tea.


Dragon eye tea

dragon eye is a direct translation of the Mandarin name of this fruit which is called 'longan' in cantonese. Longan looks simular to lychnees in size and shape but have smooth pal brown skins. Lime lychees they are in season from May through August. They are highly prized in chinese medicine as they help restore blood chi. They can be used fresh or dried. When fresh, the flesh is white, when dried the skin is darker brown and the flesh a rich dark brown. the flesh is sweet and fragrant. Whenever you use fresh or dried always remove the skin.
To prepare the tea follow the same recipe as the lychee and plum tea only use a dragon eye instead of lychee.


Dry-fried rice tea

This energy-boosting tea has the ability to balance the hot (yang) and cool (yin) energy in the body and is used for people with too mcuh yin who need more yang. It is not recommended for yang people.
It has a good nutty flavor and once prepared you can keep the dried ingredients in an airtight jar. In Japan it is so popular that youc an purchase it ready-mixed.

1 cup of long grain rice
1 cup of green tea leaves
3 cups (850ml) water

Heat the wok and tip in the rice. You do not need any oil. Stir fry the rice until the grains are light golden and smell toasty. allow the rice to cool and then add the green tea leaves and mix gently.
To make the tea, put five teaspoonfuls of it into the teapot and add boiling water.
Allow to sit for 2-3 minutes before drinking.
You can refill the teapot with freshly boiled water once or twice more.


Eight treasure tea

This very healthy, energy-boosting tes can be taken twice a week. The eight ingredients ate the treasures of this recipe. they should be available from a good Chinese market or herbalist.

green tea
2 white chrysanthemums
1 small piece of dried mandarin orange peel
1 longan or dragon eye (fresh or dried)
1 red date
1 tiny piece of ginger root
1 dried medlar berry (gou qi zi)
1 piece rock sugar
1 sultana or dried apple slice
1 1/2 cups (430ml) water

put allthe ingredients into a large lidded mug and pour boiling water
allow to sit for about 3 minutes before drinking. You can refill your mug with freshly boiled water two or three times