Cha Xiu Bao

LaoShe Teahouse, Beijing

"In the teahouses one could hear the most absurd stories," Lao She (1899-1966) writes of the scene set in one of his best-known works: Teahouse《茶館》.

Since the dawn of the Cultural Revolution, Lao She, one of China's favorite literary sons, or the People's Artist -- as he was commonly hailed by readers -- was incessantly denounced and criticized by the publicity machinery of Chairman Mao's regime. Finally, the curtain fell at the dusk of October 24, 1966. Lao She, aged 67, drowned himself in a Beijing lake, maybe humiliation, maybe dismalness, maybe revulsion and maybe hell after being paraded through streets in chains and banners and beaten up by the Red Guards for more than 6 hours the day before.

Jiang Qing (江青), figurehead of the Cultural Revolution, had this to say of Lao She when asked what badges the writer "counter-revolutionary/reactionary" and why his "reformation" is needed: "he is a capitalistic writer because he eats an egg everyday for breakfast."

40 years on, the teahouse named after that man is said to be one of the most cash-generating teahouses in China.

Chen, Ya R Da SKILLZ!

"Woah woah woah Chen my man, Ya got soul! Wat is that ya just did after da flipwork?"
"Oh tis? Da Black Dragon Fannin' His Tail (烏龍擺尾)."
"And da one before that?"
"Holdin' da Moon in My Arm (懷中抱月)."
"Wat's 2B next?"
"Notchin' Up Step by Step (步步高陞) N da Eagle Spread (大鵬展翅), if U so wish."
"Hold on a sec, lemme take a seat...notchin' wat?"
"See your glass movin' up as I pour?"
"That is smooth, that is Super Bad! N which one is your fave?"
"Got 2 B da dragon, I feeeeeeel good whenever I do it (自我感覺非常好)!"

And they say da Godfather of Soul is gone...

Flower and Tea

They charmed me. That they all did when I saw these Chinese artistic teas, which are also known as blooming teas (hui fa cha, 開花茶) or as simply as art teas, selling in a tea shop called Fook Ming Tong in Hong Kong. Hand-tied with silver needles (a kind of white tea) and natural flower. Lingering in a wine glass, its blossom moves with the natural grace of a ballerina whilst its tea leaves in the base comparable to the weeping willows in the wind -- such soul-capturing beauty is simply beyond words!

As with ming ching long jing (dragon well tea), so with these blooming teas: try to brew it in a large-sized wine glasses, one hand-tied tea 'ball' at a time (to do these heart-throbs justice, I used my newly bought Riedel 'O' Cabernet stemless wine glasses). Gently pour in hot water at about 80℃ (boiling water for green or white tea is always advise against). Allow 2-4 minutes soaking time, you'll see how the tea ball turn from a sleeping beauty to a willowy stunner. Each tea ball can be served up to 3 times. 

Currently the store has 5 different specifications for sale. Each combination of flower and teas has its unique appearance and floral fragrant. The names of them are equally beguiling; there are red flower blossom (globe amaranth, pictured top); jasmine pearl-shaped (jasmine and pearl-shaped chrysanthemum, pictured middle); coral (jasmine and carnation); jasmine chrysanthemum and watery hamper (lily, pictured bottom). Each pack of these comes with about eight to nine blooming tea 'balls' and costs roughly HK$200.

Everybody's Kung Fu Pouring

Black Robe Lane

"...where swallows once sheltered in Wongs and Tses*
they now frequent homes of common people"

                                               -- LAU Yu-sik

*Note: Wongs and Tses, two powerful and affluent clans during the Chin dynasty (278-419).

The greatest thing about the fall of the monarchy in China at the turn of last century, in terms of our culinary enjoyment, is the unveiling of a flurry of court cuisine to the masses. For instance, the kung fu style of pouring tea (倒茶功), once a stunt reserved in courts and palaces to entertain a selected few, was only made known to ordinary people when the tea masters (the swallows) were forced to go about their livings in teahouses (the masses) after aristocracy (Wongs and Tses) was wiped out.

In palaces, the differentiation of labor was diminutive to the level beyond belief. It was very common for a cook to be in charge of cooking his masters only one single dish or one tea master to brew only one kind of tea all his life. Heeding to the "practice makes perfect" dictum, these attendants should be the best in their trade for they're doing their ploys day in and day out. In fact, they'd better be: If the food tasted one bit revolting or one drip of tea was spilled over on the ill-tempered ruler's gold-embroidered cloak, they might as well have themselves end up in the gallow.

