Lemongrass and Sugar Ginger Tea

Why people make this tea

There is a particular irony to summer in many cities: the heat outside is sweltering, but step into any office, restaurant, or metro carriage and you’re hit by blasting cold air. This constant movement between extremes — hot and cold, sweating and chilling — is one of the most common triggers for what Chinese medicine calls “wind-cold”: headache, stiff neck, aching lower back and knees, and general muscle tightness that feels impossible to shake. Bro Niu’s lemongrass and ginger tea is designed for exactly this pattern. Lemongrass disperses wind and opens the channels; ginger warms the surface and breaks up stagnation; together they create a drink that is fragrant, approachable, and noticeably warming.

Who it suits / who should be cautious

• Suitable for the whole family, including young children (half to one cup). Safe and mild when used as described.
• Particularly useful for people who spend long hours in heavily air-conditioned environments and experience headache, stiff neck, low back aching, or muscle tension.
• Also helpful during the early stages of a wind-cold type cold (chills, body aches, no fever, or mild fever).
• People with a yin-deficient or fire-prone constitution — those who often feel hot, have a dry throat, or flush easily — should avoid this tea, as it is warming and drying.

Why these ingredients (the food-therapy logic)

• Lemongrass (xiang mao, Cymbopogon citratus): Widely used in Southeast Asian culinary medicine and increasingly recognised in Chinese food therapy. Traditionally associated with dispersing wind, relieving stagnation (stasis), opening the channels, and calming the nervous system. The bright citrus-herb aroma itself has a mild mood-easing quality.
• Fresh ginger (sheng jiang): Warm and pungent. Classically used to release the exterior (support light sweating to resolve surface-level cold invasion), warm the middle burner (stomach), and relieve aching from cold.
• Rock sugar or brown sugar: Rock sugar is cooling and moistening — it softens the sharpness of the ginger. Brown sugar is warming and blood-nourishing, making it particularly suitable if the aching is accompanied by poor circulation or menstrual discomfort.

Ingredients (3 cups)

Ingredient	Amount	Notes
Fresh lemongrass stalks	6 stalks	Rinse and slice or bruise; use the lower white section
Fresh ginger	6–8 slices	Peel or leave skin on
Rock sugar or brown sugar	to taste	Rock sugar for general use; brown sugar if wind-cold with poor circulation
Water	5 bowls (~940 mL)

Method

1. Rinse the lemongrass. Slice into 3–4 cm pieces or bruise lightly with the flat of a knife to release the aroma.
2. Peel and slice the ginger.
3. Place lemongrass and ginger in a pot with 5 bowls of water.
4. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce to a medium simmer. Cook for 20 minutes until reduced to about 3 bowls.
5. Add rock sugar or brown sugar, stir until dissolved. Serve warm.

Bro Niu’s tips

This tea is fragrant and pleasant enough to enjoy regularly during summer. It can help ease a mild cold-related fever. The whole family can drink it, and young children can have half to one cup. However, those who run warm or have a tendency to feel hot and dry should steer clear — the warming herbs in this tea could worsen heat symptoms.

Community questions answered (selected)

• Q (我): Can children under two years old drink this? Bro Niu: Young children can drink half a cup to one cup.

• Q (WAI): The Five-Colour Vegetable Soup — is it unsuitable for people with a cold constitution? What can be added to moderate it? Bro Niu: The Five-Colour soup is slightly cooling. Add fresh ginger, dried tangerine peel, and red dates — this will reduce the cooling nature.

• Q (Joyce): I keep getting diarrhoea after eating out. Is Huai Shan, Fried Flat Bean and Euryale Seed soup suitable for me? Bro Niu: You may have a weak or cold spleen-stomach constitution. Avoid cold drinks and raw salads for now. The yam, hyacinth bean, and euryale seed soup primarily strengthens the spleen and reduces diarrhoea from dampness — it is suitable for you.

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Published June 5, 2018 · Adapted and translated for Nourilo from a traditional home-kitchen recipe. Approx. 3 min read.