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Tea out of China has a long history. Over the past thousands of years, the technology of tea cultivation has been continuously improved, and the methods of tea preparation have also changed several times, mainly including five kinds of tea: eating tea, sencha, ordering tea, boiling tea, and making tea. In this issue, let's experience the different tea preparation methods of the predecessors.
Tea is used
Legend has it that Shennong used tea to detoxify, reflecting the ancestors' understanding of tea.
In addition to medicinal use, tea is also used for food and drink, or cooked directly, or boiled with spices such as green onions, ginger, orange peel, and mint. The remains of tea unearthed from the tombs of the Warring States period in Zoucheng, Shandong Province and the 3rd-4th century cemeteries in the Ali area are examples of the way tea was eaten and drunk at that time.
Sencha floating beads
The sencha method flourished in the Tang Dynasty.
The main processes of sencha are:
Burning tea: Grilling cake tea, drying water, roasting out the tea aroma, and then temporarily stored in paper sacs;
Tea grinding: Wait for the tea to cool and crush the tea;
Luo tea: Sieve tea with a fine net to obtain tea powder;
Sencha: Sencha is boiled in water with a wind stove and a kettle, and it needs to be boiled three times:
In the first boiling, small bubbles like fish's eyes grow in the water, and there is a slight sound of boiling water. Add an appropriate amount of salt to taste at this time;
In the second boiling, the bubbles at the edge of the water are like springs. At this time, scoop out a scoop of hot water and store it in the cooked bowl, take the tea powder and put it into the center of boiling water with tea, stir the soup with bamboo, and set aside;
The third boiling, the water in the pot is like a rising wave. At this time, the tea soup made of two boiling water is poured into the tea pot to slow down the boiling, which is called Yuhua.
After boiling three times, divide the tea soup into a tea cup and drink.
Order tea into a painting
The method of ordering tea appeared in the late Tang Dynasty and was popular in the Song and Yuan dynasties. The action of pouring boiling water into a tea cup with a pot is called a "point", and its technique directly affects the color and form of the tea soup.
The steps of the tea ordering method mainly include:
Broken tea: wrap tea cakes in paper and hammer them;
Tea milling: Grinding or grinding tea into minced tea;
Luo tea: use Luo Sieve tea to obtain delicate tea powder, and place it in the tea box;
Tea: Throw the end of the tea into the cup, pour a small amount of water into the pot to make a paste, add water, and whisk with a tea whisk or teaspoon to make it blend.
Drinking tea: Set the tea cup on the saucer to drink.
The "Tea Preparation Picture" and "Tea Eating Picture" of the Southern Song Dynasty "Five Hundred Arhats" now in Daitokuji Temple in Kyoto, Japan clearly depict the wind stove, charcoal clamp, tea mill, tea mill, tea end box, soup bottle, tea whisk, black glaze cup, red lacquer cup and other tea utensils, vividly reproducing the tea scene of the monks in the Jiangnan area of the Southern Song Dynasty.
Boiled tea and drink
From the Yuan Dynasty to the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the popular method of boiling tea, people put loose tea into the Ding, kettle and other containers to cook, the water boils and stops, no need to season, the Yuan people call it "clear tea". This method eliminates the cumbersome steps such as grinding tea and sifting, and is quite popular with literati, and there is often a sentence of "cooking tea buds" in poems and loose songs. Since then, drinking loose tea has gradually become fashionable.
Brew tea and watch the leaves
The method of directly brewing loose tea has been popular since the middle of the Ming Dynasty. The thousand-year-old tea affair has been simplified. Tea in the water, stretching and floating, streamers swaying. The color of the soup, the shape of the leaves, and the taste of the tea are all one, and the beauty comes from nature.
After reading the tea preparation methods of the ancients, which one do you like the most?Welcome to leave a message in the comment area, and we will talk about the evolution of tea sets in the next issue.