Dang Shen, Mai Dong and Yu Zhu Tea

Why people make this tea

At the Chinese-medicine shop Nourilo saw some thick, clearly grained dang shen going for over seven hundred dollars per 300 g — which took him back ten years to a trip home, when a relative just back from a codonopsis farm in Gansu offered him a dozen-odd catties of beautifully thick, sun-dried dang shen. He bought 1800 g for a hundred dollars, gave most to friends, and the bit he kept made soup so sweet it was almost like sugarcane — he rather wishes he’d kept more. Dang shen is called the “sage of qi tonics,” yet it isn’t too drying: traditionally it supports the spleen, boosts qi and eases thirst. Paired with cooling, lung-moistening yu zhu and yin-nourishing, dryness-easing mai dong, this tea is traditionally good for those who feel run-down with a dry mouth.