Chrysanthemum Tea

Dried chrysanthemum steeped in water — documented from the Song Dynasty (960–1279 CE), Li Shizhen's 1578 Bencao Gangmu classifying it as cooling to liver and eyes.

Chrysanthemum tea has been consumed in China for over a thousand years, with documentation from at least the Song Dynasty (960–1279 CE), when chrysanthemum cultivation, appreciation, and consumption were established cultural practices among the Chinese literati. The chrysanthemum — Chrysanthemum morifolium, the species used for tea — is one of the Four Gentlemen of traditional Chinese art alongside plum blossom, orchid, and bamboo, representing autumn, perseverance through adversity, and refined character. In traditional Chinese medicine, chrysanthemum flowers are classified as having a cooling nature that clears heat from the liver and eyes, making chrysanthemum tea a recommended preparation for eye strain, headaches, and summer heat — prescriptions documented in pharmacopeias including the Compendium of Materia Medica (Bencao Gangmu), the encyclopedic work completed by Li Shizhen in 1578. The Double Ninth Festival (Chóng Yáng Jié), celebrated on the ninth day of the ninth month of the lunar calendar, has been associated with chrysanthemum since the Han Dynasty: viewing chrysanthemum gardens, wearing chrysanthemum decorations, and traditionally drinking chrysanthemum wine or tea on this day are customs documented across more than two thousand years of Chinese literary sources. The Hangzhou, Suzhou, Anhui, and Shandong regions of China each produce prized varieties of dried chrysanthemum for tea production, with Hangzhou's Huangshan Gongju and Tongxiang Hangju being among the most valued commercially.