Showed here are four of the 18 tea-pouring kung fu moves performed by Tea Master Mr. Wu Feng at the Donglaishun of Hong Kong. From left: 1) Eagle Spread; 2) Stream from Mountain's High; 3) Blade on Kwun Yu(note: Chinese God of War)'s Back; and Tale of Dragon's Tail. Please,I beg you, go there in a gang of 18 or more so that you can see all the moves! Or, if you dare, go there by two and order 9 rounds of it. It costs just HK$28 a round.

And, a bonus antic for the double tips you squandered:

The Boney M... without the "Afro" hairdo. Brrrrrrravo!

-- picture from news.sina.com.cn

Wuyi Tea Song 武夷茶歌: The 27 steps to enjoy the Tea of Cliff

Warning: by the sheer number of steps involved, skip this post if Chinese tea doesn't get your juice flowing

But, if you luv Chinese tea like I do you may very well have heard the region Wuyi of China mentioned above, the place where Oolong tea and the Tea of Cliff (so named because the trees are grown on the cliffs of the Wuyi Mountain) come from. It is also the locale where the King of Chinese Tea, Tai Hun Bo, or the legendary Grand Red Rope is produced (but I reckon this is a totally pointless and melancholy claim given that none everywhere and everywhen has a chance to taste a cup of authentic Tai Hun Bo, save those octogenarians of the Communist Party).

The lyrics of The Wuyi Tea Song was written by a tea cognoscente of a monk called Sik Chiu Chuen 釋超全 back in the Qing Dynasty. According to Master Sik, we should serve, or be served the Wuyi tea in these 27 steps in order to enjoy the tea to perfection. I have posted 9 of them (the part on serving the tea) in a previous post quite a while ago. Yet, my friend Lam keeps reminding me that in omitting other parts, I'm not doing the song right. Easy for him to say for he is not the one to succumb to the translation. Trust me, turning all these 27 steps into English is an immense ordeal.

No matter how quixotic the project I'm doing seems like and feels like, the goal is simple: to share with you the art, the skills and the wisdom of Chinese tea culture. That is, indeed, something I'm proud of. Yet, as a translator, I must confess I am of the most impotent kind. Do forgive me if you find the translation sucks. And apart from some translation bummers you may find here or there, I hope that you can discover the four principles of Chinese tea culture out of these 27 steps: "affordable; beautiful; harmonious and respectful (廉、美、和、敬)."

(1) Heartily welcome the guests and let them be seated (恭請上座)：
Warmly welcome the guests and usher them to their seats. The host usually sits facing the south of the room (i.e., face to the entrance) whereas the seat facing west is reserved for the most respected guest, the east lesser and those facing north the humblest (back to the entrance: the most insecure). For Chinese, truthfully, eats and drinks are full of subtlety and politics.

(2)Ignite the incense to purify the soul (焚香静氣)：
To create a harmonious ambiance in the room. Some tea masters do meditation in this step while others take this opportunity to pay homage to the Sage of Tea, Luk Yu.

(3)Silk and bamboo sing in harmony (絲竹和鳴)：
Silk and bamboo, when two are used together, is one poetic term for Chinese strings such as gujin (seven-stringed zither) and guzheng (Chinese lap harp). Classical Chinese tunes are played by the musicians to let the guests waltz into the desired spiritual mood.

(4)Show the "Yip Ka" to the guests (葉嘉酬賓)：
Show the tea leaves to the guests. "Yip Ka"  is metaphorically used for the tea of cliff in a poem written by poet Su Dongpo back in the Sung Dynasty.

(5)Boil the spring water alive (活煮山泉)：
To boil the spring water with strong fire. In Chinese, a "lively" fire is equivalent to a strong fire. To the cognition of Chinese tea cognoscenti, the spring water eclipses all others for brewing good tea.

(6)The bathe of Man Son (孟臣沐霖)：
It means to cleanse the pot with hot water. Man Son was the most famous maker of pot in the Ming Dynasty. In later days, all good tea pots are referred as Man Son.

(7)The dark dragon marching to the palace (烏龍入宮):
This is the part where the precise portion of Oolong is put into the tea pot (the palace). 'Dark dragon' is a double entendres here because a) it is homophone to Oolong in Chinese and b) the use of dragon imposes a kind of majestic sentiment to the tea.

(8)The plunging fall from the high-hanging kettle (懸壺高掛)  :
In this step, the waitress pour the boiling water into the pot from the kettle in a high-arching position to a) show off her sinuous skill and b) break the tea with the boiling water hastens the uplifting of the tea's fragrance.

