In the past three decades, Beijing's social structure and lifestyle have undergone earth-shaking changes, and the big aspect is that the details of life are also fully reflecting the changes of the times and the changes in fashion. Taking tea drinking as an example, what is now paid attention to is the oolong series, that is, semi-fermented tea. Like Fujian's Da Hong Pao, Tie Luohan, Anxi Tie Guanyin, Guangdong's Phoenix Monofir, Taiwan's Frozen Top Oolong, Oriental Beauty, and so on. A few years ago, it also fried Pu'er in Yunnan, making the market easy to sky-high. Even the fully fermented tea that Chinese did not drink much, such as Dianhong and Fujian's Zhengshan small seeds, are also fashionable for a while. In fact, as early as thirty years ago, Jiangsu and Zhejiang people's favorite is still Dongting Biluochun and West Lake Longjing, Anhui people like Huangshan Maofeng, Liu'an Gua slices, and for northerners, the most favorite is flower tea. Today's flower tea is uniformly known as "flower tea" or "jasmine tea", but in Beijing half a century ago, there was no such title, then if you go to the tea house to buy tea is only "flower tea", the guy will be stunned at you, do not know what you want, you have to say whether to buy "incense pieces", "generous", or "zhulan". The history of flower tea is not too long, although in the Song Dynasty there was tea smoked with dragon brain incense, sent to the palace as a tribute, but it was not common in folk drinking. This kind of tea smoked with dragon brain incense can use the word "smoked", but later with a systematic and standardized flower tea production process, it is not good to use this "smoked" word, but should use the correct "窨" (also read x 俦n) word, and now many places write the "kiln" of flower tea as "smoked", which is actually wrong. The Song Dynasty also had different views on the use of spices to smoke tea, and Cai Xiang opposed the use of spices in the "Tea Record", thinking that it was "afraid of robbing its truth" and suggesting that it was "not used properly". However, in the Ming Dynasty, flower tea was more common, gu Yuanqing's "Tea Recipe" recorded the use of jasmine, wood, rose, rose, gardenia, orchid, wood fragrance and other processes to make green tea, and there were also detailed records of the amount of flowers taken, the number of times, baking, etc. Li Shizhen also said in the "Compendium of Materia Medica" that "jasmine can be lavendered".
Cai Xiang's "Tea Record"
However, the general love of Beijing people to drink flower tea is probably since the Qing Dynasty Xianfeng, when not only fujian Minhou (Fuzhou) made of flower tea into Beijing, but also later opened many tea workshops in Beijing, before the shop and after the factory, in Beijing to make a variety of flower tea. It turned out that Fujian flower tea entered Kyoto by sea, first to Tianjin, and then to Beijing. Later, it gradually developed into Fujian's original tea to Beg to Beijing, saving costs and avoiding spoilage on the way. Beijing's earlier tea houses are Jingchun, Fuchun, Wu Zhaoxiang, Wu Yutai, etc., and only later did they have Qinglin Chun (1927) opened by the Fujian lin zidan outside the front door, although the owners are not necessarily Fujianese, but the flower tea is from Fujian. Speaking of Qing Lin Chun, I think of an old friend, he is Lin Liankun, an old actor in Beijing Renyi. The Tangtou Changgui in "The First Floor under the Heavens" and the dog grandfather in "Dog Grandpa Nirvana" have left a deep impression. The last time I had dinner with him was at the Jinghua Restaurant in Longtan Lake, and he specially called to say that he had asked Li Shijing of the Beijing Culinary Association to arrange old Beijing dishes and invited me to dinner, indicating that only I was invited and found an actor Qin Yan as a companion. I remember that day Li Shijing specially made donkey hoof baked cakes for us, which were smaller than the horseshoe baked cakes, and they were very authentic, which was a Beijing feature that had been missing for many years. Lin Liankun was originally from Fujian, and Qing linchun's owner was his ancestor, and he told me a lot of old things about Qinglinchun, and he knew a lot about how Fujian flower tea entered Beijing to open a business. Unfortunately, just three days later, his wife called to say that Lin Liankun was suffering from half-death until his death the year before. The earliest opened old tea house is the Xihuamen Jingchun, not only sold in the market, but also supplied to the palace, and then the Jingchun closed its doors, the best tea houses in beijing are also the Fuchun in Chaoyangmen and Wu Zhaoxiang on Gulou Street, from the early years of the Republic of China to the thirties, Wu Zhaoxiang's reputation in Beijing is far greater than Wu Yutai, known as "Tea Wu". The Wu family is also a native of Shexian County, Anhui Province, and Professor Wu Baozhen, a famous gynecological oncologist at Union Hospital and the director of obstetrics and gynecology who succeeded Lin Qiaozhi as the director of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology (also the husband of Peking Opera actor Du Jinfang), is a descendant of "Tea Wu". Two years ago, I went to Cambodia to occasionally travel with his cousin, and also talked about the past of Wu Zhaoxiang and the "Tea Wu" family. Wu Baozhen is funny, the popularity between doctors and patients is very good, he is also like Lin Liankun, although his ancestral home is Anhui and Fujian, but he has lived in Beijing for several generations, and has long been a standard "Beijing film". As for the existing Zhang Yiyuan and Yuan Changhou, they were all opened after the Gengzi Incident (1900), and if they are compared to the Zhengxingde opened by the Tianjin people, they