Good medicine tastes bitter? Guangdong herbal tea

When I was a child, whenever I coughed a few times or had a sore throat, my grandmother would cook me a big bowl of herbal tea. Recalling the dark and bitter herbal tea, I frowned and shook my head every time I drank it. However, grandma read "Good medicine tastes bitter, but there is sweetness in bitterness" and handed me a small fruit candy. Ah, that big bowl of herbal tea is still bitter!

After going out to work, I often eat fried barbecue food, stay up late and get angry, and I am too lazy to go to the hospital to prescribe medicine. After passing the herbal tea shop, I learned to drink a bowl consciously. Warm medicine soup seems to have a sense of safety and protection as soon as it reaches the stomach.

Guangdong is located in low latitude and subtropical monsoon climate, and it is a hot and humid place.

Cantonese is a kind of people who often say "damp heat". In the eyes of Cantonese people, there are often two kinds of common diseases: one is called "heavy moisture" and the other is called "excessive heat". Sore throat, swollen gums and itchy skin are all caused by these two diseases.

It is said that there are three treasures, litchi, roasted goose and herbal tea in Lingnan. Interestingly, the increase in the intake of the first two will cause a physiological reaction called damp heat, which will directly lead to the increase in the sales of herbal tea. Therefore, herbal tea with the status of "damp-heat nemesis" is the ultimate treasure on the land of Guangdong, the universal belief of Guangdong people and the immortal water of Guangdong people.

There are many legends about the history of herbal tea. There is a saying that herbal tea can be traced back to the Three Emperors and Five Emperors, or even to the Fuxi era unilaterally, which is related to the "hometown of Huang Xi".

According to legend, Emperor Xuanyuan thought that after drinking herbal tea, "eyes are brighter and ears are clearer", so why not? It is also said that drinking more herbal tea can "prevent diseases and prolong life".

During the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Ge Hong, a pharmacist, came to Lingnan and felt that it was hot and humid and "miasma prevailed". He summed up the working people's experience in preventing and treating diseases in Lingnan, and wrote a medical monograph "Elbow Backup Emergency Prescription".

The book says: You can boil water with Chinese herbal medicines that are cold and cool, can relieve summer heat and disinfect. The theory and practice of Lingnan people combined to create the earliest prototype of herbal tea.

After the Eastern Jin Dynasty, herbal tea was widely spread all over the world. After hundreds of years of gradual improvement and handed down from generation to generation, the connotation of herbal tea has become more and more profound. And herbal tea herbal tea is actually not herbal tea or tea in essence. What outsiders don't know is that it is very refreshing to drink a cup or two of herbal tea in the scorching sun. But in Guangdong, the real herbal tea is actually made of cold Chinese herbal medicines, mostly Prunella vulgaris, Houttuynia cordata, honeysuckle, Radix Isatidis and other Chinese herbal medicines. The efficacy of herbal tea made of different Chinese herbal medicines is also very different. Some clear away heat and detoxify, some moisten the throat and reduce fire, and some produce fluid to quench thirst. Everyone can choose different herbal teas according to their own needs and preferences.

In addition to the bitter twenty-four flavors, there are also sweet grass root water, chrysanthemum tea and scented tea in the herbal tea shop, which are bitter and sweet for a hundred years.

In the eyes of Cantonese people, all the year round, the aunts and grandmothers in herbal tea shops, just like old Chinese medicine practitioners, come and pour a cup of herbal tea and drink it to cure all diseases, no matter whether you have a cold or a sore throat, you still can't sleep well. For Cantonese, Wang Laoji and Jia Duobao can only be considered as fun drinks at best. If they want to drink authentic drinks, they must be in Guangdong. They have to drink the bitter herbal tea, which makes their scalp numb, but it is excellent for treating colds.

Cold and headache, herbal tea to wind and heat; Dry mouth and bitter taste, herbal tea that can quench thirst; Constipation, herbal tea with laxative; There are herbal teas to relieve swelling and pain-there are as many kinds of herbal teas as there are minor ailments and pains. I can't tell you what the problem is. It's easier to handle. A cup of 24-flavor herbal tea is the treasure of the town shop.

Lingnan is short in autumn and winter, long in spring and summer, hot, humid and rainy. Whether it is rainy or summer, Cantonese people are using magical herbal tea to resist the "damp heat of all-round invasion". After drinking a bowl of herbal tea, they immediately felt healthy.

Feeling sick all over? Drink herbal tea!

Appendix:

Authentic 24 herbal teas contain 24 kinds of medicinal materials: winter mulberry leaves and honeysuckle. Bidens bipinnata, houttuynia cordata. Achyranthes bidentata, loquat. Chrysanthemum, white paper fan, Lygodium japonicum. Paederia cristata , Lysimachia christinae, bamboo leaves, Phyllanthus emblica. , yellow cattle tea and echinacea purpurea.

Wuhua Tea: The main ingredients are honeysuckle, chrysanthemum, Sophora japonica, kudzu root and kapok. Has the effects of clearing away heat and toxic materials, promoting salivation, quenching thirst, relieving alcoholism, removing dampness, invigorating stomach and resolving food stagnation.