Tea in China
Last night, I was drinking some tea before went to bed. Then I remember my last year trip to Yunnan, a province where nearly half of the 56 Chinese ethnic Minority living. When we visit Bai village in Dali, they hold there special Three-Course Tea ceremony to welcome us. Very interesting one.
This ceremony was originally held by the senior members of a family to express best wishes to juniors when they were going to pursue studies, learn a skill, start a business ，get married or whatever important step towards future. Now, it has become a conventional ceremony when the Bai ethnic minority greet guests (of course, things will be much less meaningful when tradition go with the commercial, that what I thought) .
In the past, the ceremony was normally conducted by the senior family members, but now the juniors ( usually, young beautiful girls) can also take charge of the whole procedure and offer tea to guests. In Three-Course Tea, the brewing techniques and materials used in each course are different from each other. The singing and dancing go along with the whole performance.
The first course of tea is called bitter tea, meaning that one will suffer a lot before she/he starts his or her career. The second course of tea is called sweet tea. After serving the first course, the host will empty the pot and repeat the procedure right from the beginning. This time, the host will add brown sugar and Chinese cinnamon into the cup. (I was doubt the after the first bitter one, even without the sugar, the second one will taste good) The third course of tea is called aftertaste tea. The same procedure, but materials change to honey, popcorn, Bunge prickly ash, and walnut kernel. When drinking this course of tea, we should shake the cup to mix up all those materials and then drink the tea up while it is hot. we will find flavor of sweet, sour, bitter, and pungent in the tea which reminds the taster of bitter comes first, sweet comes second. (that’s what they told me, actually, the taste is too mix to tell, just little)
This ceremony was originally held by the senior members of a family to express best wishes to juniors when they were going to pursue studies, learn a skill, start a business ，get married or whatever important step towards future. Now, it has become a conventional ceremony when the Bai ethnic minority greet guests (of course, things will be much less meaningful when tradition go with the commercial, that what I thought) .
In the past, the ceremony was normally conducted by the senior family members, but now the juniors ( usually, young beautiful girls) can also take charge of the whole procedure and offer tea to guests. In Three-Course Tea, the brewing techniques and materials used in each course are different from each other. The singing and dancing go along with the whole performance.
The first course of tea is called bitter tea, meaning that one will suffer a lot before she/he starts his or her career. The second course of tea is called sweet tea. After serving the first course, the host will empty the pot and repeat the procedure right from the beginning. This time, the host will add brown sugar and Chinese cinnamon into the cup. (I was doubt the after the first bitter one, even without the sugar, the second one will taste good) The third course of tea is called aftertaste tea. The same procedure, but materials change to honey, popcorn, Bunge prickly ash, and walnut kernel. When drinking this course of tea, we should shake the cup to mix up all those materials and then drink the tea up while it is hot. we will find flavor of sweet, sour, bitter, and pungent in the tea which reminds the taster of bitter comes first, sweet comes second. (that’s what they told me, actually, the taste is too mix to tell, just little)
posted by Frisbee | 5:50 PM
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