Cool herbal tea is a drink made from decocted Chinese herbal medicines that are cool in property or capable of removing internal heat from the human body. The drink is made to drive away the heat inside the human body in summer or to cure the sore throat caused by dryness in winter and other illnesses. Actually, cool herbal tea is not “tea” in the general sense, but the decocted Chinese herbal medicine soup. And cool herbal tea may not be cool; it works better when taken hot. The tea is for heat-clearing, detoxifying, lung clearing, dryness moistening and reliving heat.

Since ancient times, people in Guangdong of China have been famous for their love of drinking cool herbal tea. For them, the tea is an indispensable part of their life, because they think “water is the source of life and cool herbal tea is the source of health.” The herbal medicines used in making the cool tea are effective in removing the toxic elements of the human body, boosting immunological competence, curbing germs and viruses, regulating the body and softening the skin. The tea can serve as a cold drink in summer.

Cool herbal tea has a long history, with the first brand of “Wanglaoji Herbal Tea” launched by Wang Zebang from Heshan in 1828. Later, Wanglaoji Herbal Tea was introduced overseas and it’s been popular among Chinese people across the world for more than 170 years. It is arguably the pioneer of a healthy drink that’s capable of clearing heat, detoxifying and boosting complexion. The founder of “Wanglaoji Herbal Tea” Wang Zebang was honored as “the guru of herbals”. Currently, the annual production capacity of cool herbal tea is up to 2 million tons (including Hong Kong and Macau areas) and its sales cover nearly 20 countries, including China, the US, Canada and France etc. There’s a wide variety of cool herbal tea drinks to choose, such as mulberry and chrysanthemum drink, lotus leaf drink and fresh lotus root drink etc. Each drink has its own effect.

The profound culture and special effect of cool herb tea has made it a unique drink. In 2005, it was included in the national list of intangible cultural heritage.