Herbal tea or liangcha as it is called in chinese is made from medicinal plants with Guangdong liangcha being the most well known in china and throughout Chinese communities around the world.

Liangcha and is known to balance the heat build-up within the body due to the weather or the foods and drinks we consume. It is common sense that when our bodies are too warm or too cold the temperature needs to be brought to balance.

Liangcha eliminates heat build-up from dryness and is particularly beneficial for soar throat. It can be said that the “origins of life is from water, but the origins of health comes from liangcha”.

In addition to reducing heat build-up, liangcha can also be used to improve eyesight, and reduce swelling. There are liangcha’s that also relieve red-eye, headache, dizziness, ringing in the ears, and high blood pressure.

In China one of the most popular liangcha and the one I regularly drink as a teacher who often gets dry throat from speaking is wang lao ji or wong lo kat in Cantonese. I also find it very useful for headaches as well.Wang lao ji is said to be a product that was commercialized and sold by Wang Zebang (nicknamed Wang Ji) from Heshan in Guangdong province in 1828.

Currently sold as a herbal beverage, with the ingredients being, seven different kinds of Chinese herbal plants: “Water, white sugar, mesona, dan hua, Bu Zha ye (Microcos paniculata Linn), Chrysanthemum flowers, jin yin hua (Lonicera japonica Thunb.), Prunella vulgaris, and licorice. (The “Dan hua” does not refer to as eggs, but refers to the Apocynaceae species).