Ume Plum, Licorice Root and Chrysanthemum Tea

Why people make this tea

Nourilo 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 Nourilo thought it was worth sharing with everyone.

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.

Nourilo’s Tips

This is one of those recipes that Nourilo 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 11 g of perilla leaf (zi su ye) and 11 g of siler root (fang feng), cook in 1.2 L 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.