5 from 18 votes
Chinese Sour Plum Drink (Suanmeitang)
Chinese Sour Plum Drink, or Suanmeitang, is a tart and lightly sweet beverage made by simmering black preserved plums, dried hawthorn, and various traditional ingredients. The drink has a balanced sourness with mild sweetness, and its simmering process extracts layers of flavor, ideal for a refreshing hot or cold drink.
Prep Time
3 mins
Cook Time
40 mins
Servings:
4
people
Course:
Drinks
Cuisine:
Chinese
Ingredients
- 3-5 black preserved plum This is just a guide- as each plum is quite big, you will probably not be able to get exactly 1.4 oz. Don't stress about cutting the plum to get the exact quantity- just use the whole thing even if it means the weight is more than 1.4 oz!, Chinese, wumei
- 1 Cup dried hawthorn As above. Rinse before adding to pot. If you like the drink more tart, add more hawthorn whilst keeping the other ingredients the same, spiced, Chinese
- 3 Tablespoons granulated sugar Traditionally rock sugar is used, feel free to substitute with rock sugar if you have it. Rock sugar tastes less sweet than white so you may want to add a bit more. Alternatively, osmanthus sugar can also be used, as I did above. If not, to make plum tea with no sugar, use a neutral honey instead, white
- 4 Cups water (about 1 litre)
- dried osmanthus tea Don't use a plum that's been boiled as it'll be very soft, optional garnish, sprinkle on plum tea, new plum for texture
- black preserved plum Don't use a plum that's been boiled as it'll be very soft, optional garnish, sprinkle on plum tea, new plum for texture
- licorice Always check with your doctor before using Traditional Chinese Medicine ingredients, if you're not sure whether you can take them or pregnant, Chinese gan cao, chen pi, can substitute orange peel (no white pith
- dried tangerine peel
- hibiscus tea
- osmanthus tea
- roselle tea
Instructions
- Rinse the hawthorn, add to the pot with the water and Chinese plums. Bring to the boil
- Reduce fire to medium (i use 5.5 on a Bosch induction stove which has a max of 9) so that the liquid is simmering. (You will see a few small bubbles.) Leave to simmer uncovered for 40 minutes.
- At the 30 min mark, taste and see if the tartness is to your liking. If so, add the sugar and stir till dissolved. (If not, leave till 40 min and taste again. Repeat till you like the taste then add the sugar.) Note that if you're using rock sugar, it comes in clumps, so you may have to increase the fire to help it dissolve into the plum tea. Also, the flavour changes after chilling/ adding ice- to me, suan mei tang tastes tarter cold.
- If drinking hot, sieve out the ingredientsportion out the tea then sprinkle some osmanthus flowers and add a new Chinese black plum to each cup (optional). If you prefer it cold, as I do, allow it to cool down with the ingredients steeping inside (this took me about 40 minutes) then sieve and pour the juice into a glass jar which goes into the fridge. As with the hot tea, add some osmanthus flowers and a fresh preserved plum to each cup before serving.
- Store for no more than 2-3 days in the fridge. If you see it going cloudy, toss it.
- Optional: you may want to freeze some of the plum tea juice in ice cube containers, so that you can use them to chill the plum tea. Using regular ice results in a diluted, watery drink
- The sieved out ingredients can be used to make a 2nd batch of tea (see post for directions) or to make puree/ jam. They can also be eaten but they'll be mushy.
Cup of Yum
Notes
- Soaking ingredients before boiling can reduce smoky flavors but is optional; retain soaking water for flavor if soaking.
- The ingredient ratio is generally 1:1:1 by weight for plum, hawthorn, and other herbs but can be adjusted to taste.
- Increase hawthorn for more tartness or sugar for more sweetness according to preference.
- Rock sugar dissolves slowly and may require higher heat to fully integrate into the drink.
- This drink is traditionally served chilled, enhancing its tartness and refreshing qualities.
- Consult a healthcare provider before consuming if pregnant or concerned about the herbal ingredients.