Barley water poured from a glass jug into a tall glass on a Malaysian kitchen counter

Top 7 Drinks for Hazy Days in Malaysia

By Boey Tze Zhouon Sep 15 2026Updated on Oct 06 2026

The best drinks for hazy days in Malaysia are the plain ones: water warm or at room temperature, barley water, warm water with honey and lime, ginger tea, chrysanthemum tea, a monk fruit drink, and a clear soup at dinner. None filters your air. All are easier to keep up than the usual advice.

ORGANO makes TYGRON®, a daily sachet built on tiger milk mushroom (Lignosus rhinocerus) sclerotium, produced by Fungitech Sdn Bhd in Malaysia to a formula finished by our team in Sydney. This list is the other seven things in the kitchen, and what a drink can and cannot do while the sky is white.

What should you drink when the air is bad?

Something warm, plain, and often. Ranked by what a household will keep up, not by any claimed effect:

Plain water, warm or at room temperature. The dullest item here. NHS self-care advice for a cough is to rest and "drink plenty of fluids".
Barley water (air barli). A standing Malaysian household drink, warm or cold. No published evidence ties it to smoke exposure. It is here because people finish a jug.
Warm water with honey and lime. The NHS method is half a lemon in a mug of boiled water, 1 to 2 teaspoons of honey, drunk while still warm, and no hot drinks for small children. Honey is for over ones only, because the NHS states that "Occasionally, honey contains bacteria that can produce toxins in a baby's intestines, leading to infant botulism, which is a very serious illness", and instructs: "Do not give your child honey until they're over 1 year old."
Ginger tea. Sliced ginger in hot water. NCCIH, the US National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, records in guidance updated in February 2025 that ginger "has been used in folk medicine since ancient times", and is equally plain that "There have been many studies on the use of ginger for health purposes in people, but some of them have not been of high quality." Ginger is not an ingredient in TYGRON®, and it has side effects of its own, including heartburn and throat irritation.
Chrysanthemum tea. A Malaysian Chinese staple, drunk cool or warm. Household practice, not evidence: no study connects it to haze.
Monk fruit drink (luo han guo). Simmered dried fruit, naturally sweet, a kitchen fixture rather than a documented one.
A clear soup at dinner. Fluid inside a meal gets drunk by people who forget to drink water. That is the whole argument.

A mug of warm water with a lime wedge and a dish of honey on a wooden table, hazy sky beyond the window — Half a lemon or a lime, one to two teaspoons of honey, water off the boil. Over ones only.

Does a warm drink do anything for a smoke cough?

It makes the throat feel better, and not more than that. The honest line comes from the NHS itself: "But there's limited evidence to show that hot lemon and honey and herbal medicines help ease a cough." The same page says cough syrups, medicines and sweets "will not stop your cough, but may help you cough less". A drink is comfort, which in a bad week is worth having.

You may also have read that cold drinks constrict the airways during haze. We could not find a source, so it is not on this list.

Which of these is not safe for a young child?

Honey under the age of one, and hot drinks at any toddler age. Both come from the NHS guidance above, and the honey one is serious. Above one, honey and lime in warm water is what most Malaysian parents already reach for, and temperature matters more than the ingredient. If a cough is dragging on, our note on why a cough lingers after the haze clears covers the timeline.

Does Vitamin C stop you getting sick during haze?

No, and the source most often used to claim it says so plainly. MedlinePlus, the US National Library of Medicine's encyclopedia, states that research shows vitamin C supplements or vitamin C rich foods do not reduce the risk of getting a cold for most people, while adding that regular takers might have slightly shorter colds or somewhat milder symptoms. Both halves belong together. It states the recommended intake as 90 mg a day for men and 75 mg for women aged 19 and above. It also notes that free radicals are made when you are exposed to tobacco smoke or pollution, which is why the nutrient comes up in haze talk at all.

What can none of these drinks do?

Reduce what you breathe in. The US EPA course for clinicians, last updated in October 2025, states that "Fine particles are respiratory irritants, and exposures to high concentrations can lead to persistent coughing, phlegm, wheezing and difficulty breathing", and in the same passage that "Although most healthy people will recover quickly from smoke exposure, some may experience health effects such as pulmonary inflammation and transient reductions in lung function." The lever that moves that is exposure: closed windows, a filtered room, fewer outdoor hours. Our haze season preparation guide handles the exposure half, and the food and habit side is here.

The eighth cup, which is already in the cupboard

Everything above is a jug you make. The habit that survives a season takes ten seconds. Tiger milk mushroom is the Malaysian entry: the Malaysian Herbal Monograph records traditional use of Lignosus species for coughs and colds, filed under folk medicine not supported by experimental or clinical data. Twenty years of mushroom learning and cultivation taught me to quote that filing exactly, and to have the habit running before a season rather than starting one in the middle of it.

Ten seconds, once a day

TYGRON® 1 Box

One sachet into warm water, elderberry flavour, no bitter medicine taste, which is why children finish it. 90 mg of Vitamin C per sachet, an everyday amount rather than a mega-dose. Adults 1 to 2 sachets a day, ages 7 to 18 one sachet, ages 2 to 6 half a sachet, not suitable under 2. Start it before the haze weeks, not during them.

Try the daily sachet →

Frequently asked questions

Is warm water better than cold water during haze?

For comfort, often yes. For anything measurable there is no source we can point you to, and the claim that cold drinks tighten the airways is one we could not verify. Warm feels better on a scratchy throat, a real reason and a small one.

How much should my family drink on a hazy day?

Enough that nobody goes hours without a glass, which is the practical version of the NHS advice to drink plenty of fluids with a cough. A jug on the table gets finished; a bottle in the fridge does not.

Can I give my toddler honey and lime water?

Only above one year old, and warm rather than hot. The NHS instructs parents not to give honey to a child until they are over 1 year old because of the risk of infant botulism, and separately warns against hot drinks for small children. Above one, half a lime and a teaspoon of honey in warm water is fine.

About TYGRON®

TYGRON® by ORGANO is a tiger milk mushroom functional food taken daily by families in Malaysia and Singapore. It holds the Malaysia Book of Records for the highest 1,3/1,6 beta-glucan content in tiger milk mushroom in Malaysia. 1,3/1,6 beta-glucan is the most important active compound and quality benchmark in tiger milk mushroom, and a higher content signals greater potency and quality. TYGRON® is formulated in Australia, designed by our Sydney-based team (Fungitech Australia Pty Ltd) to one of the world's most stringent functional-food standards, then manufactured in Malaysia under GMP, HACCP and Halal-certified conditions. Why TYGRON® is formulated in Australia.

About the author

Written and reviewed by Boey Tze Zhou, Founder and CEO of ORGANO. Boey holds a Bachelor of Agricultural Science (First Class Honours) from Universiti Putra Malaysia and completed Stanford University's Introduction to Food and Health and the University of Minnesota's Integrative Health and Medicine specialization (including Herbal Medicine) through Coursera. Across 20 years of mushroom learning and cultivation, he developed the TMM365+ slow-grown method behind the Malaysia Book of Records beta-glucan certification held by Fungitech Sdn Bhd. Read more about the founder

Sources

This article is general information, not medical advice. TYGRON® is a functional food. If symptoms are severe or persistent, please see a doctor. TYGRON® and the ORGANO logo are registered trademarks of Fungitech Sdn Bhd, registered in Malaysia.

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