This longan red date tea is a calming hot drink prepared with Chinese “dragon eye” fruit, jujubes, and fresh ginger. It’s a caffeine-free tea that’ll help you destress, digest, and feel warm.
Preparing tea with longans and jujubes is a traditional Chinese medicine remedy for insomnia, fatigue, and anxiety.
The recipe is simple: boil dried longans and red dates in water until rehydrated, then sweeten the tea to taste, and serve in cups with a couple of boiled fruits.
In our recipe, we’ll show you how to make longan tea the classic way. But we’ll also give you the option to use fresh longans for a more delicate, sweeter tea and a faster recipe.
If you’re not familiar with this fruit, longans are sweet and juicy grape-like fruits with a slightly earthy, musky flavour. They are quite similar to lychees but slightly less sweet.
They have a white pulp and a black, hard seed that looks like the pupil of an eye — hence the name “dragon eye” fruit.
Fresh longans are usually available only at Asian or Chinese food stores, while dried longans are easy to find online.
Dried longans look like a golden raisin; they’re yellowish, sweet, and have more flavour depth. Dried longans will make the tea darker and slightly tart but still delicious.
If you can get fresh longans, we highly recommend them for making this drink. The tea will have a lovely fruity and floral aroma, subtle yet flavourful.
They’re so good you can even skip the jujubes and make the tea with only fresh longans — we tried it, and it was great!
The second ingredient in this tea is dried jujubes, aka Chinese red dates.
Dried jujubes are chewy like a date but not as sweet and caramel-like. They’re mildly tart and taste a bit like dried apples.
Like dried longans, you can find dried red dates online or at your local Asian food store.
Thinly slice the jujubes before adding them to the boiling water so they’ll cook faster and release more flavour and colour.
Chinese red dates are packed with vitamin C, an antioxidant that fights free radicals, boosts your immune system, and keeps your skin healthy.
Imagine that a 28g (1 oz) serving of jujubes covers your vitamin C daily needs!
And finally, the ginger. This ingredient is optional, but it gives a fresh and peppery finish to the tea, balancing the sweetness of the longans and red dates.
Now, it’s time to put the kettle on and make this longan jujube tea together!