You’ve probably never tasted Hawthorn Iced Tea, but it’s easy to make, wonderfully refreshing, and has a unique tangy fruit flavor that goes great with any meal. Hawthorn is also prized in Traditional Chinese Medicine for its many health benefits!
A Refreshing Berry Iced Tea
If you’re an iced tea lover, you’re nearing the end of the summer and you might be growing tired of your go-to formulations.
That said, this Hawthorn Iced Tea is a refreshing alternative with a unique thirst-quenching flavor, and it only takes three ingredients! Dried hawthorn berries, sugar, and water. It’s my kind of recipe.
What is Chinese hawthorn?
Chinese Hawthorn (Crataegus pinnatifida; 山楂, shān zhā) is part of the genus Cretaegus, found in Asia, Europe, and North America. Chinese Hawthorn in particular features small, tart red fruits that resemble crabapples.
The first time I had hawthorn, also known as hawberry, or Chinese hawberry, was when my parents were living in Beijing. Naturally, trips to Beijing on my school breaks meant regular trips to the grocery store and settling into a different rhythm of life in China (in between sleeping off my most recent run of ill-advised college all-nighters).
Anyone who’s been to a grocery store in China can attest to the alluring yet puzzling quality of the snack/candy aisles with their many colors and oddball flavors (wasabi Oreos, anyone?).
I gravitated towards a bucket of plum-colored fruit leathers, and my mother actually thought they were yang mei or Chinese bayberry flavored, which I had recently taken a liking to. (Those are another fruit that I’ve only ever found in China and have a similarly distinctive and fantastical tutti fruity berry flavor.)
Alas, they weren’t yangmei flavor, but it turns out it was a happy mistake, as they were actually hawberry fruit leathers. As I sit here munching on some of said candy writing this, the flavor is something like the earthiness of a cherry, mixed with the tang of a strawberry, and the undertone of apple. It’s hard to describe, but entirely different than anything you’ve had and perfect for summer!
Luckily, unlike yang mei bayberries, it’s much easier to find dried hawthorn berries for this tea stateside!
Hawthorn Berry Benefits
Chinese Hawthorn has long been used in Traditional Chinese Medicine for:
- Antioxidants! Hawthorn berries are full of polyphenols, which can help fight free radicals.
- Reducing inflammation.
- Lowering blood pressure (hawberries are one of the most commonly recommended foods to help treat high blood pressure in China).
- Treating digestive issues, like indigestion, slow digestion, and ulcers.
- Heart health, and for alleviating shortness of breath and fatigue symptoms.
What else is Chinese Hawthorn used for?
Hawthorn is a popular flavor agent for candies in China and comes in a few different versions: sometimes as a jelly or gummy candy format, as a fruit leather, and sometimes in a more dissolvable “smarties” esque form in slim discs of cane sugar that come in a paper roll.
My dad grew up eating these “haw flakes” as a kid. I have to say that I’m partial to the fruit roll-up style hawthorn berry fruit leathers.
Hawberry is also a popular sweet treat sold by street vendors in China. Fruits of all kinds are coated in a honey-colored caramelized syrup, speared on sticks and perfect for munching while you’re clamoring for a good selfie. You can see them at the back of the cart in the photo below (taken on our trip to Harbin, China)
They’re also used to make teas and drinks like this one, and even in sauces.
In short, Chinese Hawthorn is a much-loved fruit and definitely worth giving a shot over your standard raspberry or lemon iced teas!
Hawthorn Iced Tea Recipe Instructions
Add the dried hawthorn and water to a medium pot. Bring to a boil.
Turn the heat down to a simmer and cook for 45 minutes.
You’ll see that the tea has taken on a lovely deep amber color:
Turn the heat off, and add the sugar, stirring until dissolved.
Allow to cool completely, and then strain in a fine-meshed sieve and serve with ice. If the tea is too tart for your taste, sweeten to taste with honey, which dissolves more easily than sugar.
Hawthorn Iced Tea
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 ounces dried Chinese Hawthorn berries (70g)
- 6 cups water (1.4L)
- 1/4 cup sugar (50g)
Instructions
- Add the dried hawthorn and water to a medium pot. Bring to a boil. Turn the heat down to a simmer and cook for 45 minutes. Turn the heat off, and add the sugar, stirring until dissolved.
- Allow to cool completely, and then strain in a fine-meshed sieve and serve with ice. If the tea is too tart for your taste, sweeten to taste with honey, which dissolves more easily than sugar.
