Sour Plum Drink

Suānméi tāng is one of China's oldest non-alcoholic drinks, associated particularly with Beijing and summer heat relief. Dried smoked plums (wūméi), hawthorn berries (shānzhā), dried liquorice root, osmanthus flowers and rock sugar are simmered together for an hour, then strained and chilled. The resulting drink is deep reddish-brown, sweet-sour, faintly tart from the hawthorn and plum, and has a complex herbal undertone from the liquorice. It is consumed throughout summer as a cooling drink (believed in Chinese medicine to reduce internal heat) and pairs naturally with heavy meat dishes — the acidity cuts through fat. Street stalls in Beijing have sold it from large clay pots for centuries. Commercial bottled versions are sweeter and lack the depth of freshly made batches from specialist stalls.