Hei (希 – “hope”)
Herbal Tea Vendor (涼茶舖店員)
Shau Kei Wan (筲箕灣)
🕗: 08:00 – 21:00 (13 hours)
“I’ve been working at this herbal tea shop for 28 years, since I was 30 years old. Every day, I measure the various herbs and brew each of the tonics for at least 5 hours. We boil everything in these massive vats – they’re even taller than me! Some teas are bitter, some are sweet, but each one has its own unique properties. One of the most well-known Chinese herbal teas is the “24 flavours” tea (廿四味), which of course has 24 ingredients – mulberry, chrysanthemum, honeysuckle flower, bamboo leaf…I could go on. It’s one of the most bitter herbal teas around, but also so effective in clearing “internal heat”. In Chinese medicine, some foods are “cooling” and some are “heaty”. So I always ask my customers – ‘How are you feeling? What does your body need?’ and then I try to recommend something specifically for them. It’s all about finding the right balance!”
「我喺呢間涼茶舖做咗28年，由我30歲嗰陣開始做。我每日會秤好每種藥材嘅份量攞去煲，每款涼茶至少要煲五個鐘。我哋全部嘅茶都係喺呢啲煲度煮出嚟，佢哋仲高過我個人呀﹗有啲涼茶苦啲，有啲就甜啲，但每隻都有自己嘅功效。其中一款最出名嘅涼茶就係廿四味，入面當然有24種藥材啦，桑葉啦、菊花、金銀花、竹葉……仲有排數呀。佢算係其中一隻味道最苦嘅涼茶，但佢清熱係好有效。喺中醫嘅角度，有啲食物係寒涼嘅，有啲就燥熱啲。所以我成日會問下客人，『你今日覺得點呀？身體需要啲咩？』跟住我就會嘗試推介啱佢嘅涼茶俾佢飲。最緊要係搵啱個平衡﹗」