5% inaccurate: Ho Yan Hor fanatic

Friday, March 11, 2016

Ho Yan Hor fanatic

What to do in Ipoh? Visit some caves and temples, jungle trekking, walk around Ipoh oldtown, eat beansprouts chicken (芽菜雞), enjoy dim sum (點心) in the dim sum street, etc.. Who would have thought of visiting a tea museum. It is the newly opened Ho Yan Hor (何人可) herbal tea museum, a made-in-Malaysia tea that even Malaysians nowadays rarely know. It is the tea I deeply attached to, so attached that at one point it became almost an addiction and I couldn't live through a day without a taste of it.

My family and I were heading down to KL. We thought it would be a good idea to stop by in Ipoh to catch the last plates of dim sum eventhough it was almost noon already. Just as predicted, we were too late and our main target, liu sha bao (流沙包), was already sold out. Choices left weren't many, yet the quality was still way better than what we could get in Penang. After that, we had a walk at the famous, or should I say the infamous Concubine Street. And then fairly abruptly, at the end of the street, here appeared the three magical words : Ho Yan Hor.

Owh my god! It is Ho Yan Hor!

Magical was an understatement. It seriously felt like the reality was becoming more real than ever. A sudden jump from 8mm to IMAX, I was going to explode if I withheld my joy any further. It was a tea whose taste I knew so well but never bothered to search for its origin. And now it just presented itself to me, in a serendipitous fashion. It was as if I was an ancient Egyptian relying on the Nile for my whole life and finally I was standing in front of Lake Victoria, the life source of the entire civilization.

My history with Ho Yan Hor may be way earlier than I know but the addiction had started when I was in the NS (National Service) camp. Due to constant sun exposure and Malay spicy food, my body was always Yang or "heatiness" overload. Ho Yan Hor helped me to balance out this effect. Soon enough, I got so used to the taste to a point that some sort of placebo phenomenon kicking in, making me feel uncomfortable if I didn't drink Ho Yan Hor for a long time. That is why I call it an addiction. Only recently that I stop that habit because I feel I need to stop it. I believe any addiction is bad eventhough the tea means no harm if consumed frequently.

So back to the museum. Of course we took a tour inside. It was the place where Ho Kai Cheong (何繼昌) first came out with the recipe of Ho Yan Hor. The museum was relatively small and still new, not exactly a touristic place yet. The staff was super nice and spoke fluent English as well. I loved everything in the museum because everything was nostalgic. I was like a child in the Charlie's chocolate factory, asking my mom to take photo of me with this and that and everything.

Every time I go back to Malaysia, the only thing I always bring back to France with me is Ho Yan Hor. I can live without laksa or char kuey teow or nasi lemak but I can't live without Ho Yan Hor, or at least a taste of it from time to time. Huo Yuan Jia (霍元甲) said : appreaciating tea depends on your state of mind. Ho Yan Hor is my favorite because of the memories it brings along. It is the irreplaceable taste that binds me to my root and brings my mind back to home.