Luo Han Guo Herbal Tea (罗汉果凉茶)
Luo han guo herbal tea (with ginseng and chrysanthemum)
My mum treated me to a spa session some time back and one of the most memorable thing that happened (besides the massage, of course) is that they served a cup of delicious, home-brewed luo han guo (arhat fruit/monk’s fruit/罗汉果) herbal tea during the session. Maybe I haven’t been to many spas, but nowadays I seldom see them serving home-made drinks. According to my mum, they brew herbal teas every morning to serve their customers. Maybe it’s psychological, but I do feel healthy and refreshed drinking it especially coupled with the massage. So I decided to try making my own herbal tea at home.
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Luo han guo has long been a highly regarded ingredient in Traditional Chinese Medicine, being touted as a longevity fruit. Its well known health benefits include expelling “heatiness” from one’s body and combating chronic throat and respiratory ailments such as throat inflammation. Do you know that it is also a natural sweetener, with its fruit extract nearly 300 times sweeter than sugar, while being much lower in calories (sweet toothers on diet, rejoice!) For more information about this incredible ingredient, check out my write up about luo han guo at Noob Cook Ingredients.
Previously, I have used the fruit to cook with watercress soup whenever I have a sore throat. This herbal tea is easier to make and I can make it more regularly than the soup as a healthy herbal drink and thirst quencher. I also added a little of two of my favourite ingredients for herbal drink – namely American ginseng and chrysanthemum flowers. They complement the luo han guo well and make the drink extra cooling and delicious.
Putting the smashed fruit in a disposable soup stock bag
Ingredients
(makes about 4 mugs)- 2 litres of water
- 2 luo han guo fruit (arhat fruit/ monk’s fruit/罗汉果)
- 30g american ginseng fiber/”beards” (洋参须)
- 30g dried chrysanthemum flowers (朵朵香)Tools (optional)
- disposable soup bagsDirections
If you are using disposable soup bags:
1. Using the back of your knife, gently crack open the luo han guo fruit. If you have a soup stock bag, you can place the smashed fruit inside the bag (see photo above). I also place the ginseng and chrysanthemum flowers in the soup bags (total using 4 soup bags to contain the ingredients.
2. Boil water in a pot. Place soup bags in the boiling water and simmer for about half hour (if you like, you can discard the chrysanthemum pouch earlier). Discard soup bags (I try to press out excess liquids using a slotted ladle to minimize wastage), wait for the tea to cool and pour into serving cups. Serve warm or chilled.If you are not using disposable soup bags:
After step 1, bring a pot of water to boil. First add the chrysanthemum flowers. Simmer for a short few minutes (do not boil for too long) and using a slotted ladle, take out the chrysanthemum flowers. Next, add the ginseng and luo han guo fruit and simmer for about 20-30 minutes. Remove the ginseng and fruit pieces and then sieve the tea through a strainer. Wait for the tea to cool and pour into serving cups. Serve warm or chilled.
Cooking Note:
To add sugar, or not to add?
I do not add any sugar since luo han guo is a natural sweetener so this drink is mildly sweet. I do not have a sweet tooth so it’s sweet enough for me. If you like to add sugar, you can add either winter melon sugar strips (10 minutes before you off the stove flame) or rock sugar (just before you off the flame, stir to melt the sugar thoroughly) to taste. Note that if you are using winter melon sugar stripes, they will not dissolve – you can eat the winter melon for the crunchy sweet taste or you may discard it.
Other Herbal Teas 凉茶 Recipes:
- Chrysanthemum Tea
- American Ginseng Tea
- Water Chestnut & Bamboo Cane Drink
- Lemon Barley Drink
Fancy More Luo Han Guo Recipes?
Who’s Also Making It
- Pink Parisian (Dong Gua and Lo Han Guo Herbal Drink)
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{ 46 comments… read them below or add one }
I never see the real fruit of Luo Han Guo. But, I like drinking the tea everytime I have sore throat/cough since I was a kid. Thanks Wiffy for sharing the pics!
My son added milk and ice to the Lou Han tea. It taste so good and very refreshing.
nice touch!
Luo han guo has brought a hug wave in Hong Kong cooking. I received lots of emails spreading the mouth of words of this unique fruit, telling people that this fruit is very good to our health. Immediately, I bought a packet of Luo han guo and cooked watercress with it. :)
yes, it’s one of the few Chinese ingredient being termed as longevity food. It’s really healthy and I try to make this drink or the watercress soup once in a while :)
This is really interesting!
Sometimes, I just boil the luo han guo alone. If there are apples in my fruit basket, I’ll make it into a Luo Han Guo Apple Tea.
Am with you as well, sugar is not that necessary.
