Ho Yan Hor

The Ho Yan Hor tea museum which is located at Jalan bukit timah right beside Han Chin Pet Soo museum was built to honour the man  called Dr.Ho Kai Cheong.His father was Ho Sin Leong from China and he came to Malaya and was stationed  in Kati,Kuala Kangsar. 

Therefore Dr.Ho was the first Chinese to be born in Kati. His father runs a kopitiam and that was how he cultivated his interest in tea making.

The museum was the orginal home of Dr Ho who initially rented a room for his family in 1941.After his success, he bought the building and the rest is history.

From the Ho Yan Hor herbal tea business, Ho set up the Ho Yan Hor Medical Hall, later renamed as Ho Yan Hor Sdn Bhd.
Today, it is known as Hovid Bhd, a public listed company.

"At the age of eight his father took him back to China and after six years he returned to Malaya.At 14 he decided to venture on his own telling his father that he no longer wants to work in the kopitiam. "said Ng Chen Yuan, the museum manager.

So he found a job in a Chinese medical hall."He was hardworking and was an avid reader.He learned about Chinese medicine through his books ."

" He managed to open a medical hall at the age of 17 and runs it for a year after which he was called  back to China to join the army .Later he went to Hong Kong and took up medicine at Canton University and graduated in 1940."said Ng.

He came back to Malaya and became a Chinese physician in Malim Nawar. Not long after his stint as a physician, he was caught by the Japanese because they thought that he was a spy for the British. He pleaded stubbornly to the Japanese saying "I am a doctor, not a spy  and my job is to treat the people." So by luck,he was set free.

He ran off to a Malay village and started planting padi in order to hide from the Japanese. He moved to Ipoh after the war and met his wife.At this point,he was totally broke but he had a mentor .

The mentor adviced him to sell his herbal tea on a small scale. With four dollars in his pocket, he started brewing his first pot of tea.Ho sold his tea within an hour.So happy he was, that he started his tea business from 5pm to 10pm and everyday he sold 1,200 cups. Lady luck was on his side and he started making money .Every night his hand shook while counting his money.

Ho was also known as a cycling entrepreneur.He cycled all over  Malaya to sell his tea and it took him three weeks to reach Kuala Lumpur with blisters all over.He made it and took half a year to get back home.

In 1948 he bought his first car, and in 1951 he bought his first Ho Yan Hor van for his business.

The museum shares the amazing stories of the founder and provides the discovery of the origins and evolution of the heritage herbal tea, including the 24 herbs used by Dr Ho to make his herbal Ho yan hor tea.

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