An unexpected neighbourhood power failure and Em’s propensity to learn how to make herbal tea led me to finding a friend of mine, YH who runs a traditional chinese medicine store in Foh Sang.

He figured that since the conversation topic would revolve around leong cha, we decided to head over to Ren Ai for drinks and desserts. Plus an added opportunity for him to scrutinize over the menu and tell me his leong cha recommendations. In what was a two-hour conversation, these are a few points I remembered:

• Best drank hot. Cold drinks are less effective.
• The bitter, the better. Man up, drink up. No sugars.
• Each drink has its own properties — leong, ha fo, roon etc.
• Can be drunk daily: ginseng / luo han kuo herbal tea
• Honeysuckles—a popular ingredient for H1n1 prevention prescriptions.