13/06/2025
A few decades ago, there was a Sentosa Cinema in Section 17, Petaling Jaya. In its immediate surroundings, there were plenty of roadside stalls, a wet market by day and a food court by night, fulfilling the community’s living needs. After the cinema burned down in 1997, the site became a carpark, until Seventeen residence and mall was constructed in 2014. Beside the building, Petaling Jaya city council offered a sheltered space for the hawkers, many of whom had been there for over four decades, standing witness to the changes in the neighbourhood, and frequented by local residents. Among them is Chinese Herbal Tea.
The stall owner, Uncle Ngui Pong, is in his seventies. Hailing from Bukit Kepong in Johor, at 17 years old he moved to Selangor to learn martial arts and Tit Tar from Master Chow Tin Sang in SEA Park. Master Chow sold herbal tea for a living, and taught Uncle Ngui the traditional recipes for him to start his own business at the neighbouring Section 17. There are a few types of herbal teas: Five Flower Tea, monk fruit tea, Prunella vulgaris tea, and bitter tea (also known as “Wong Lo Kat”). One may opt to add Chinese medicine powder to bitter tea, to help relieve bodily discomforts. Later on, Uncle Ngui studied Traditional Chinese Medicine, and made minor adjustments to the recipes according to the therapeutic properties of medicinal herbs.
Selling herbal tea is a tedious task that takes up the entire day. At 8AM, Uncle Ngui starts preparing to boil herbal teas in the kitchen at the rear of the house, one large pot of each type. In the past, he used charcoal stoves, the heat was not stable, hence requiring close attention and the need to add firewood. Now that he uses gas stoves, the heat is stable, and Uncle Ngui is able to make time throughout the several hours of boiling to attend to patients who visit his Tit Tar clinic. Around 3PM to 4PM, the herbal teas are ready, and it is time to set up the stall. He travels back and forth between the food court and his house to bring the herbal teas, tables and chairs, and the stall itself. His wife also helps him to set up and do sales. Meanwhile, if there are patients, he returns to the clinic at home to attend to them. The herbal teas are prepared fresh daily and sell out. Uncle Ngui used to sell until late night, but in recent years he closes around 10PM.
Uncle Ngui usually sports white attire, the signboard of his stall is written in red on a white background, such is his appearance from youth to elderly. Day in, day out, he set up his stall in Section 17 regardless of the weather, the local residents drop by for herbal tea whenever they feel “heaty”. Many of his regular customers used to study at Universiti Malaya, and have been supporting him since they were students. Whenever they meet Uncle Ngui and his wife, they greet them with respect. The city council did not provide a dining area in the sheltered space for hawkers, therefore Uncle Ngui and his wife bought dozens of tables and chairs with their own money, providing convenience to fellow hawkers as well as customers, without demanding any return for their extra efforts. It would be great if customers could order a cup of herbal tea priced at RM2.50 as a gesture of appreciation.
Despite always looking serious, Uncle Ngui is honest and selfless, his herbal teas are authentic and priced reasonably, enabling him to blend into an unfamiliar neighbourhood and stay for decades. Each cup of herbal tea not only helps promote health, but also acts as a relationship bond between Uncle Ngui and the local community, a sweet sight in this Chinese new village within the city.
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【About Herbal Tea】
Herbal tea originated from LingNan, which encompassed the modern regions of Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Hong Kong, and Macau. Due to being located in the subtropical monsoon climate zone, the combination of humidity and heat causes discomforts to the human body. Herbal tea is a herb-based healthy drink based on Traditional Chinese Medicine knowledge to relieve such discomforts. Herbal tea formulas can be divided into single and compound formulas, namely utilising a single type of medicinal herb and multiple types of medicinal herbs, which have therapeutic properties, such as honeysuckle and Prunella vulgaris.
Boiling herbal tea requires careful control of heat and time. The herbs need to be boiled just right, neither overboiled and lose all efficacy, nor underboiled and less efficient. Put the herbs and water into a pot, bring to a boil, then simmer over low heat for at least three hours. After that, it is left to stand for a period of time, to enrich both the flavor and the color of the herbal tea, before it is considered done.
Herbal tea is not only a drink, but a health-preserving wisdom based on Traditional Chinese Medicine originating from the general public and passed down over thousands of years. Drinking herbal tea to stay healthy is a major feature of LingNan folk culture. As our forebearers migrated to tropical Southeast Asia, herbal tea became widely popular due to its remarkable efficacy, and people of all nationalities and ethnicities could drink it. Herbal teas may be light or dark in color, and sweet or bitter in taste, yet each offers benefits that support one’s well-being.
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