Kudzu Root, Hyacinth Bean, Mung Bean & Coix Seed Drink

Why people make this drink

Even after the Mid-Autumn Festival, Hong Kong and southern China can remain stubbornly hot — and the body feels it. That end-of-summer heat has a particular quality: muscles feel heavy, the chest feels tight, the mood turns easily irritable, and headaches seem to settle at the back of the neck and across the shoulders. Traditional Cantonese food therapy has a long answer to this feeling, and kudzu root (粉葛, fen ge) is central to it. This starchy root vegetable is widely used in Cantonese soups and, when cooked long enough, produces a drink that is warming and clearing at the same time — not cold and harsh like some bitter herbal teas. Paired with mung beans, coix seeds, and hyacinth beans, it makes a pot that is remarkably easy to drink, earthy, and settling.