Hi there :) just wondering how long this tea will
Last in the fridge? Thanks! Thinking of trying this
Hi Chritina, 3 – 4 days is acceptable.
I click on “surprise me” & was looking at puff pastries but French Palmiers (Chinese butterfly pastries doesn’t have a hyperlink. Do you know where I can find the link on your website? Thanks!
Hi Odelia, you can always use our search bar to search for a keyword like “palmiers” to find anything you’re looking for! Here’s the link: https://thewoksoflife.com/palmiers-recipe/
6 cups of water for 45mins simmer? It will evaporate even when its covered. When you turn the fire off what is the desired water level?
Hi Odelia, it’s ideal to use a thicker bottomed pot to avoid your aforementioned problem :-)
Is it possible to substitute fresh hawthorn berries for this recipe? Thanks in advance!
Hi Elbert, we’ve never tried it but you should definitely try! My tip would be to adjust the sugar to taste as needed based on the flavor of the fresh berries. You may also need to cook it for longer to extract the flavor.
Crataegus pinnatifida is used in TCM for the things described here. Crataegus oxyacantha is used in Western herbal medicine for all kinds of heart-related problems. To quote Rosemary Gladstar in her Family Herbal, “If you love your husband, feed him hawthorn berry jelly every day” referring to Crataegus Oxyacantha. In theory you can gather your own, but in practice that usually requires either owning land or having access to hedgerows. Hawthorn fruit in general is one kind of herbal medicine that I wish people knew more about the world over. My father has been keeping his blood pressure down for years with powder of crataegus oxyacantha!
Wow, interesting info! We always enjoy hearing about various TCM remedies :)
Made this today, so simple and surprisingly refreshing! I didn’t add any honey because it was perfect! And the smell reminded me of my childhood favourite haw flakes :)
One question, can you do anything with the leftover hawthorn after it’s been cooked? Just seems wasteful to throw away!
Thanks!
Hi Ling, so glad you liked it! Sorry we missed your comment—re: uses for the soaked berries, you could try throwing it in smoothies or perhaps mincing it into your morning oatmeal!
Smoothies is a great idea! Will give it a go! Thank you!
Oooh, I want some! What kid didn’t love haw flakes growing up? I’ve used them in party favors for my 104 year old aunt’s birthday dinners and the kids (ranging in age from 10 to 80 years old) all want more of the haw flake than whatever else is in the goodie bags!
Now to find them bulk…..our local herb store carries the hawthorne flowers in a gooey sweet kind of preserved state.
Hahahah let us know if you find them in bulk! Never have seen the hawthorne flowers or in jam form for that matter, sounds like it could be interesting! Hope you enjoy this tea :)
Ran right out to the small Chinese market near our house. Usually I like to amuse the staff by trying to speak the Mandarin I learned when my wife and I lived in Taipei for the ’80’s, but this was too important. After showing the young woman the Google Translate screen on my phone, she turned around and grabbed a big bag filled with something that looked exactly like your photo. 1lb for $3.59 – looks like enough to last until next summer! Made our first batch and I can’t tell you how the taste brings us back to those memory-filled days. A bottomless pitcher of this and endless steamer baskets from Din Tai Fung…what could be better?
Hi Steve, loved reading your comment, and we’re so glad we could bring back memories from the 80s! Can’t imagine how different Taipei in the 80s must have been. One of the best parts of the blog is cataloguing all the yummy things we ate in China but can’t access as easily anymore! Enjoy the rest of your summer with this Hawberry iced tea ^_^
This sounds delicious! Is it caffeine-free? I don’t use caffeine, and am always looking for caffeine-free teas.
Hi Cheryl, yes it’s caffeine-free! :)
Great! I’m going to get some today.
This stuff is delicious! The first batch was so good I’m now making a double. Thanks!
So glad you enjoyed it, Cheryl!
I live in Chinatown in NYC, and know I probably won’t have any difficulties finding hawthorn berries for this intriguing tea. Do you perhaps have a picture of a package so I know what to look for? I might be able to find them loose, but going through all the bins is a bit challenging.
Thanks!
Hi Jocelyn, we tend to buy them loose and repackaged as well, so we don’t have a particular brand or picture of packaging, but it shouldn’t be far from dried and preserved things (e.g., goji berries, woodears, mushrooms, etc.) Hope that helps!
I love iced tea of all kind. This is the first time I have heard of this. I am willing to try this drink. The problem is where do you find Chinese Hawthorn Berries? Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Thank you,
Sherrie
Amazon sells them!