Honeysuckle, Fresh Hawthorn and Honey Tea

Why people make this tea

In traditional Chinese food therapy, not all colds are treated the same way. A “wind-heat” cold — the kind that comes with a fever or strong feeling of internal heat, a sore or dry throat, burning in the nose and mouth, and yellowish urine — calls for cooling, outward-releasing herbs rather than warming ones. This simple tea was put together by Nourilo from leftover fresh hawthorn (after making the hawthorn berry drink and a hawthorn walnut blend from the same batch of fruit), using honeysuckle flowers and a spoonful of honey. The combination is classically cooling and dispersing: honeysuckle clears heat and toxins from the surface while hawthorn moves stagnation and hawthorn’s sourness promotes fluid production. Honey adds moistening sweetness and helps bind the flavours.