(9)The breeze of spring brushing the cheek (春風拂面) :
This is the move where the froth of the tea is brush away (smooth off) from the pot with its lid. The move is done with extra care, reminiscent the spring breeze caressing one’s cheek gently. An utterly Shakespearean term for a step in tea-drinking, if you ask me.

(10)Rewash of the face of an angel (重洗仙颜)：
Splash the pot with hot water to lift up its temperature as well as to wash away the tea that spilled out.

(11)The bathe of Yu Shen (若琛出浴)：
Cleansing the tea cups. Yu Shen is the most famous craftsman in the tea cup trade in the Qing Dynasty. People later allude his name to all good tea cups.

(12)Lark about the mountains and the waters (游山玩水)：
The tea pot is spun around the tray to scrape away water at the bottom. It is extremely impolite to have water spilling off from the bottom of the pot on the cups when serving.

(13)Kuan Yu (the God of War) patrolling the fortress (關公巡城) :
This move means to pour the tea from the pot to cups. It bears the resemblance to a wily general checking every corners of the fortress meticulously. Instead of pouring the tea from high-arching position like in Step 8, the pot kiss the lips of the cups in this move and the tea is poured slowly, almost in a dripping fashion, to ensure only the tea, not the leaves, is flowed into the cups.

(14)The roll call by Han Shin (韓信點兵) :
In this step, each cup is poured with tea again to even the portion. The roll call by Han Shin is a Chinese idiom made famous by general Han Shin's astute deployment of his battalion. The second part of this idiom, which is not used here, is equally famous - the more the better - which somehow reflects truly what's in every tea aficionado’s mind during the tea ceremony.

(15)Three dragons shield the "ting" (三龍護鼎)：
To hold the cup with your thumb, forefinger and middle finger. In this way you can hold it firmly without losing fineness and elegance. "Ting" is a brass container used in ceremonial occasions during Confucius's day -- using "ting" here more or less implies the guests should do this step politely to express gratitude to the host.

(16)Appreciate the three colors (鑒賞三色)：
Tea guru would say good tea always shows three different colors in the top, middle and bottom layers. If this so or if this not so? See for yourself.

(17)Sniff the captivating scent (喜聞幽香)：
Smell the aroma of the tea. But don't ply the glass swirling stunt like that in wine tasting here, please. Different course, different horse.

(18)Taste the marvelous tea for the first time (初品奇茗)：
Seen it and sniffed it. Now taste it.

(19)Refill the falling twilight (再斟流霞) :
The tea is poured again for the guests. They say the color is lighter than the first round with a vivid resemblance of sunset red.

(20)Sip and taste the sweet dew (品啜甘露)：
Taste the second round of the tea. Some may argue the second round is better than the first. Sweet dew is an euphemism for the tea.

(21)Pour the drips of stone for round three (三斟石乳)：
Serving the tea for third time. The drips of stone has been synonymous to the "tea of cliff" ever since the Yu Dynasty -- relating the tea as rare as the dripstone. The tea master pours the tea in a three-ups and three-downs evolution, a move that is also quipped the "three bowings of the phoenix (鳳凰三叩頭)."

(22)Take delight in the taste of the cliff (領略岩韵)：
Enjoy the after taste of the cliff (the tea).

(23)Serving of dim sum (敬献茶點)：
Exquisite dim sum (light and sweet ones to fight against the tannins) is served at this stage.

(24)Bask in the sea of tea (自斟慢飲)：
Guests are invited to pour the tea in their own accord and taste the tea further. 

(25)Enjoy the tea songs (欣赏歌舞)：
Folk songs of the Wuyi region, especially those of tea growers' are played to entertain the guests.

(26)Dexterous dragons frolicking with the water (游龍戲水)：
A few drinkers start to bade farewell; the host or the servant starts to flit across cups and pots. A polite way to suggest to the guests the feast is about to end.

(27)Bottoms' up and auld lang syne (盡杯谢茶)：
The finale: taking the hint, the guests rise up and bottoms' up the tea. Express their gratitude to the host and wave goodbye.

