Drink in Focus: Five Flower Tea at Clan & Company

“Five Flower Tea felt like the natural place to start,” Mak says, “It was one of the first cocktails we ever created with herbal tea, and honestly, it still feels like the most honest expression of what we’re trying to do.”

The drink was first conceived in 2021 when Mak and his team launched the Magnolia Lab liqueur line, which celebrates local ingredients turned into liquor, such as roselle and magnolia. “We already knew herbal tea would pair beautifully with our liqueurs,” Mak remembers. “They come from the same family of herbs and both carry a deep Hong Kong history.”

Also fittingly, the cocktail comprises five ingredients. A local gin underpins the drink, to which both Magnolia Lab Magnolia and Roselle are added, along with a market-sourced pre-made five flower tea and Cynar. “We use a ready-to-drink five flower tea from the market,” Mak says. “We want the drink to connect with people’s real memories. Most Hongkongers grew up with this exact taste. The tea grounds the drink, the liqueurs elevate it.”

The mixture is precisely pre-batched and charged with a soda siphon, then served on the rocks via a Clan & Company herbal tea bowl with a chrysanthemum bud garnish for extra aroma. It is essentially a nostalgic herbal flavour presented with a fizzy and refreshing texture.

The environment in which the Five Flower Tea is presented is just as key to Mak’s vision. Clan & Company was conceived as a physical space where people can connect at a table, much like the city’s cha chaan teng culture. To that end, the team works with Tai On Coffee and Tea, which was taken over and refurbished in 2022. During the day, espresso drinks are served alongside traditional pastries and dishes before Clan & Co. Lounge takes over in the evening – all in an interior inspired by the original Tai On, which opened in 1969.