Previously, we took "Knowing or Not" as an example to talk about the tea ordering fashion of the Song Dynasty. Recently watched "Crane And Hua Ting", found that the reproduction of tea is more comprehensive.
"Crane and Hua Ting": Xiao Dingquan and Lu Wenxi
The historical background of "Crane and Huating" is vaguely from the Southern and Northern Dynasties period, but many of its fashions are typical "Song versions". Speaking of tea, tea leaves during the Song Dynasty were not picked in a hot pot to be "fried", but "steamed", known as "steamed green".
Steamed green
After steaming, the tea leaves are compacted and put into a mold with dragon and phoenix patterns to make a "dragon ball phoenix cake".
The Song people drank tea, not as simple as we have today, boiling water can be flushed, but there is a complex procedure, and the final result is a turbid emulsion with a white color, which can be compared to today's "latte".
The whole process requires at least twelve tea utensils and a complex "tea ordering" procedure.
Ordering tea is a necessary skill for high-class characters, and there is a passage in "Crane and Hua Ting" in which the emperor's eldest son, "The Great King" and the crown prince Xiao Dingquan, each perform a tea order. Xiao Dingquan also thought that the "Great King's" tea ordering technique was taught by the father emperor himself, and he could not help but feel sad - because the relationship between the prince and the father and the emperor had always been bad, it was speculated that his tea ordering technique should be taught by his teacher Lu Shiyu.
The emperor taught the young "great king" to order tea
The tea in "Crane And Hua Ting" is a small ball-shaped, similar to today's small package of Pu'er, more delicate than the "big dragon ball", and the structure is more dense. To drink tea, you must knock first, and you must "knock" the next piece from the "ball" or "dragon ball". In the play, it is placed on a wooden vessel and knocked with a tool such as an awl. This set of tools is called "wood to be made", and both wood and awls are made of wood. In fact, before that, there is another step, which is to put tea cakes or tea balls on the fire with bamboo cages and bake them ("Wei Hongxu"), bake to remove excess water, and make it easier to separate them with "wood to be made".
"Tree Waiting"
Loose tea after separation
After the initial separation, use a small metal mill to crush the tea leaves. This mill is called "Jin Fa Cao".
"Jin Fa Cao"
After the milling, a small stone grinding "stone transporter" is also put in to further crush it.
"Stone Shipment"
After two crushing, the result is already tea powder, and then, a small Luo sieve is put into the sieve, known as "Luo Shumi".
"Shumi Luo"
After sifting, the fine tea powder is made, put it in a bowl and start "ordering tea". The utensils for ordering tea, one is the "soup point", that is, the teapot with a thin mouth, also known as the "soup bottle", which contains hot water, and the thin mouth can make the water injection more accurate, similar to the coffee hand punching pot.
"Soup Point"
Ordering tea can be understood as a little bit of place. First use a little water to stir the tea powder, called "tonic", and then, divide the water many times, and use the bamboo "tea basket" to stir the solution in the bowl, called "blowing".
"Tonic"
Use "Zhu Vice Marshal" to "Blow"
The focus of tea is on the technique, the master can not only play a good white tea soup, but also make a variety of different patterns, known as "tea landscape".
The prince ordered the tea
In this passage of "Crane and Huating", the "prince" and "king" each order tea once, which at first glance is somewhat cumbersome and repetitive, but the later plot explains this - the difference in tea ordering skills between the two is not large, but the tea leaves used are very different. The tea used by the "Great King" is obviously better, the tea powder is a fresh color of emerald green, and the tea made has also been praised by the emperor, and the prince's tea... It's hard to drink.
emperor
However, next, the prince used the "bad tea" to reveal to the emperor that the people of the "Great King" camp exchanged the good tea sent to the border for trade, which affected the tea horse trade! It turns out that the two teas are not repeated, but have a driving effect on the plot.
Crown Prince Xiao Dingquan
"Great King" Xiao Dingtang