In Singapore, there are many types of herbal tea and do you know how to choose which one to drink? In this post, I will share some common types of herbal drink you can find in Singapore and their properties so you can make the right choice for your health!
1. Chrysanthemum (菊花) Tea / Drink
Chrysanthemum is the most common herbal tea or drink you can find in most herbal stalls or shops in shopping mall.
The main property of Chrysanthemum is cooling (beneficial for lungs and liver). It can help to reduce body heatiness, headache and dizziness, and swollen / painful eye area due to liver heatiness.
Thus, you should choose Chrysanthemum tea / drink if you experience some headache, dizziness especially due to lack of sleep these few days or just starting to have some flu (heaty type) symptoms such as sore throat and keep feeling your mouth is dry.
2. American Ginseng (洋参) Tea / Drink
Good american ginseng is expensive and helps in strengthening qi (补气) but the type that you find in common herbal tea / drink normally do not have such strong potency.
The main property of american ginseng is strengthening qi (beneficial for heart, lung and kidney) and cooling effect. For the purpose of this blog post, american ginseng tea / drink has the effect of cooling and small effect of boosting your qi (energy).
Thus, you should choose american ginseng tea / drink if you often experience tiredness, and mouth dry. You can also choose american ginseng tea / drink if you feel that your palm and feet often feels hot.
3. Monk Fruit (罗汉果) Tea / Drink
Monk fruit is also known as Siraitia grosvenorii, or more commonly as Luo Han Guo (罗汉果) in Singapore. It can help to reduce heatiness in lungs and improvement bowel movements (beneficial for lung and big intestine).
The main property of Luo Han Guo is to soothe throat and moisturize lungs. It also helps to ease constipation.
Thus, you should choose Luo Han Guo tea / drink if you have sore throat or feels that you have symptoms of sore throat coming. Also choose this drink if you have minor constipation these few days. Lastly, it will also help in dry cough (very hard to spit out the phlegm).
NOTE: Do visit a TCM physician if you have coughed for more than 2 weeks, because herbal tea will not cure the root issue of the cough.
4. Chinese Barley (中国薏米) Tea / Drink
Chinese barley is another very common type of herbal tea / drink in Singapore. In fact, I highly recommend most people to consume Chinese barley drink because of our tropical climate here in Singapore. Chinese barley can help to reduce water retention and strengthen the spleen. Out of all the herbal tea / drinks, Chinese barley is the only one that can strengthen one’s spleen.
The main property of Chinese barley is to help you get rid of excessive water in your body especially in spleen and lower part of your body. This is why Chinese barley is a common herb to use to treat swollen angle, feet and lower part of the leg due to water retention.
Thus, you should choose Chinese barley tea / drink if you have water retention in the lower part of your leg or generally you have weak spleen (have stomachache after cold drinks and oily food). Chinese barley can also help in weight loss but you must make it a habit to drink it consistently to see results.
Caution: Women who are pregnant please consult a TCM physician before you make Chinese barley a regular drink.
Note: There are two types of barley, one is Holland barley which main property is cooling and the other one is Chinese barley, which we mention in this blog post. make sure to choose the right one when you buy.
5. Honeysuckle (金银花) Tea / Drink
Honeysuckle is also a common type of herbal tea / drink in Singapore. Out of all herbal tea / drinks, Honeysuckle has most cooling effect and is highly recommended for people who are very heaty!
The main property of Honeysuckle is cooling and detox (beneficial for lungs, heart and stomach).
Thus, you should choose Honeysuckle tea / drink if you have bad breath, sudden rush of acne or feeling very heaty (symptoms of sore throat, mouth dry and keep wanting to drink water and urine appears very yellowish and feels hot)
Caution: Honeysuckle is extremely cooling hence it is not suitable for people with weak spleen. If you often have diarrhea after drinking cold stuff or oily food, then I would say Honeysuckle is not suitable for you.
A Note About Mixed Herbal Tea / Drink
It is now very common for you to see mixed herbal tea / drink such as Chrysanthemum with Luo Han Guo, or Chrysanthemum with American Ginseng.
For such herbal tea, you can refer to their each effects above but I strongly encourage you to go for the individual herbal tea if you need to relieve a particular symptom. For example if you are only having a sore throat, then I would suggest that you choose Luo Han Guo rather than Chrysanthemum with Luo Han Guo.
I hope these information helps! If you like a particular herbal tea / drink but didn’t see it listed here, you can comment below and I will consider adding it to the list!