Talking TCM: Nin Jiom Pei Pa Koa Lubes You Up for Beijing's Dry Winter

Winter is coming ... and so is Beijing’s signature dryness.

During winter, our bodies are more vulnerable to catching a cold, suffering from sore throats, coughing, and general malaise. Nothing makes a foreign country feel more foreign than being ill and not finding the remedies that one counts on to feel better. 

Feel better and more local by trying some effective local medicines to cure what ails you.

One popular cough medicine is Nin Jiom Pei Pa Koa (京都念慈庵蜜炼川贝枇杷膏). A sore throat syrup made of natural Chinese herbs, it's formulated to treat coughs, hoarseness and loss of voice. Although it pours slower than molasses and appears daunting to the first-time buyer, it has a pleasant honey and fruity flavor. It can be taken directly or stirred into a glass of hot water and drunk that way.

The major ingredients include: loquat leaf, fritillary, four-leaf ladybell root, bitter apricot seed, licorice root, platycodon root, tuckahoe, and fresh ginger, honey and syrup. Maybe it's better not to read the ingredients since we don't know what some of those things are.

Nin Jiom Pei Pa Koa can be taken three times daily with a dose of one tablespoon for adults. Dosage should be reduced for children. The medicine can be purchased over the counter at most major pharmacies around Beijing, for about RMB 23 per bottle.

Upset stomach? Find a remedy here.

Photo: Clemence Jiang