Suanmeitang

Qing imperial-kitchen recipe that spread to the streets; among the famous shops, the 1875 Yanjing Suishiji ranked Qianmen's Jiulongzhai and Xidan's Qiu family first, while Xinyuanzhai (founded 1740, on East Liulichang) became the leading 'rich-style' maker; Lu Xun and Liang Shiqiu both wrote about queueing for it in summer. Lao Beijing recipe formalized in the 1930s.

Authentic ratio per 1L water: 25g wumei, 15g hawthorn, 5g licorice, 3g dried osmanthus, 80g rock sugar. Cheap RTD bottles use citric acid + caramel coloring with no real wumei. The Tongren Tang pharmacy version still uses the Qing court ratio.

Deep amber, almost soy-colored. Smoky-sour upfront from wumei (smoke-dried plum), tart middle from shanzha (hawthorn), licorice rounds it sweet, osmanthus floats on top. Served ice-cold from a copper pot — never warm.

Wumei is the load-bearing ingredient — fresh green plums smoke-dried over pine, straw, or mixed-grass fires until black, which converts malic acid and adds phenolic smoke. Cold-soak 30 min, then slow-simmer 1-2 hours with hawthorn and licorice; rock sugar at the end so it doesn't caramelize.