For centuries, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) was practiced with ritual and patience: dried roots and peels were weighed from wooden drawers, brought home and slowly boiled into a bitter brew whenever the body required healing.

Today, it can be ordered iced and sipped on the commute.

On Chengdu’s bustling Chunxi Road, a long established commercial district in southwest China’s Sichuan Province, an unexpected cup of coffee is reshaping perceptions. “It tastes like regular coffee at first,” said Shazia, a Pakistani student in China. “But there’s a light, lemony note at the end.”

The drink, a dried tangerine peel and hawthorn Americano, comes from Tong Ren Tang, a renowned traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) pharmacy with more than 350 years of history.

For many visitors, the combination can seem puzzling. Why are coffee, bread and trendy tea drinks in China increasingly blended with medicinal ingredients? The shift reflects not a return to traditional treatments but changing attitudes toward health and everyday consumption.

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Founded in 1669, Tong Ren Tang has expanded beyond clinical medicine into lifestyle retail. Through its youth-focused sub-brand, Zhima Health, it now offers coffee, tea, baked goods and bottled “wellness waters,” incorporating familiar herbs into modern café settings.

The menu features items such as goji berry lattes and monk fruit Americanos. These products fall under China’s concept of “medicinal and edible homology,” where certain herbs are considered food ingredients that provide mild nourishment rather than treatment.

Modern store designs and familiar flavors reduce resistance to traditional medicine. For many young consumers, the appeal lies less in proven effects than in reassurance. Health becomes a low-effort daily ritual, woven into coffee breaks and meals, as TCM finds a new role in fast-paced urban life.