Luo Han Guo Apple Tea sounds great! I must try to make it next time I have apples :)
Tell ya, this is my all time favourite drinks and I made for my family very often. But, this is the first time I read about adding ginseng and chrysanthemum flowers into it. What a great combination! I am going to try it the next time. You have also giving me the idea of putting the loh han guo in the soup bag! great idea! :D
Thanks Alice. I find luo han guo alone a bit boring and I saw some Chinese medical halls adding ginseng and chrysanthemum flowers. Makes the tea more cooling and aromatic. Hope you like it when you try it out :)
I so needed that drink right now. Thanks for sharing the recipe, next time if I see it in the Asian market, I need to buy and try it too. I love your stock bag, I hope I can find it here, it will be so convenient.
Hope you find it too. The stock bag is cheap and very handy to have especially for stews and soups. Save me hassle of sieving the ingredients.
So good! With a treat to a spa and so good! with a natural soothing tea. All so good!
yes, I feel very pampered ^_^
I just saw huo han guo at the Chinese store and was racking my brain to figure out what uses it has. This looks very nourishing.
Luo Hon Guo is so good for you, your tea with the chrysanthemum and ginseng sounds even more nourishing!
I think I will definitely enjoy this. My mother makes one or the other. Never combine them together. I will let her know, she’ll like this.
Love your spice bag! Or soup stock bags
This is good to be drink during the hot days =] I wish to have one cup of that too.. Refreshing drink indeed~
Yay great now I can use up my remainder luo han guo from the last time I made watercress soup (and added luo han guo as per your excellent suggestion)! Thanks wiffy!
wah still have leftover hehe… hope you like the drink as well :)
Everytime I have a sore throat, my mum would always ask me if I can find luo han guo in Germany ;). I don’t really like it that much, but I think it does help a bit in my getting rid of the sore throat.
yes it’s my alternative medicine for sore throat too!
Good to have this on hot weather. Usually order Luo Han Guo drink from coffee shop, but never make it at home. Like the way you prepare it with Chrysanthemum and Ginseng.
yummy! I also made this drink few times last week.
羅漢果涼茶 is one of my fave traditional Chinese drinks! I prefer mine chilled. This comes handy on hot days like these!
yes with our tropical climate, this drink is good for us!! hehe
hey wiffy,
this is definitely a good choice of drink for the hot weather we have over here. I had no idea the extract was so much sweeter than sugar. I think i will leave out the ginseng if i make this. not used to the bitter taste of the ginseng
It may not be sweet enough for you since you have a sweet tooth. You can add some sugar to taste if you want. Oh yes ginseng is slightly bitter so you can leave it out ;)
I never heard of this before! But I love tea – and the fact that it is naturally sweet. Will have to order myself some!
Love this…very refreshing. I love the after taste. Good for health. Thanks very much for sharing.
This sounds like a lovely tea. I wasn’t familiar with monk’s fruit or its sweetness. I’ll have to look for it and try this tea!
This is a very Asian drink and I think it’ll be fun if you have a chance to try it out ^^
I love it when u feature simple yet traditional chinese drinks/recipes. It’s like giving it a modern feel all over again. This is what my grandma used to make every other week. I love how refreshing it is especially when it is cold.
thanks for your kind words daphne. I like to chill the leftovers and the next day, enjoy it chilled. It’s extra refreshing like you said :)
This is my favourite drinks…beautiful photos as usual!
do you use the skin of the fruit as well? or just the insides with the seeds?
Hi Julie, I used the entire smashed luo han guo (skin and insides).
where can I purchase the monk fruit tea or the dried fruit? I have heard that it is very helpful when one has neck radiation and need it soon! Thanks.
I have an older Chinese neighbor who heard me coughng and came over to tell me about this tea. We do not speak each other’s langauge but she was able to use gestures to describe what to do with this fruit. I made the tea and tried it since I have heard remarkable stories of Chinese herbal remedies. This tea helped immediately and has been the only thing that has worked for me. The Dr. I saw dismissed as a virus but gave no ideas as to relief. I am very blessed to have this lady as my neighbor.
Thank you for the recipes, I will enjoy trying some of them I am sure
where to buy the soup bag?
Hi, read about it here: http://reviews.noobcook.com/kitchen-tool-soup-stock-pouch/
tea dewa., rasa nya khas beda dengan tea lain,.aroma khas minum tea ini membuat rasa badan jadi lebih baih juga rasa yang saya kira tidak perlu di tambah dengan pemanis gula kasna rasa manis nya alami., ya dia ada hemmm original tea sebenarnya dari dewa tea.
Hi, I would like to buy a box of LoHanKuo. Do you knopw where I can get it? Thank you
I like mixing with my daily yin tonic. As we get older yin depletes and we dry up like prune.
Thank you.
Hi, I’m Lina Lee from Indonesia and would like to ask, why couldn’t we boil chrysanthemum flowers as long as we boil lohanguo?
My family members love lohanguo and chrysanthemum flowers but usually I prepare them separately, lohanguo tea or chrysanthemum tea. It should be a good idea to mix them both.. Thanks..
Hi Lina, it’s not advisable to simmer chrysanthemum for too long, as it may result in a bitter taste. Check out my chrysanthemum tea recipe at http://www.noobcook.com/chrysanthemum-tea/, where I only simmer for a few minutes.