are considered to be little brothers. Zhengxingde was first opened in Tianjin, formerly known as Zhengxing, it was opened in the Qianlong period, and it was renamed Zhengxingde when Xianfeng was renamed, which has a long history. Zhengxingde in Beijing was opened during the Guangxu period, because the owner was a Muslim and believed in Islam, so he specialized in halal business and opened near the niujie vegetable market in Beijing. In the past, religious Muslims did not drink tea from the Hanmin tea shop, but had to drink the tea leaves of Zhengxingde. The tea shops in old Beijing will be hung with all kinds of signs and signs, which read what "Ming Qian", "Before the Rain", "Mao Feng", "Melon Slice", "Mao Jian", "Silver Milli", "Jasmine", "Zhulan" and so on, which seem to be the name of the variety, but have different meanings. "Before the Ming" and "before the rain" refer to the time when the tea leaves are picked, the tea is picked early in the south, the "before the Ming" is picked before the Qingming, and the "before the rain" is picked before the valley rain. "Mao Feng" and "melon slices" are said to be varieties, "Mao Feng" is Huangshan Mao Feng, and "melon slices" are six melon slices, all of which belong to the green tea category. "Mao tip" and "silver milli" refer to the parts taken from the tea leaves, which have nothing to do with stir-frying and kilning. And "jasmine" and "pearl orchid" are made by using different flower colors. The largest sales volume of the old Beijing tea shop is flower tea, followed by green tea, followed by oolong, Pu'er and black tea. Chahar (Zhangjiakou, northern Hebei) people sell tuo tea or brick tea in the tea shops opened in Beijing, specifically for The Camels of Inner Mongolia to come to Beijing to purchase, and bring back to the grassland to make milk tea to drink. At that time, the tea shop in Beijing because of the large sales of flower tea, in order to compete for the store, each family has a unique kiln method and different grades, only jasmine flower kiln has a small leaf double, jasmine generous, jasmine hair tip, jasmine silver millimeter and other more than ten varieties, in order to adapt to the lower working class, as well as jasmine high end (actually is the production process of broken tea, but also with the same jasmine kiln), very affordable. Jasmine Dafang, also known as Flower Dafang, is a production of Anhui, although it belongs to jasmine, but it is different from jasmine flakes. As for the pearl orchid tea, it is made of Milan, the fragrance is stronger, but there is no fragrance of incense, and beijingers do not drink much pearl orchid. At that time, buying tea leaves had not yet arrived at the tea shop, just passing through the door, you would smell the aroma of various flowers, plus the fragrance of tea, which could really make people's tongues raw and light. In the 1950s and 1960s, my family lived in Dongsi, and in order to get closer, I always bought tea at the "Deyi Tea House" at the east entrance of Longfu temple street. It was a yellow two-story building, but with only one door face, a high counter, shelves full of tin or tin tubes of all sizes, and the room was full of jasmine scents.
At that time, although there were arguments about the weight, most of them were about selling packages. How much does a small packet weigh? No one bothered to inquire, but it was just brewing a pot. At that time, Beijing people mostly used teapots to brew, rarely like now with teacups, only drink Longjing, Biluochun only use cups to brew. Most of the tea brewed in the pot is used as a tea brine, and if it is brewed, it will be mixed with some water. Most people brew a pot of tea a day and mix it with boiling water when drinking it. It is enough to brew a pot in the morning and afternoon. However, guests always have to brew a pot of tea. Beijingers don't buy a lot of tea at once, and they always think that it will run away from the taste at home, and it is better to keep the fragrance in the tea shop. Therefore, generally only ten packs are bought at a time, that is, the amount of brewing ten times is enough to buy twenty packs at most. If you buy ten bags, he will put ten small bags of tea for you into the shape of a large pagoda, and then strangle it with a rope, the action is sharp and fast, absolutely not loose, you can rest assured to carry it. At that time, watching the guys in the tea shop pack tea leaves was really admiring an art. Now the sales clerk of the tea shop basically does not pack the bag, needless to say that it is a small package that is stacked up, that is, a large bag of half a pound is also wrapped up, and it will only be weighed on the scale plate, poured into the paper cylinder, and then sealed with a hot press. All kinds of small bags of flower tea are also divided into different grades, in the era of the flower copper plate is divided into several large pieces of a pack, and later spent the early fifties of the old coin is mostly divided into three hundred and one packs, four hundred and one packs, five hundred and one packs (that is, three points, four points, five points), if it is a thousand (a dime) a pack is a very high-grade jasmine tea, the average person will not buy, only during the New Year's Festival to buy once by chance. On the weight of the most high-grade tea, buy less people, pre-wrapped will run the taste, so it is bought now. Beijingers drink flower tea to pay attention to killing and foaming, especially if you eat greasy or have just eaten shabu lamb, it is really a pleasure to brew a pot of freshly brewed and scalded jasmine tea. Tea making with a teapot is more economical, and the tea brine with boiling water can be thick and light by people, unlike brewing in a cup, once you forget to drink, the