Longan + dried winter-melon-sugar + monk fruit cooled herbal infusion, the standard of Kuala Lumpur's Petaling Street drink stalls. "Air mata kucing" is widely read as "cat's tears," but the name actually comes from mata kucing ("cat's eye"), the Malay name for a local longan-like fruit, so the phrase really just means "longan water."
Cantonese-Malaysian, descended from the southern Chinese herbal-cooling-drink (liang cha / leung cha) tradition that Hokkien and Cantonese tin-mining migrants brought to Kuala Lumpur and Ipoh in the late 1800s. The famous Petaling Street version is sold by the long-running "Mou Tak Ding" (Cantonese for "unbeatable") stall on the corner of Jalan Petaling and Jalan Hang Lekir, in front of Hong Leong Bank. Accounts of its age vary widely (anywhere from 20-30 to 70-plus years), and the often-repeated claim that it "opened in 1958 at the Lai Foong corner" is unverified — Lai Foong is a separate old kopitiam nearby on Jalan Tun H.S. Lee.
The original Air Mata Kucing stall on Jalan Petaling, near the corner of Jalan Hang Lekir, opened 1958 and serves from a giant aluminum dispenser visibly steaming with longan piles. Anthony Bourdain filmed there for No Reservations in 2009; queue averages 15 minutes.
Pale amber, lightly sweet, with a cooling aftertaste that hits the back of the throat — that's the monk fruit and winter melon working. Longans plump and chewy at the bottom, you fish them out with the straw. Served in a 16oz styrofoam cup over crushed ice.
Three elements work in sequence: dried longan gives sweetness and a touch of umami, dried winter-melon sugar (dong gua tang) provides cooling-property and a clean sweetness, monk fruit (luo han guo) supplies the cool-throat finish with almost no sugar load. Brought to a boil, then dropped to a long low simmer — often 1.5 to 2 hours at the stalls, lid kept on, never left at a hard rolling boil, which clouds it and blows off the herbal aroma.
Variations
With added dried red dates (Ipoh-style, more medicinal), with chrysanthemum (Penang-Cantonese, more floral), and with sea coconut (KL premium version, Petaling stall's deluxe cup). Vacuum-bottled commercial brands exist but locals call them flat.
On the Palate
Where Air Mata Kucing sits in the Malaysian flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 6How it's made
4 steps · 4 min active + 1 hour 45 min waiting
- 13 min
Rinse 100 g dried longans, 80 g dried winter melon, 4 monk fruit.
- 21 min
Combine with 2 L water in a large pot.
- 345 min
Bring to boil; simmer 45 min until fragrant and light amber.
Watch outKeep it at a slow lidded simmer, never a hard rolling boil — a violent boil clouds the water and blows off the cooling herbal aroma.
- 460 min
Strain; cool to room temperature and refrigerate; serve chilled.
Watch outPull it when the liquid runs clear light-amber and smells sweet-fragrant — that colour is your done signal.
