Guangdong Herbal tea
Enlisted as Intangible Cultural Heritage in China
Through the joint efforts of the governments in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau, herbal tea ranked among the 518 Intangible Cultural Heritages in China as approved by the State Council last year, highlighting its historical as well as present values in Southern China. Ms Esther LEUNG, Deputy Secretary for Home Affairs in Hong Kong says, the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (CSICH) of the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) applies to Hong Kong, the enlisted heritage may help citizens learn about the history, origins and development of herbal tea and further appreciate their own culture.
Herbal tea: Sales In China Surpassed Coca-Cola Last Year
In fact, the herbal tea culture has started to overtake the country as latest statistics shows nearly four million tons of herbal tea were sold in 2006, exceeding that of Coca-Cola in Mainland China. Some experts even forecast that by 2010, the aggregate sales volume of herbal tea in Guangdong will reach 25 million tons, exceeding the global sales volume of Coca-Cola. Herbal tea stalls will be opened around the world comparable to Starbucks, a coffee shop from the US.
The herbal tea market with its huge potential has attracted aggressive maneuver by Coca-Cola, the world’s leading beverage company. Recently, Coca-Cola acquired a herbal tea plant in Zhongshan, Guangdong and the herbal tea so produced has been sold in the Hong Kong market. Its chief officer in Hong Kong has liaised with the Guangdong Association of Herbal Tea Industry three times, requesting to participate in formulating the herbal tea standards, a process being promoted by the herbal tea industry in Guangdong.
The earliest Guangdong herbal tea in history is Wanglaoji created by Wong Zebang from Heshan, Guangdong in 1828 (the Daoguang Eighth Year), which was then spreaded overseas where it stayed popular among global ethnic Chinese for over 170 years. It is indeed a forerunner of the heat-relieving, detoxifying and beautifying beverages.
Three Treasures in Guangdong: BBQ Goose, Litchi and Herbal tea Stalls‘Three treasures in Guangdong: BBQ goose, litchi and herbal tea stalls’, says a folk adage. A huge variety of herbal teas with differing names are sold through herbal tea stalls, big and small, scattered around large cities as well as village towns in southern Guangdong.
Literally, herbal tea refers to a kind of tea beverage with heat-relieving and thirst-quenching effect. As it evolved, despite bearing the name ‘tea’, a variety of herbal teas are actually made from medicinal herbs. Those herbal teas also have anti-rheumatism, indigestion-relieving and circulatory-promoting effects in addition to heat-relieving and thirst-quenching.
Different Stalls, Different Ingredients
A majority of herbal tea are curative, while the heat-relieving herbal tea is preventive. A variety of formulae exist for the herbal tea, which are decocted according to the intrinsic medical property, scents and physiques of consumers that vary from person to person. Herbal teas are primarily categorized into:
- Bitter, heat-relieving and di-rheumatism;
- Sweet-cooling, refreshing and anti-fatigue;
- Sweet-cooling, refreshing and moistening, in the form of both single medicinal herb and compounds.
A complicated formula does not necessarily ensure a better herbal tea, as the selection of proper medicinal herbs maximizes its effect. Twenty-Four Flavor Tea, Ng Hwa Tea, Pear Tea, Anti-Flu Tea (Shaxi Herbal Tea), Chicken-Bone Herbal Tea, Hemp Seed Tea and Xiasangju are among the commonly seen herbal teas.
Herbal tea formulae enlisted as intangible cultural heritage will be each allocated with a specific terminology that may have promotional effect. For instance, the specific terminology for the Wanglaoji herbal tea formula is ‘heat-relieving and detoxifying’. Beverages not enlisted in the cultural heritage are not allowed to use such terminologies, nor be called ‘herbal tea’. They shall be renamed as ‘vegetable-extracted beverage’.
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