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What is Walovi? Erling Haaland-promoted Chinese herbal drink with 200 years of history
The Norwegian footballer has brought the drink into the spotlight – but what exactly are the benefits of this nearly 200-year-old brand?
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Anyone dialled into the Fifa World Cup 2026 tournament has likely seen on social media the viral advertisements featuring Norway striker Erling Haaland promoting a popular Chinese herbal drink.
The advert translates the traditional idea of yit hei (also written as yeet hay), or internal heatiness, into a visual joke, with Haaland breathing fire before cooling down with a sip of Walovi. It pitches the Chinese herbal tea as the perfect refreshment, whether one is sweating over a bubbling hotpot or a tense game of football.
Haaland, who has become one of the brand’s global ambassadors, may have introduced it to many viewers as a football-season meme, but behind the catchy advertisement is a nearly 200-year-old brand based on the traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) concept of leung cha, or cooling teas.
In TCM, the body is thought to accumulate excess internal heat from eating fried, greasy or spicy foods, staying up late or stress. Symptoms of this “internal heat” include a sore throat, mouth ulcers, acne or indigestion, and cooling teas such as Walovi are supposedly formulated to restore this balance to the body.
What is the history behind Walovi?
Walovi appears under different names depending on the market: in Hong Kong, the brand is known as Wong Lo Kat in Cantonese, while mainland Chinese consumers know it as Wanglaoji in Mandarin.
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