How much did the ancients pay attention to making tea around the stove?
Surrounded by a tea stove with friends, in the scent of tea, the body and mind are comforted, and it is also elegant.
But if you can learn more about this cultural custom originated from the ancients, it will not only be arty, but you can really experience the fun of "making tea around the stove".
Brewing tea is actually not a new form, as it is recorded in Lu Yu's "The Classic of Tea". Lu Yu's method of brewing tea pays attention to skill and taste, and requires tea, water, fire and utensils to be indispensable.
Let's talk about the exquisiteness of the ancients from four aspects: water, tea, fire, and utensils.
What water to use to make tea
I believe that many people's impression of the ancients paying attention to "water" in making tea come from "Dream of Red Mansions". Miaoyu collected the snow water from the plum for making tea, which shocked us very much, it turns out that this is how the rich live.
So is this just an excess of the rich's life, or is it really necessary?
The influence of water quality on tea must be certain, and the "The Classic of Tea" has demonstrated this: "The water is used in mountains and rivers, in rivers, and in wells.
Mountain water is clean and refreshing, with a touch of mineral sweetness. After this water is fully boiled with tea leaves, the tea soup will be clear and sweet, and the sweetness will not decrease after a long time of cooking.
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What kind of tea to choose for brewing
In the Tang and Song dynasties, it was common to make tea. The method was to grind the tea leaves into powder to make tea balls. When drinking, mash the tea, add onion, ginger, orange peel, mint, jujube and salt and other seasonings to cook together. In addition, the tea leaves are ground into fine powder and finely divided, and then mixed with water to make a paste for drinking, so it is called "eating tea".
The ancients usually used powder to make tea, but our modern people mainly use dry tea, so there are not many things the ancients can learn from in terms of tea selection.
In this regard, the experience of old tea friends can be used. Generally, older and fully fermented teas are more suitable for boiling, such as cooked Pu’er, black tea, aged Tieguanyin, aged white tea, aged rock tea, etc.
These teas have lost their original greenness and coldness due to long-term processing or time-consuming processing, and the tea nature tends to be warm. This kind of tea will not be too bitter to taste after cooking, and the warm tea is perfect for dispelling cold.
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What is the significance of "fire"
The ancients paid attention to the "fire" in making tea, which is mainly reflected in the charcoal used to make the fire and the heat when making tea.
Xu Ciyu in the Ming Dynasty said in "Tea Shu": "Fire must be based on hard charcoal." Therefore, lychee wood, longan wood, and olive charcoal are all good choices. Charcoal made of lychee wood and longan wood will have a faint fruity aroma. Olive charcoal has a stable flame and is most suitable for slow cooking.
In terms of fire, Lu Yu was the first to propose three boiling water: "It boils like a fish's eyes, with a slight sound, which is the first boil. The edge is like a gushing spring, which is the second boil. Rising waves and drums, is the third boil."
After the third boil, the water has been boiled and the taste is bad, so it is not drinkable. Therefore, during the third boiling, the ancients usually added the ladle of water scooped out during the "second boiling" to temporarily stop the boiling, so that the tea soup was considered ready.
The time of boiling tea is very important, if the boiling time is too long, the tea soup will be very bitter. Normally, 3 to 5 minutes is enough.
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What utensils to cook
There are two utensils for making tea, a stove for lighting a fire and a pot for making tea.
"The Classic of Tea" specifically introduces the stove for making fire, and the wind stove was used at that time. Its shape has three legs, and there is a hall in the furnace where charcoal fire can be placed. There are three holes in the lower abdomen of the furnace body for ventilation; There is an iron one below for receiving charcoal ash. The basic shape is similar to the current stove for making tea.
Nowadays, small red clay stoves are widely used, and of course stone stoves and magnetic stoves are also available.
In terms of pots for boiling tea, clay pots are a better choice. The clay pot itself has an adsorption effect, which can purify the water to a certain extent, making the tea taste smoother and delicate in the mouth, and it can also wake up the taste of tea and enhance the fragrance of tea. But relatively speaking, the speed of water boiling will be slightly slower.
After reading the "exquisiteness" of the ancients above, have you gained anything?
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