Ume Plum, Licorice Root and Chrysanthemum Tea

Why people make this tea

Bro Niu was watching a Traditional Chinese Medicine programme on television one evening when he came across a remarkable case. The patient had been coughing for years — not from a cold, not from infection, but from something doctors struggled to pin down. A whiff of cooking smoke, a change in the wind, or a slight drop in temperature was enough to set off a coughing fit that would not stop. Chinese medicine and Western medicine both helped a little, but nothing got to the root of the problem. Eventually, a senior TCM practitioner diagnosed the condition as “wind cough” (feng ke) — a pattern where the airways are hypersensitive and any environmental trigger sets them off. A course of wind-dispersing herbs resolved the case within a month. The doctor then mentioned this simple three-ingredient tea for everyday prevention — and Bro Niu thought it was worth sharing with everyone.

Who it suits / who should be cautious

• Well suited for people whose cough is triggered by cold air, air conditioning, smoke, strong smells, or dust — rather than a productive infection
• Also suitable for people who use their voice a lot (teachers, speakers, singers) as a protective daily tea
• Children from age 3 upward can drink this tea; a little honey can be added to improve palatability
• People with G6PD (Favism) can drink this tea — licorice root does not cause haemolysis in G6PD patients
• This tea is not suitable for productive cough with thick yellow phlegm, which indicates active infection and needs a different approach
• Chrysanthemum is cooling in nature, but it is suitable for both warm and cool constitutions in the amounts used here
• Suitable during menstruation — it does not affect blood flow

Why these ingredients (the food-therapy logic)

• Ume / black plum (wu mei / Prunus mume): Sour and astringent; in Chinese food therapy, ume is considered to help calm and control the airways, reduce excessive coughing reflex, and moisten the throat
• Licorice root (sheng gan cao / Glycyrrhiza uralensis): One of the most widely used herbs in Chinese medicine; harmonises the other ingredients, soothes the throat, and has mild anti-inflammatory properties; also used to calm spasm in the airways
• Chrysanthemum flowers (ju hua / Chrysanthemum morifolium): Disperses wind and heat from the upper body; cools and soothes the eyes and throat; gently calming

Ingredients (1 flask / 1–2 cups)

Ingredient	Amount	Notes
Ume / black plum (wu mei)	2 pieces	Available at Chinese herbal shops
Licorice root, raw (sheng gan cao)	2 g	”Raw” licorice (sheng gan cao) is standard licorice root — widely available
Chrysanthemum flowers (ju hua)	2 g	Hangzhou chrysanthemum (hang ju) also works well
Boiling water	enough for your thermos

Method

1. Place the ume plums, licorice root, and chrysanthemum flowers into a thermos or heat-safe flask.
2. Pour in a small amount of boiling water first to rinse the ingredients briefly, then discard this water.
3. Refill the thermos with fresh boiling water.
4. Seal and steep for about 7 minutes.
5. The tea can be refilled with hot water and re-steeped until the flavour fades.
6. Drink warm across the day.

Bro Niu’s tips

This is one of those recipes that Bro Niu likes for its utter simplicity — three ingredients, a thermos, and you are done. It suits people with allergic airway sensitivity particularly well: the kind of cough that has no phlegm, that is triggered by environment rather than infection, and that lingers indefinitely without ever developing into a full cold. If you want to strengthen the effect, add 3 qian of perilla leaf (zi su ye) and 3 qian of siler root (fang feng), cook in 4 bowls of water down to 2, and drink as a soup rather than a tea — this stronger version is suited for more stubborn wind-cough. The tea as written here is for everyday gentle prevention. Chamomile (yang gan ju) can substitute for chrysanthemum if needed.

Community questions answered (selected)

• Q (Daly): I work in a kitchen and have airway sensitivity — the moment I smell cooking fumes my airway feels blocked and I start coughing with no phlegm. Will this tea help? Bro Niu: Yes, this tea is designed for exactly this type of trigger-sensitive cough. Drink it daily for one to two weeks and see if it helps. The pattern you describe — coughing without phlegm, triggered by smells or environment — is what Chinese medicine calls “wind cough.” If the tea alone is not enough, a stronger decoction using roasted ephedra (zhi ma huang), schisandra (wu wei zi), earthworm (di long), white peony (bai shao), perilla leaf (su ye), and siler root (fang feng) with a little licorice, cooked for 5 bowls down to 2, taken for two to three weeks, is more powerful at dispersing wind from the airways.

• Q (YAUYAU): My child has G6PD. Is this tea safe because it contains licorice? Bro Niu: G6PD patients can drink this tea. Licorice root does not cause haemolysis in G6PD individuals — it is safe.

• Q (reader): Can chamomile (yang gan ju) substitute for chrysanthemum? Bro Niu: Yes, chamomile works fine as a substitute.

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Published June 25, 2012 · Adapted and translated for Nourilo from a traditional home-kitchen recipe. Approx. 4 min read.