[citation needed] The quality of a savoury soup is determined mainly by its fragrance and umami or "xian" flavour, as well as, to a lesser extent, its mouthfeel.

[citation needed] Many soups are eaten and drunk as much for their flavour as for their health benefits and touted for their purported revitalizing or invigorating effects.

Many soups are consumed as a partial restorative and heavily linked with theories from traditional Chinese medicine.

There are several basic traditional soup stocks in Chinese cuisine:[2] Ingredients used in making Chinese stocks can be recooked again to produce a thinner broth with less intense flavours, known as ertang (二汤; 二湯; èr tāng; 'second soup').

Collectively known as dashi, most Japanese soup bases are flavoured primarily with kombu (kelp) and shavings from dried skipjack tuna (katsuobushi).

Although the literal definition is meaty water, yuksu can be used to include broth made by vegetable equivalent.

In Indonesian cuisine, there are numbers of traditional soup-bases to create kuah (soup or stock); either acquired from vegetables, spices, meat or bones.

The most commonly used herbs, which are believed to be mildly invigorating, restorative, or immune-stimulating in nature, include wild yam (Dioscorea polystachya), Astragalus membranaceus, Codonopsis pilosula, Angelica sinensis, wolfberry, and jujube.