Chapter 8 【Tea Ceremony】

There are three main ways of drinking tea in modern times: One is the bowl-covered style, which is the most important way of drinking tea in modern times. From the court, the palace, to the people, tea is drunk from a bowl covered with a bowl. Leng Mei’s picture of appreciating the moon by the painter Leng Mei during the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty is the most representative of this way of drinking tea. The second is the tea lady style. Since ancient times, the most important way of drinking tea among the people is to brew and drink in a large teapot. The picture of Taiping Spring City painted by the painter Ding Guanpeng during the Qianlong period can best represent this way of drinking tea.

The third method of drinking tea is the Kung Fu tea method, which is mainly popular in southern Fujian and Guangdong.This method of drinking tea evolved from the Lu Yu Tea Classics of the Tang Dynasty. When drinking tea, first store spring water in a teapot, place it on the oven to boil the water, wait until the water boils, put Wuyi rock tea into the Yixing pot, and use water to boil the tea. After flushing, cover the lid, pour hot water on the body of the pot, and then pour it out to drink.The characteristic of this tea drinking method is to pour water on the body of the pot, the purpose is to bring out the tea's nature, and later use warm and moist brewing to stimulate both inside and outside.

"Kung Fu Tea" Kungfu tea originated in the Song Dynasty and was popular in the present-day Chaoshan area of ​​Guangdong and the Zhangzhou and Quanzhou areas of Fujian. Gongfu tea is made with exquisite utensils, unique brewing techniques, and exquisite drinking procedures.This is not only a pastime and enjoyment for them after work and dinner, but also a tool for their communication and an important means of welcoming and respecting guests.The tea set of Gongfu tea is small and exquisite, very elegant.A set of tea sets is generally one pot with three cups, but there are also two cups and four cups.Spring water and well water are the best for making tea.Gongfu tea is made from oolong teas such as Tieguanyin, Narcissus and Phoenix.Oolong tea is half-fermented tea between red tea and green tea. Only this kind of tea can produce the color, fragrance and flavor required by Gongfu tea.

When brewing, first boil the water and then make the tea.When flushing, you must master the following essentials, namely: high flushing, low sprinkling, foaming, pouring, beaker hot pot, clarification, etc.Kungfu tea is known for its high concentration. It seems bitter at first drink, but after getting used to it, other teas are not tasty enough. The standard Kungfu tea art includes back fire, shrimp whisker water (water that has just been boiled), poking tea, filling tea, scalding cups, hot pot (pot), high brewing, low pouring, and lid foam (the pot lid will float on the Wipe off the foam on the top), pour ten methods on the top.Chaoshan Kungfu tea usually has four hosts and guests, and the host personally handles it.First, light the fire to boil the water, and put the tea leaves into the brewing tank, the amount should account for 70% of its volume.After the water is boiled, pour it into the flushing tank and cover it with foam.The first cup is to pour the first brewed tea into the cup, the purpose is to create the spirit of the tea, the atmosphere of the spirit and charm.After washing the tea, pour it into the shrimp whisker water. At this time, the tea leaves have been soaked, and the taste and taste are all developed, so you can pour tea.

When pouring tea, the four teacups are surrounded together, and the cans are used to shuttle between the four cups until each cup is 70% full.At this time, the tea in the pot should also be closed and poured out, and the rest of the tea needs to be poured into the four cups one by one.Chaoshan people call this process as Guan Gong patrolling the city and Han Xin calling troops.The amount of tea in the four cups must be even and the same color, which is the best work.Finally, the host presents the poured tea in front of the guests with both hands in order of elder and younger. First respect the chief, then left and right guests, and himself last.