Goji Berry Tea

Dried goji berries steeped in hot water — documented since the Han Dynasty (206 BCE) and listed as a superior herb in the Shennong Bencao Jing (200 CE).

Goji Berry Tea has been consumed in China for over two thousand years, with the goji berry — Lycium barbarum and Lycium chinense — documented in Chinese pharmacopoeia as a longevity-promoting tonic food since at least the Han Dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE). Classical Chinese medical texts including Shennong's Classic of Herbal Medicine (Shennong Bencao Jing), compiled approximately 200 CE, list the goji berry (gǒuqǐ zǐ in Mandarin) among the superior class of herbs — those recommended for regular consumption to support long-term health rather than to treat specific disease. The Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region of northwestern China has been the primary commercial growing region for goji berries for centuries: the alkaline soils and high-altitude climate of the Yellow River valley around Zhongwei City produce berries with particularly high concentrations of zeaxanthin, polysaccharides, and betaine, the compounds most associated with the fruit's documented antioxidant and eye-health properties. The goji berry's international commercial emergence as a superfood from approximately 2004 onward — driven by Western health media and the broader global interest in traditional Chinese medicinal foods — brought the berry to global markets for the first time, though in China the berry had been consumed continuously as a cooking ingredient, tea, and tonic for the preceding two millennia. The tea is most simply prepared by steeping dried goji berries in hot water until the berries plump and the liquid takes on a pale red color.