COMPANY PROFILE
Pat Poh Herbal Drink
PAT POH Herbal Tea is Penang's most popular herbal drink. Pat poh, literally means "eight treasures" in Chinese, and the drink gets its name from the eight herbs used in its concoction. It was created by a Hainanese immigrant during the pre-Independence days.
"My late father in-law, Loy Boon Jar, loved to study Chinese herbs, and experimented with various herbs before coming up with the pat poh recipe. He first went to Singapore to help his brother as a butcher, but did not like the work and moved to Penang to set up a canteen with some Hainanese clansmen," recounts Chan Pheng Lai.
Loy's main ingredient - xia ku cao or selfheal (prunella vulgaris) - is a traditional remedy for relieving cough, eliminating phlegm, dispelling "lung-heat" and detoxification. The other seven ingredients in Loy's pat poh recipe are menthol, licorice root, mandarin orange peel, honey, cinnamon, brown sugar and mulberry leaves.
As his drink become more popular, Loy started producing bottles of pat poh concentrate from his backyard factory at Perak Road for distribution and sale at his friend' canteens.
"The herbs were extracted the old way using a kerosene burner over a copper pot, which was later changed to a stainless steel pot," explains Chan, whose family was operating a secondhand car business at the same premises where he met and married Loy's only daughter.
In 1965, Loy registered his pat poh cordial business under the name Sit Sian Aik Sdn Bhd. He also mass-produced other drink concentrates including chrysanthemum, rose, nutmeg, pineapple, grape, lo han kor, sarsi, lemon and plum. After Loy's death in 1978, his wife took over until 1994, when Chan was roped in to run the family business.
Their company logo of a Chinese pavilion was however only registered in 1998, while the name pat poh was patented in 1999.
Until Chan took over and modernised the operations with automated machines, the pat poh concentrate was made by manually stirring it over the fire, and bottled in recycled Guiness stout bottles, "From 1,000 bottles in three days, we are now producing 5,000 bottles every two days," says Chan.
"Eight Treasures" herbal packets for home preparation can now be found in most Chinese medical halls around Malaysia.