I have discussed herbal teas in earlier posts, in particular Wanglaoji. Recently, a number of similar drinks, based on a variety of traditional Chinese medicinal herbs, have appeared. Possibly under the influence of the ‘national trend (guochao)’, young Chinese consumers are started to drink these beverage in a similar way as we (some of us) eat their daily handful of supplements.

I will introduce the most popular ones in this post, including their lists of ingredients. This lists show a broad variety in naturalness. The header of each product consists of the producrer and the product name.

Yangxiecheng – Chinese mesona beverage

Ingredients: water, sugar, Chinese mesona, distarch phosphate.

Genki Forest – Qiancha

Ingredients: concentrated maize juice (water, baked maize), concentrated maize tassel juice (water, maize tassel), maize tassel powder, glutinous rice powder, VC, sodium bicarbonate, food flavour.

Podu – white tea beverage

Ingredients: water, white tea, concentrated oolong tea, alginose, vine tea, orange peel, acesulfame-k, food flavour.

Taifu – Wax gourd job’s tears water

Ingredients: water, sugar, job’s tears powder, concentrated wax gourd juice.

Wanshoukang – Dendrobium drink

Ingredients: water, erythritol, dendrobium devonianum.

Zuixi – Almond tea beverage

Ingredients: water, almonds, erythritol, rock sugar, resistant starch, red dates, monkfruit, stevia.

N12 – Tangerine peel white tea beverage

Ingredients: water, erythritol, polydextrose, tangerine peel, white tea.

Renhe – Honeysuckle Dew

Ingredients: water, sugar, glucose syrup, honeysuckle, chrysanthemum, mint, VC, acesulfame-K, food flavour.

Lianshuang – Lotus leaf tea

Ingredients: water, rock sugar, lotus leaves, chrysanthemum, honeysuckle.

Guizhou Miao Girl – Yigancao drink

Ingredients: water, Houttuynia cordata (chameleon plant), taraxacum mongolicum, gardenia, red raspberry, kuding tea, arrow root, goji, date, liquorice.

Eastern God – Cordyceps Beverage

Ingredients: water, alginose, isaria sinclairii, goji, cordyceps, chrysanthemum, hibiscus.

Peter Peverelli is active in and with China since 1975 and regularly travels to the remotest corners of that vast nation. He is a co-author of a major book introducing the cultural drivers behind China’s economic success.