Wedang Secang

Wedang Secang is a traditional beverage from Indonesia, specifically from Central Java. In the past, it was the drink of the Javanese Royal Family, but nowadays Secang is available in many places for everybody. In several traditional market, like Pasar Beringharjo Yogyakarta, we can find it in the herbal corner as a dry herbal. In several supermarket, it even comes in a instant sachet package, likr in a tea bag. The easinest to find the different form of Wedang Secang have made it's the popularity rise again, after it was almost forgotten.

What is Secang? Secang is actually a herbal tree which grow in a tropical country espescially in an open space up to 1000m above the sea. It's latin name is Caesalpia sappan L. and belong to the Caesalpiniaceae familia. To make the beverages, we need the wood of the tree. First the wood need to peel from its skin, then copped into small pieces and then dried. The copped wood is then combine with other herbal to make the beverage.

To make the beverage: boil 100 grams of Secang, 100 grams of ginger (red ginger if possible), 2 pieces of lemongrass, 10 grams of cinamon, 5 grams of cloaves in 2 litres of water until the water boils and the color change to reddish. Add 200 grams of sugar and it is ready to be enjoyed in hot. The taste is a combination of hot, fress, and spicy. This is a good beverage to remove the cold from your body.

It is believe that secang is an herbal that can cure diare, disentry, TBC, infection, siphillys, dirty blood, blood vomit, malaria, tetanus, tumor, etc. The wood contains gallic acid, tanin, resin, resorsin, brasilin, brasilein, d-alfaphellandrene, oscimene and aetheric oil while the leaves contain 0.16 - 0.2 % of nice smelling and almost uncolored aetheric acid. If you are interested to try the original Wedang Secang don't forget to ask your hotel to provide it for you when you come to Yogyakarta, Indonesia.