"Sick and silvered at the temples, I lay watching the waning moon rise past the gauze; Cardamom boiled to a ro…
"Sick and silvered at the temples, I lay watching the waning moon rise past the gauze; Cardamom boiled to a rolling water, no need to strain to stay alert and serve tea." Yinzi, an early form of medicinal water, first appeared in the Tang Dynasty to refer to decoctions, and by the Song, it had evolved into a healthful daily drink, or "decocted water." As noted in Vast Record of Varied Matters, "Shell white cardamom, place in boiling water, seal and steep before drinking." It dispels dampness, soothes indigestion, and stimulates appetite. The poet Li Qingzhao, frail in her later years, often drank cardamom tea in place of actual tea, eventually writing her poem White Cardamom Decoction.