Dragon Well Tea Before Ching Ming: Ming chin long jing (明前龍井)

清明 杜牧

清明時節雨紛紛
路上行人慾斷魂
借問酒家何處有
牧童遙指杏花村

Grave Sweeping Day by Du Mu
On Grave Sweeping Day the rain drizzles endlessly
a traveler on the road feels his heart sink
where he asks can he buy some wine
the herdboy points off to a hamlet nestling amidst apricot blossoms far away

In early April we will celebrate the Ching Ming Festival, also known as "Spring Remembrance" or 'Grave Sweeping Day', and this poem by Du Mu of the Tang Dynasty is simply the most famous one for this occasion. In this Ching Ming ("clear and bright") day, most of us will make every effort to return home to honor our deceased parents and ancestors. In front of their graves, we will burn some incense sticks, paper offerings like paper money and paper clothes and clear away the weeds that have grown up since last visit... But before I do all that jazz, I will head to the tea shop and buy myself, not the deceased, some ming chin long jing (明前龍井), or dragon well before the Ching Ming Festival, which some argue is the best (and most expensive!) among all Chinese green tea.

The most famous place for making this dragon well tea is the West Lake of the Hangzhou Province. In fact, green tea connoisseurs swallow only those from this locale. Though there are scores of village producing long jing, the Première Cru selections are produced by only 5 villages in this area. The five villages, so-called the Big 5 are elegantly named as the "Lion, Dragon, Clouds, Tiger and Plum,"  with tea from the first regarded by most as the 'crème de la crème.'

But why does ming chin long jing cost so much? It is mostly because the production cycle is very short: only ten days before the Ching Ming Festival every year. Before that the leaf is not ready but thence it is overripe and will reduce to a lower grade (still consider quite prestigious nonetheless) called yu chin long jing (雨前龍井), or dragon well before the Rain (a rainy day in Chinese lunar calender, about half a month later than the Ching Ming Festival). In this 10-day span, the sprouts at the tip of the stalks are exquisitely hand-picked by seasoned workers. After the harvest, the leaf are dried for 3 to 4 hours. Then the 'tea master' will fry the tea briefly for 30 minutes to get rid of its grassy smell (a process called "killing the green"). A catty of premium long jing usually takes about 60000 to 70000 heads of sprout.

Tasting wise, the aroma for Ming chin long jing smells quite like that of orchid. For the palate, it is fresh and vibrant with suggestions of olive and, believe it or not, egg yolk. If, you can find it and most importantly -- afford it, you may as well tell yourself this is the Romanee-Conti of Chinese tea. The best ratio, so the tea masters will tell you, is 1 to 12 (one portion of tea leaf to 12 portions of water), not boiling hot but water at about 80℃. You pour the water in and let it brew for about 3-5 minutes before imbibe. And like fine wine, it is always better to use glass to brew long jing so that you can admire the sight of the tea in addition to its smell and flavor as well. Indeed, don't just drink it: long jing is a tea with life! Watch it. Watch the leaf turning and nibbling in the glass is by itself a great joy -- what tea connoisseurs called "The Dance of Tea."

-- picture courtesy of BJBusiness.com.cn

Babaocha, eight treasure tea in China

By popular demand (eh, with the reader stats of this weblog, even one voice of demand is considered very popular), the tea featured this week is the babaocha, "八宝茶," literally means eight treasure tea in English. A lot of tea imbibers mistakenly believe that it is from the Sichuan or the Jiangzu area of China. Yet, truth be told, it is from the Hui Clan, an ethnic group now inhabiting the Ningxia region of China. It used to be something very exquisite and was only reserved for VIPs -- albeit it is getting quite ubiquitous of late -- plenty of upscale eateries nowadays hire at least one adroit tea waiter to pour guests the babaocha with a long-spouted teapot as a sideshow in the dining room. These tea waiters lived mostly by tips so they'll do all kinds of dazzling move to impress the guests, moves like "the spread eagle" or "the dragon asking for direction" are but a few that come to mind. That said, tip them next time rather than just give them your hands after they fill up your cup...

Served in gaiwan (porcelain cup with lid), the main ingredient for the babaocha is of course the tea. It could be of any variety but the jasmine tea is by far the most popular. The remaining seven ingredients usually are, sesame, wolfberry, raisin, walnut, flesh of longan, dates and Chinese rock sugar. For those with sweeter teeth, they can swap the walnut with the dried persimmon.

The tea culture in Sichuan, China

One of my mates, Mr. Nowhereman (unrelated to Mr. Nobody in Ulysses) have just come back from the middle of nowhere in Chengdu, the capital of the Sichuan province in China. He, like me, is also a big fan of good food and wine. He has taken lots of picture on the subject food along his pilgrimage. With his consent, I'll post some fascinating stories of his here. The first part, is on the tea culture of Sichuan.

