Teablog_Chinese Herbal Tea

The Thinking Behind Chinese Herbal Tea

中式花果茶

A person holds a glass cup of Chafolio Chrysanthemum Ginseng Tea with yellow flowers, ginseng, and dried fruit slices, while similar traditional Chinese herbal tea ingredients are arranged on the table nearby.

The Starting Point

When we first decided to create Chinese herbal tea, we were not trying to define a product category or design a collection. The starting point was practical. We became increasingly conscious of caffeine and began looking for a tea that was clear in its ingredients, natural, without caffeine, and easy for the body to accept at any time of day. That search led us back to a way of drinking long rooted in Chinese daily life. Since as early as the Tang dynasty, flowers, herbs, roots, and leaves have been brewed not to quench thirst, but to support the body. In southern China, this way of drinking is still deeply woven into everyday life. In many households, a pot is put on the stove almost without thinking. Someone reaches for dried flowers, a handful of herbs, or whatever fruit is in season, adjusting the combination slightly each time, guided by the weather, the time of year, and how the body feels that day.

Chafolio's Dragonfruit Ginger Tea comes in a beige bowl, brimming with citrus slices and dried fruits for a vibrant, refreshing brew—ideal for gentle digestive support.

This was how we grew up drinking tea at home. There were no written recipes, only small, familiar adjustments made day after day. If this way of drinking were to become something lasting beyond the home, it needed a clear internal logic to guide how ingredients were chosen and combined. That search eventually led to the four Chinese herbal teas we created, and to a deeper look at the traditional framework that has long shaped how food and the body are understood.

A white tray holds dried apple, orange, pineapple, and dragon fruit slices, goji berries, black peppercorns, dried roots, and hawthorn slices, displayed in separate small piles.

Returning to Food as Medicine

As we revisited these habits, the concept of food as medicine naturally came into focus. In traditional Chinese dietary and medical systems, there has never been a strict boundary between food and medicine. The idea of food as medicine refers to the understanding that many foods inherently possess medicinal qualities, and that food and medicine share the same origin. Rather than categorising substances upfront, ancient practitioners observed how ingredients affected the body over time and developed a framework to understand them. This is why the system used to describe medicinal herbs, the four natures “四性” (cold, hot, warm, cool) and the five flavours “五味” (sour, bitter, sweet, pungent, salty), was also applied to everyday foods.

This way of thinking can be traced back to early texts. In Huainanzi “淮南子”, it is recorded that Shennong tasted hundreds of plants and waters, learning which could be consumed and which should be avoided, sometimes encountering many toxins in a single day. The passage describes a time when food and medicine were not yet separated, and all knowledge came from careful observation of the body’s response. Later works such as Bencao Gangmu “本草纲目” (Compendium of Materia Medica) visually documented this understanding, illustrating how everyday ingredients were regarded as both nourishment and medicine. Through detailed illustrations and records, the idea of “food and medicine sharing the same origin” became tangible and accessible. Seen through this lens, drinking fruit or herbal tea was never about achieving a specific effect. It was about maintaining balance and stability through daily nourishment.

From Philosophy to Formulation

Once food as medicine became our foundation for understanding ingredients, our formulation logic followed naturally. We do not aim to amplify a single ingredient, nor do we want a tea that must be consumed at a specific time. Instead, we pay close attention to whether a tea leans too cooling or too warm, and whether the body feels comfortable after drinking it. Balance, rather than intensity, is always the guiding principle. Ingredients that are light and clearing are often paired with those that are warm and supportive, one easing, one grounding, so that neither dominates the blend. This approach did not come from theory alone, but from what our development days actually looked like. During testing, each tea would go through dozens of small variations in a single day. We would spend entire days tasting ten or more versions of the same blend, brewing the same ingredients again and again with subtle adjustments each time. It was a slow, repetitive process, guided by the body rather than a fixed standard. If a tea needs detailed instructions on when it should be consumed, it is unlikely to become part of everyday life.

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