Dear friends, 
As now is the time that I will be busy getting my house clean to welcome the new chi for Chinese New Year, I need to ensure that my family and I are in good health so that we can all prepare for Chinese New Year.
I would make nutritious soups, herbal drinks and simple but healthy flower teas to balance the yin and yang in our body. One of them is a flower and fruit tea that was taught to me by a Chinese sinseh. It is really simple to brew, you just need to steep the flowers and fruit in a tea pot and it tastes really refreshing.
This tea is especially good if we have insomnia, restless sleep, heatiness in the body, lethargy, tension headaches and “gunky” or “sticky” eyes (a sign of heatiness).
All you need to brew a pot of this tea are -
3 tbsps of rose buds (this is good for mild headaches and heatiness)
3 tbsps of chrysanthemum buds (this helps to balance the body in terms of yin-yang)
2 tbsps wolfberries (this is good for the eyes and is rich in antioxidants)
14 dried whole longans (this helps us to have a good night’s sleep)
Put all the ingredients in a teapot, and pour in about 500 ml of boiling water.
Let stand for at least 10 minutes so that the flavours are infused.
Give the tea a good stir before pouring out into tea cups.
Enjoy!
The ingredients can be re-brewed with a second round of boiling water. 
When my online store is set up later, these ingredients will be available for those of you that can’t get them in your area.
mywoodenrobot said,
January 14, 2008 @ 4:16 AM
wow that sounds so good!!
happyhomemaker88 said,
January 15, 2008 @ 12:05 PM
Good afternoon, dear my woodenrobot
The simple taste of this tea is really good and refreshing, and we can feel our body relaxing after drinking this tea because the heatiness is being removed and our body is “internally balanced.”
Have a nice day!
with peace and joy,
choesf
shopaholics said,
January 16, 2008 @ 12:01 AM
Dear happyhomemaker88, enjoy reading your blogs.
can get alot of info on health here..
by the way, wat is wolfberries?
thanks alot for your information
happyhomemaker88 said,
January 16, 2008 @ 11:11 AM
Hello there and welcome, dear shopaholics
You are welcome. Thank you for your kind comments.
Wolfberries are a kind of little fruit and are often dried and used as a natural remedy for healthy eyes in Traditional Chinese Medicine. These would be very good for people who spend a lot of time using their eyes in front of the computer monitor, people with strained and tired eyes, or those with “sticky” eyes. I used to get my kids to eat them just as they are, sort of like eating raisins, and the wolfberries are naturally sweet.
In the Cantonese dialect, wolfberries are known as “Kei Jee” and can be purchased from Chinese Medical Halls/Shops.
Here is more information -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfberry
I like to throw a handful of these into my soups or teas. There are many grades of dried wolfberries and most of them come from China – the better ones will cost more but will taste better and sweeter.
Have a wonderful day!
With peace and joy,
choesf
Chinese Tea 2008 said,
February 23, 2008 @ 1:37 AM
very interesting recipe and very interested in trying it. I recently had a rude awakening the other day at the doctors about my health so im trying to find natural ways to improve my health and your blog is one of the most informative I have come across. Since you know a lot about tea, do you know about Wulong tea? i read on their site that they help in weight loss, dental, hair loss prevention, and skin clarity so its got me very interested. If you can check this out or know about it, I would love to read your opinion about it. Oh and their website was http://www.wulongforlife.com, I hope to read more soon!
happyhomemaker88 said,
February 24, 2008 @ 3:05 AM
Hello there, dear Chinese Tea 2008
Thank you for your kind comments – I’m glad you find the information here useful. I always like to use natural remedies to balance our body and maintain good health.
Thank you for the Wulong tea link – it has a lot of useful information. Yes, Wulong is actually quite good to take as it is a black tea that tastes like green tea. Well, I am not sure about the hair prevention and skin clarity benefits of tea but one thing for sure, Chinese teas (especially Green Teas) do help in maintaining or losing weight.
Have a nice weekend!
With peace and joy,
choesf
agentcloudy said,
January 22, 2010 @ 1:49 AM
For those of you in Australia, I find a few of the dried herb ingredients available online from http://australherbs.com.au. click on ‘sunrise botanicals’. They have the burdock, rose bud, dong quai (angelica) for example.
happyhomemaker88 said,
January 22, 2010 @ 6:49 PM
Hi there, dear agentcloudy
Thank you for you link in buying herbs and stuff for those in Australia…especially for burdock root. Good! Now, we have Australia and USA suppliers for burdock roots for those that can’t get fresh ones.
Take care and do have a lovely weekend!
With best wishes,
choesf
anyhow-cook said,
June 7, 2010 @ 9:09 AM
Hi, I’ve tried your recipe and it’s easy to brew. It really helps me to sleep well.
Thanks for sharing !
happyhomemaker88 said,
June 8, 2010 @ 1:35 PM
Hi there and welcome, dear anyhow-cook,
Thank you for trying out this tea and for your feedback.
With best wishes for good health,
choesf