So it happens that I’m unfortunately a little under the weather again. You know the feeling right? That slight scratching of the back of the throat begging to be caressed by methanol cough drops to soothe its worries. The poor throat is also pining for some hot water action to ease its pain.
Back in my non-enlightened days, I would do the standard home remedy. Lemon Honey Tea. Pour hot water into a cup, slice some lemons up and put it in, pour honey in and jam it around in a spoon. It was ok. I always thought there had to be a better way, because it didn’t really taste that great. But hey, it seemed to do the job.
The last time I was sick, I was in Korea back in December 2014. I’m actually quite disciplined and responsible when I’m sick – drop everything, and go sleep for a few days. But that particular time, I was perpetually sick for the entire duration I was there for about 10 days. Apparently copious amounts of soju (you can call it Korean Vodka, but I call it The Root of All Evil), partying, noraebang aka karaoke, spicy foods, lack of sleep, and wandering around in sub zero celsius never helped my cause. As I was staying at my friend’s parent’s place in Korea who happen to be as Korean as they come, they suggested I should get some Citron Tea to help my poor throat. Perfect! I had no idea what it was, but anything is game at this point. We hopped to the nearest Home Plus supermarket to go shop.
Once we got there I saw I swear 1/3rd of an aisle of these huge jars of marmalade. This is what I was looking for supposedly. The classic one is the Citron Tea, aka Yuja-cha. But there were other ones like grapefruit, pears and such and all at different prices too which I suspect are different grades of fruit or the density of peels inside or something. I just picked up the white-label aka Home Plus version and went home. I’ve actually seen this before at the office I worked at back in San Francisco in a cupboard, but had no idea what it was at the time.
When you open it, it like opening a jar of Smuckers marmalade but less ‘firm’. It’s more watery. But otherwise, it really does look like the stuff you spread on toast. You prepare this by pouring hot water into a cup, and then depending on your desired sweetness, you put one or two tablespoons into the cup and mix it around, and you drink it! That’s really all there is to it.
Citron Tea
The taste of Yuja-cha is definitely a cross of the Lemon Honey Tea and Marmalade in my opinion. It’s sweet, but not overwhelming. The citrus fruit inside, Yuzu, definitely isn’t your run of the mill orange. It has a very fragrant, aromatic quality to it which makes it very pleasing to drink. It’s jam packed with Vitamin C, goes down easily and soothes the throat. A+ cold remedy drink in my books.
You can apparently make this yourself if you’re preserves inclined. I have no idea how to do this, so I just go to the local Asian supermarket (Ranch 99 in the Bay Area, or where near where I live there is the glorious Kukje Korean market) and drop $6-8 for 1kg of it. The fruit has been around in Korea in the Silla Kingdom period which first starts at 57BC, so I think they were onto something for a while. It’s safe to say that this will be my preferred ‘sick tea’ for the foreseeable future. It’s delicious and there’s something so incredibly satisfying chewing on those rinds when you get to the bottom of the cup. The explosion of subtle tartness, mild sweetness, and that slight mouthfeel ‘give’ when eating the rinds. I love it.
That being said, I think it would make a nice refreshing summer drink as well if chilled and iced. God forbid, it will probably even make a good cocktail of some sort with soju, club soda and some of this mixed inside. I’ll report back whenever I feel I need to do something bad to myself. Nothing ever good comes from soju.
