Glehnia, Rehmannia and Dendrobium Decoction

Why people make this tea

After a late-night banquet — the kind where abalone, fish maw and deep-fried crab claws appear in quick succession — Nourilo found himself lying awake with a bloated, gnawing discomfort in his stomach. By the next morning the feeling had settled into something drier and more persistent: a bitter taste, a dry mouth, and that vaguely hollow, noisy stomach sensation that Chinese food therapy calls wei guan cao za (胃脘嘈杂). He brewed a pot of pu-erh tea first to cut through the richness, then cooked a batch of this four-herb decoction. The experience reminded him of something worth knowing: no food is too nourishing to cause harm if you eat too much at once, and the stomach’s yin — its moistening, digestive juice-producing capacity — is surprisingly easy to deplete with overindulgence, prolonged illness, or chronic stress.

Method

1. Rinse all ingredients under cold water.
2. Combine all herbs in a pot with 1.5 L of water.
3. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer gently for about 1 hour until the liquid reduces to 600 ml.
4. Drink in two portions throughout the day, while warm.
5. If adding lean pork: blanch the pork first, rinse and add with the herbs; simmer together for 1 hour.

Nourilo’s Tips

• The pot does not need to be a clay pot for this recipe — a stainless-steel pot is fine. Save the clay pot for recipes containing very sour or astringent ingredients (such as hawthorn, schisandra berries, unripe citrus peel), which can react with metal.
• The Huoshan dendrobium is the premium variety, but the more widely available jin chai dendrobium also works well and costs considerably less. The effectiveness difference is smaller than specialty shops sometimes suggest.
• If you cannot find Huoshan shi hu, the powdered or granule form of dendrobium from a reputable source can be dissolved in warm water as an alternative.
• For chronic, recurring stomach yin issues, this decoction can be taken 3 times per week over several weeks. For acute overindulgence, 2–3 days of the decoction is usually enough.
• A note on small children and herbs: Nourilo is generally cautious about giving tonic herbs to young children. For a child with mild stomach yin symptoms, a lighter broth of bean curd, winter melon and fresh fish is more appropriate than a full herbal formula.