My grandmother kept a tin of chrysanthemum tea in the same cabinet for as long as I can remember, and she'd always say the same thing when she poured it: "this is older than tea itself." I used to think that was just something grandmothers say. Turns out she wasn't far off. People in China were steeping chrysanthemum blossoms centuries before anyone wrote down a formal recipe for green tea as we'd recognize it today.
Chrysanthemum tea's story runs through poets, festivals, and one very specific autumn holiday that's still celebrated today. Here's where it actually comes from.
The flower's ancient roots
Chrysanthemums are native to China, and records of the plant go back remarkably far. According to cultural and historical sources, the flower was recorded in Chinese texts as early as the 5th century BC, long before it became associated with tea drinking in the form we know now (source). For much of its early history, the plant was prized for its beauty and its place in traditional medicine before it became a household beverage.
The poet who made chrysanthemums fashionable
If one person deserves credit for turning chrysanthemums into a cultural obsession, it's Tao Yuanming, a poet of the Jin dynasty who lived from 365 to 427 AD. Tao resigned from government service to live as a recluse and spent much of his retirement cultivating chrysanthemums around his home. His poetry romanticized the flower as a symbol of quiet resilience and integrity, someone who blooms late in the year, in the cold, without needing anyone's approval.
Tao Yuanming became so associated with the flower that centuries of Chinese painters depicted him wandering through his garden admiring chrysanthemums, a scene that shows up again and again in Chinese art well into the Ming dynasty, more than a thousand years after he lived (source).
From wine to tea: the Double Ninth Festival
The practice of drinking chrysanthemum wine and appreciating the flower during the ninth lunar month first appeared during the Wei and Jin dynasties, and by the Tang dynasty (618–907 AD) it had become an officially recognized folk festival known as Chongyang, or the Double Ninth Festival (source). The date falls on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month, a doubling of the number the ancient Chinese I Ching considered the highest yang number, hence "Double Yang."
According to legend, the tradition of climbing a mountain and drinking chrysanthemum wine on this day traces back to a Han dynasty man named Fei Changfang, who warned his disciple Huan Jing of an impending disaster and told him to take his family up a mountain with chrysanthemum wine to protect them. Whether or not the story is literal history, it shows how early the flower was tied to ideas of protection, health, and longevity. Chrysanthemum wine, brewed from the blossoms and glutinous rice wine, was believed to clear heat from the body, support vision, and promote a long life.
Chrysanthemum tea, the caffeine-free infusion of dried blossoms in hot water, grew out of this same tradition as a gentler, everyday alternative to the wine, especially for those who wanted the flower's cooling, calming reputation without the alcohol. The Double Ninth Festival is still observed today, and in 2026 it falls on October 18th (source), with chrysanthemum appreciation, hiking, and tea still part of the celebration in many families.
Kaifeng and the birth of chrysanthemum appreciation as a public event
Centuries later, during the Northern Song dynasty, the city of Kaifeng became the center of organized chrysanthemum culture in China, reportedly hosting the earliest formal chrysanthemum appreciation festival as a public event rather than a private garden pastime. The tradition never really stopped: Kaifeng still holds an annual Chrysanthemum Culture Festival today, and the flower was officially named the city's emblem in 1983 (source).
Traveling beyond China: Korea and beyond
As tea culture spread across East Asia, chrysanthemum tea traveled with it. In Korea, the tradition took root as gukhwacha, a chrysanthemum tea still brewed today, often served slightly sweetened and appreciated for many of the same cooling, calming qualities the Chinese tradition assigned to it centuries earlier.
Why the history still matters for how we drink it today
None of this is just trivia. The reasons chrysanthemum tea is still marketed and consumed today, as something cooling, calming, and associated with clarity, come directly from this centuries-long thread of poetry, festival tradition, and folk medicine. Traditional Chinese medicine's framing of chrysanthemum as a flower that "clears heat" isn't a modern marketing invention; it's a continuation of ideas that were already centuries old by the time the Tang dynasty made the Double Ninth Festival official.
Frequently asked questions
Is chrysanthemum tea older than green tea?
Chrysanthemum cultivation and appreciation in China predates most documented tea-drinking traditions, though the exact point where blossoms were first steeped specifically as a tea (rather than used in wine or medicine) isn't precisely dated. What's well documented is that chrysanthemum's cultural significance as a plant goes back well over two thousand years.
Why is chrysanthemum tea linked to a specific festival?
The Double Ninth Festival, or Chongyang, became the formal, dynasty-recognized occasion for chrysanthemum appreciation starting in the Tang dynasty, building on earlier Wei and Jin dynasty customs. The flower blooms in late autumn, right around the time of the festival, which reinforced the association.
Did people always drink chrysanthemum tea, or was it originally wine?
The earliest documented tradition centers on chrysanthemum wine, not tea. The caffeine-free tea version is generally understood to be a later, gentler adaptation of the same idea: using the blossom's reputed cooling and health-supporting qualities in a form more people could drink every day.
Is gukhwacha the same as Chinese chrysanthemum tea?
They're closely related. Gukhwacha is the Korean adaptation of the same tradition, using the same dried chrysanthemum blossoms, though brewing style and sweetness levels can differ by region and household.
Bringing a very old tradition into a modern cup
It's a strange thing to hold a warm cup of something and realize the tradition behind it outlasted several dynasties. My grandmother's tin of chrysanthemum tea wasn't exaggerating by much. If you want to try the tradition she was talking about, our Chrysanthemum Calm Tea is made from golden chrysanthemum blossoms, naturally caffeine-free, and brewed the same simple way people have been making it for centuries: just hot water and a few minutes of patience.
