Dong gua cha or winter melon tea is one of my favorite Chinese beverages.  The sweet, rich, and earthy flavor always gives me a sense of nostalgia.  It was a treat to get a can or juice box of winter melon tea at the Asian supermarket when I was little.

My mom gave me half of a winter melon that one of her friends grew.  Normally I would make a soup out of it, but I really wasn’t feeling soup right now, especially since it’s still mid-upper 80’s here.  I looked up how to make winter melon tea, and it’s so easy!  I wish I looked it up earlier!

The recipes I found used brown sugar and rock sugar, but of course I wanted to play with this and make my own version of winter melon tea.  I scooped out the seeds, cut the skin off, and cut the melon into chunks.  I don’t know how big the melon was, but the chunks filled up my 5 qt pot.  I added a cinnamon stick and a 2.5 inch knob of ginger, sliced up.  I wanted to give my tea a little spice and kick.  I used 1/4 cup of brown sugar, and 3/4 cup of pure organic maple syrup.  Note, pure organic maple syrup, not the fake me out Log Cabin ish.  I added a tiny bit of water to the pot, just to cover the bottom.  I let the water come to a boil and then turned the heat down real low.  You can adjust the amount of sweetener to suit your taste.  My tea was not as sweet as the store bought kind, but I like it better that way.

After about 3 hours of gently simmering on low heat, the melon turned translucent and mushy, and the kitchen smelled pretty good.  So you might be wondering how this is tea.  I am actually making a winter melon syrup, and it will be diluted with water before drinking.  There are no actual tea leaves involved.  I don’t know why it is called a tea.  I let the mixture cool down enough so I could handle it.

I fished out the cinnamon stick, and crushed the ginger up a bit so I could get some ginger juice too.  I dumped the ginger and melon into a piece of cheesecloth so I could wring out the liquid.  I was surprised at how little melon was left after it got liquified in my fists.

My pitcher was already being used, so I poured the winter melon syrup into a couple of squeeze bottles for easy pouring.  I let them chill because warm winter melon tea is not as good as cold winter melon tea.

Sweet and spicy winter melon tea.  I poured about 1 part syrup to 1 part water to make a lightly sweet and refreshing drink.

Sweet and Spicy Winter Melon Tea
Ingredients
– 5 qt winter melon
– 2.5 inch knob of ginger
– 1 cinnamon stick
– 1/4 c brown sugar
– 3/4 c pure organic maple syrup

Directions
– Wash, peel, de-seed, and cut up the winter melon into chunks.  Put the winter melon into a pot with the sliced up ginger and cinnamon stick.
– Add the brown sugar and maple syrup, and barely enough water to cover the bottom of the pot.
– Bring the water to a boil and then turn the heat to low.  Simmer on low heat for about 3 hours.  Stir the pot occasionally.
– After the mixture cools down, strain the winter melon through a sieve or cheesecloth.  Mash the winter melon up into smithereens to get the most liquid out.  You can also crush the ginger if you want extra ginger flavor in your tea.
– Let the syrup chill in the fridge.
– Dilute the syrup with water to drink.