Lets start from the basic: a tea set in Sichuan. It comprises three parts: a lid, a cup (Sichuanese call it bowl instead of cup) and a saucer. There's another name for the saucer too: the tea ship - a metaphor describing the saucer holds the tea cup like a ship, I guess.

The boiling water is not poured into the cup to full in one time. In the first time the cup is gently poured to about half full, leaving time for the dried tea leaves to "breath" and to "stretch" (how thoughtful); after the leaves are stretched, the boiling water will be poured again rapidly from high - to plough on the leaves in order to draw out the fragrance of the tea.

 

Picture on the left captured a facet inside a traditional teahouse in Sichuan. Unlike Cantonese teahouses where people usually go there for the dim sum rather than the tea; Sichuanese obviously appreciate the teahouse by its face value. See how everyone is basking in their bamboo chairs, either reading news or, better still, whiling the afternoon away with nothing done.

If you can read Chinese characters, you'll be very surprised by the price for a cup of tea here. The best one is selling at a mere RMB$6, which is just about half a euro! Gee, can I buy anything with that in Paris? Mind you, this is the price that includes unlimited refill as long as you stay there. And when you leave, the etiquette has it that you either place the lid or the saucer on the chair to show to the waiters you're leaving. Otherwise, they'll assume you're staying and will refill your cup yet again.

And if hungry, you can order a tu fu, the soft bean curd, another famous Sichuanese fare.

- Photographed by Nowhereman (links in traditional Chinese characters)

The seven steps in a formal Chinese tea tasting

China’s tea culture is undoubtedly the granddaddy of all the tea cultures in the world. We succeeded in making tea-drinking ceremonial long before most countries know what tea was. Most people, however, tend to focus on the classification of Chinese tea when they introduce our tea culture to others, and hence neglecting the cultural part: the ritual as well as the imposing names adopted in a tea tasting event. An egregious mistake, at least in my point of view. Because the formal steps in serving and tasting Chinese tea, and for that matter, all the poetical and emotional names associated with it, are a vivid showcase of how we Chinese interweave our culture with our food. So without further ado, I would like to translate and introduce here the seven steps in a formal Chinese tea tasting event (Oolong tea is used here for example).

Step one: 白鶴沐浴 The bathing of the white crane (heron). This is the move where the fine white porcelain cups with lid (the gaiwans) are washed by hot boiling water. In China, the white crane is commonly regarded as a heavenly creature, one that redolent of many romance affections and its gracefulness has long hailed in poetries. For example, when we say someone’s dead, one way to put it euphemistically is to say the deceased is riding the white crane to the west (the direction of the Nirvana).

Step two: 烏龍入宮 The dark dragon marching to the palace. This is the part where the precise portion of Oolong is put into the cups (the palace). ‘Dark dragon’ is a double entendres here because a) it is homophone to Oolong in Chinese and b) the use of dragon imposes a kind of grandeur sentiment to the tea. 

Step three: 懸壺高掛 The plunging fall from the high-hanging kettle. In this step, the waitress pour the boiling water into the cups from the kettle in a high-arching position to a) show off her sinuous skill and b) break the tea with the boiling water hastens the uplifting of the tea's fragrance.

Step four: 春風拂面 The breeze of spring brushing the cheek. This is the move where the froth of the tea is brush away (smooth off) from the cup with its lid. The move is done with extra care, reminiscent the spring breeze caressing one’s cheek gently. An utterly 'Shakespearian' term for a step in tea-drinking, if you ask me.

Step five: 夢裹尋芳 Tracing the fragrance in a dream. After about one and a half minutes, the tea is ready for drink. The patron will remove the lid and sniff the dreamy, godsend scent of the tea. The patron can only enjoy the tea with his olfactory sense at this stage because there’re 2 more steps waiting to finish.

Step six: 關公巡城 Kuan Yu (the God of War) patrolling the fortress. This move means to pour the tea from the big cups to the smaller ones (the number depends on that of the drinkers). It bears the resemblance to a wily general checking every corners of the fortress meticulously. Instead of pouring the tea from high-arching position like in Step three, the big cups kiss the lips of the smaller ones in this move and the tea is poured slowly, almost in a dripping fashion, to ensure only the tea, not the leaves, is flowed into the smaller ones.

Step seven: 韓信點兵 The roll call by Han Shin. This is the finale. In this part, each smaller cup is poured with tea again to even the portion. The roll call by Han Shin is a Chinese idiom made famous by general Han Shin's astute deployment of his battalion. The second part of this idiom, which is not used here, is equally famous - the more the better - which somehow reflects truely what's in every tea aficionado’s mind during the tea ceremony.