Basic Introduction to Mashi Licorice Tea

Mashi Licorice Tea is a specialty of Baicheng, Jilin province, and is the first of its kind in China. It is a purely natural beverage. The tea is primarily made from high-quality licorice roots, stems, and young leaves. This tea has unique functions such as stimulating saliva production and stopping diarrhea; preventing and detoxifying; expelling phlegm and resolving stagnation; and freshening breath. Although the tea is sweet, it does not contain Sugar but instead has natural sweeteners, making it the best drink for diabetics.

Nutritional Value

It harmonizes and relieves urgency, moistens the lungs and detoxifies; it has anti-inflammatory, detoxifying, analgesic, anticonvulsant, cough-suppressing, diuretic, and antitumor properties. It is used for deficiency of spleen and stomach qi, abdominal pain with loose stools, poor appetite; fever due to fatigue; lung wasting cough; palpitations; sore throat; peptic ulcers; and for detoxification from medications and food poisoning.

Historical Folklore

Licorice has been used in medicine for a long time. As early as over two thousand years ago, The Shennong's Classic of Materia medica listed it as a top-grade herb. The Southern Dynasty medical scholar Tao Hongjing revered licorice as “Guo Lao” and said: “This herb is the king among all Herbs, rarely is there a prescription that does not use it.” “Guo Lao” means imperial teacher. The reason licorice is exalted as the “imperial teacher” of herbs, as explained by Li Shizhen in Compendium of Materia Medica, is: “Among all herbs, licorice is the sovereign, treating seventy-two kinds of stone poison, neutralizing the toxicity of one thousand two hundred herbal plants, and having the merit of harmonizing all medicines, hence it is called ‘Guo Lao'.”

Tasting and Preparation Method

About 4-6 grams can be used to Brew a cup.