Ju Hong and Chen Pi Tea (Dried Citrus Peel Tea)

Why people make this tea

Both ju hong (the dried rind of a particular type of pomelo grown in Huazhou, Guangdong) and chen pi (aged dried tangerine peel) are classic aromatics in Chinese food therapy — warming, fragrant, and traditionally valued for their ability to help move stagnant qi and break up accumulated phlegm. When cold air or a damp chill triggers a scratchy throat, a tickling cough, and that stuck-phlegm feeling that nothing seems to shift, this simple two-ingredient tea offers a time-tested, warming response.

Nourilo notes that classic texts credit ju hong with a broad range of traditional uses: dissolving phlegm, clearing food stagnation, sobering the effects of alcohol, soothing an upset stomach, and even neutralising crab toxicity. In practice, for everyday coughs with phlegm, this tea is one of the simplest remedies in the repertoire.