Ba Bao Cha (Eight Treasures)
Caffeine Free Herbal Tea 7 Packets
A full and fruity traditional blend of nine herbs: jujube date, longan, goji, ginseng, hawthorn fruit, tangerine peel, chrysanthemum, Chinese licorice, and young bamboo leaf. Used for balanced support of the immune system in Chinese herbalism.
$19.75
13 in stock
- Tea Origin
- Sichuan Province, China
Our Seven Cups Eight Treasures was formulated by a highly-regarded herbalist local to Sichuan province. The recipe was written to yield a rich herbal brew, balanced in its components to be both nutritious and gentle enough to drink every day. The herbs in our Eight Treasures herbal tea are sourced individually and fresh each season. Eight Treasures is a very popular herbal tea throughout China.
The herbs include:
- Jujube date for the blood
- Gui yuan (longan) for the blood
- Goji (wolfberries) for the liver and kidneys
- Ginseng for energy
- Sahn zha (hawthorn fruit) for digestion
- Chengpi (tangerine peel) for digestion
- High elevation snow chrysanthemum flower for the respiratory system
- Young bamboo leaves for cooling
- Chinese licorice to soothe the throat
This herbal tea is caffeine-free, and each package contains 7 individually wrapped packets.
The story of Eight Treasures
Eight Treasures is believed to have been invented in Beijing during the late Qing Dynasty (1644-1912) for the empress Ci Xi. Deemed by the feudal customs of that time period, women of wealthy families were not allowed to leave the house once they were married. With little opportunity for exercise and fresh air, the women of the court commonly felt drained and sluggish during the long northern winters. The empress asked an herbalist to find a remedy consisting of high-quality herbs that would be safe to consume every day and support vitality. A famous doctor chose a small amount of eight different herbs to create a balanced tea that would, by his assessment, neither create too much inner heat nor cool the body too much.
The practice of mixing herbs for tea, of course, started much earlier than the Qing Dynasty and has long been custom in different parts of China. The recipe for Eight Treasures tea now varies quite a bit from region to region, and often may not even contain eight different herbs, although the same name is used. For instance, the Uygurh people in northwest China commonly consume what is called an “Eight Treasures” tea, but the local version only consists of three or four herbs. This Uygurh version of Eight Treasures likely has its roots in custom beginning more than 1,000 years ago when traders brought flowers and herbs through their region on the silk road. In Sichuan teahouses, you can find a very different version of eight treasures, consisting of numerous herbs and served in gaiwan that are refilled over and over again from kettles with meter-long spouts.
Note: These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
