East Asian Tea Culture
In the long history of drinking tea, China has developed a unique tea culture.
There are the Classic of Tea written by Lu Yu, the tea saint of the Tang Dynasty, and Biluochun named by Qianlong.
In addition to paying attention to the harvest season and origin of tea, such as Longjing before the rain, Chinese tea art also pays attention to the selection of water source, water temperature and tea sets, such as purple teapots.Due to the differences in climate, geography, cultural environment and customs, the way of drinking tea varies greatly among different parts of China.
People in Chaoshan and Fujian provinces like to drink "Congou tea", usually made with oolong tea in a small teapot. Gongfu tea is famous for its various steps in making tea. Congou tea is also a representative of Chinese tea art.
Congou tea first involves boiling the teapot and teacups in hot water to raise the temperature of the tea set. Then put some oolong tea into the teapot, about a quarter of the volume of tea leaves. Then use boiling water to brew, and pour out, called wash tea. Pour in boiling water. When brewing, the kettle moves up and down, called Phoenix three nods, and then whisks away the end of the tea with the lid, called spring breeze stroke. Pour tea, there are two ways, one way is to use the tea directly into the cup in the method, through the duke guan city tour (when the teapot with the tea is poured into a circle) in the cup, and han xin point soldier (just put the rest of the tea, a few drops is poured into a circle) in the cup, make tea can evenly distributed to every one of us. Another way is to pour the tea that has been brewed several times into a tea cup and mix it well in the cup before distributing it to everyone.
Gongfu tea should be the best of Chaozhou Congou tea, the steps are divided into infuser, tea, hou soup, pouring point, scraping foam, pouring pot, sprinkling tea, and special utensils, the tea can be particularly fragrant. Chaozhou people drink most of the tea produced in Fenghuang Mountain chaozhou single fir tea
People in the Yangtze River basin generally like to drink green tea, and the first brewing water is called washing tea, because the tea is polluted by impurities in the production process, and the tea is not completely soaked, so the first brewing water is usually poured out; The focus is on the second tea, the second tea can restore the original taste of tea, good color, good taste; The third brew of tea, light taste, more than the second bubble to light, so there is "the first bubble do not rob, two bubbles do not let" said. Green tea has the effect of fire, and water quality requirements are also very high, the same tea in different water temperature and different water quality under the taste of different. Tea leaves are usually poured after water, and the water temperature is 80 degrees Celsius. Anhui, Zhejiang, Jiangsu and other regions are the main production areas.
Northerners prefer the aroma of jasmine, bubble a big cup of jasmine tea, see the tea leaves in brewing slowly stretch, a jasmine fragrance with the continuous heat drift open. In summer, jasmine tea can be cooled and drunk to relieve the heat. In the past, in the streets of Beijing, there were tea stalls selling large tea bowls. They poured a lot of tea into a kettle and sold it in a big bowl. It was a cheap drink in the streets. Now, taxi drivers in Beijing like to carry jasmine tea in a big, mouthwatering bottle with a lid on it. It tastes strong all day.
Tea brews are usually carved with pumpkin or papaya, soaked in sugar and baked in the sun. Drink tea with boiling water into the cup. They are mainly square, round and other shapes, with traditional Chinese patterns carved in the middle, such as "fu" and Japanese Teapot "shou". Some even can carve the whole melon body into an integrated hollow vase and make it into tea bubbles. Mainly in lingnan region.
Beans of tea
In some places in Hunan, there is bean tea made with fried soybeans, sesame seeds, shredded ginger, salt and Lao qing tea.
Tea culture was introduced from China to Japan with Buddhism in the 9th century, and has been inherited and developed in Japan.
Japanese culture is also very particular about making tea, and the way of drinking tea has become an important etiquette in Japanese tradition.
The Japanese way of making tea, which originated from the Tang Dynasty, is different from the modern way of making tea in China. The steam of picked tea leaves is degreen, then dried and ground to make matcha tea. Due to the large surface area and large surface tension of tea powder, it is easy to float on the water, so it must be stirred with a special bamboo tea broom when brewing, so that it sinks into the water, and then the tea liquid is scooped out and drunk with bamboo scoops. Due to the complexity of tea brewing procedures, gradually evolved a set of ceremonies, the formation of various schools of Japanese tea ceremony.
In addition to sencha, which is based on green tea, Japanese people drink sencha, which is mixed with green tea and fried rice, and mai tea, which is mixed with wheat.
After China, North Korea has the longest history of tea drinking, with its own tradition of tea ceremony and tea drinking utensils.
Nomadic areas in Tibet like to drink brick tea. First, break the brick tea, put it in the kettle, add water and boil it for a few minutes, then add salt and milk, goat's milk or ghee to make ghee tea. Chopped walnuts are also used in some areas. Milk tea can help digestion, so herdsmen have the habit of having three teas and one meal a day. Every morning, housewives prepare milk tea.
Like Tibet, Mongolia enjoys drinking brick tea. First break the brick tea, put it in the kettle, add water and boil it for a few minutes, stir it until the tea is bright, and then add salt and milk to make milk tea. It is similar to English black tea. Served with milk rinds, milk curd and various refreshments. Milk tea is an important means of keeping warm in cold pastoral areas, so herdsmen have the habit of having three teas and one meal a day. Every morning, housewives prepare milk tea.