tea will be cold. In the past, Peking opera actors in Beijing and Tianjin had the habit of drinking, that is, in the middle of the performance, the one with the bag would also go up to the stage and hand over a small purple sand teapot, so the "horned child" would turn his back to the spout and drink. In fact, the tea in this pot is also mostly mixed with tea brine, when the drinking field, with the bag will be not cold or hot tea to send, if it is brewed in advance, as long as it is mixed with some boiling water on the line. In fact, it is not so much that it is afraid of dry mouth, but rather that it is for the sake of posing. Drinking tea at home and drinking tea in a tea house are completely different things, and even the taste is not the same, the same jasmine is generous, it is a taste at home, and it is another taste in the tea house. When I was young, I only went to the tea house in the park, but I didn't go to the tea house, a half-grown child, people will not receive. At that time, beijing's better park café first promoted the Laijin Yuxuan of Zhongshan Park, which was still on the east side of Zhongshan Park at that time. There are almost all the footprints of important figures in modern and modern China. It was followed by the Beihai Wulong Pavilion (later moved to the feast shed on the north bank) and the tea house of Shuanghong Xie, the tea house along the river after the Taimiao Temple, the tea house of the Shichahai Lotus Market, the tea house of the Summer Palace Fish Algae Xuan Harmonious Fun Garden, and so on. Each has a different view, and each has the most suitable season. It's just that now most of them are gone, and that old-time interest has become a memory. Only there is a small building on the west side of the Stone Boat of the Summer Palace, and you can find some feelings of the past when you climb the stairs to drink tea and overlook. I like Jiangnan, especially Suzhou, Yangzhou and other places, and I can also find tea seats in the garden. However, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, is not OK, the tea table and chairs are too short, very uncomfortable, and there are people playing cards everywhere, shouting five and drinking six, and making a big fuss about the scenery.
Zhongshan Park's Laijin Yuxuan Tea House
Beijing's old teahouse is a landscape of old Beijing, Mr. Lao She based on this to create a three-act drama "Teahouse" is not unreasonable, but like "Old Yutai" such a grand scale of teahouses after all, there are not many, this kind of teahouse is mostly in the back door (Di'anmen) bridge to the Drum Tower area, the North City flag people, the habit of sitting in the teahouse in the morning is more prosperous, there are the best teahouses in Beijing, like the apricot blossom days outside the back door is the best of this kind. In addition, the more upscale ones are the Qingyun Pavilion of the Guanyin Temple outside the front gate, the Shengyou Xuan outside the Xuanwu Gate, and the Ruyu Xuan of Longfu Temple Street. It is said that when there is a Xi'an market, there are the most tea houses there. When I was a child, of course, I had no interest in the teahouse, but I was quite yearning for the books in the teahouse, and I had never been there from afar, but the one closest to my home had heard many times at the door of the teahouse. At that time, there was a teahouse next to the Yong'an Hall Medicine Shop on the south side of East Fourth Arch Road, and the name could not be remembered, but when I closed my eyes, I could still think of what it looked like at that time, just like yesterday. Open until the early 1960s, the teahouse is probably one of the last to close in Beijing. At that time, there were commentaries every night, as if Zhao Yingpo, Chen Rongqi, Li Xinquan and others had all said that they had commented there. Each time the contents of the book are written on a red-painted water sign in advance, rotating about once a month. I don't like the book of gods and monsters, but I like the commentaries on historical interpretations and public cases, in the jargon, it is "the book of the spear robe with the belt" and the "small eight public case books", I remember listening to Chen Rongqi's "The Nations" and Li Xinquan's "Bao Gong Case", of course, they all lean on the door frame of the tea house to "listen to the rubbing", fortunately, people are not driven away. A piece of waking wood, a handkerchief, and a fan are all props. Whenever this happens, the teahouse will be crowded, and the small teahouse that is not very spacious has a strong aroma of tea, and the smell still lingers, and when you think of that place, you will smell the smell of that time.
First stage costume
When it comes to this small tea house, there is another thing worth remembering. In the mid-1950s, Mr. Yun Gongfu (Bao Hui) often came to my house, he was the eldest son of The Late Qing Dynasty Changzhou Jinshi and the General Manager of the National History Museum, Yu Yuding, and he himself served as the head of the War Department at the end of the Qing Dynasty. After the Republic of China, he served as secretary general of the State Council in Yuan Shikai's Beiyang government. In the fifties, he was in his seventies, but his health was still relatively strong, and he was given the title of a librarian of literature and history. I was so impressed with him that when I was eight years old and had measles, he used to lie down in front of the glass window of my room and look at me. It was about 1956 or 1957, and one day near noon he came to my house again, sat down for a short time, and was about to get up and say goodbye, and my grandmother left him to eat, and he insisted that he did not eat at my house, saying that the "prince" was waiting for him at the East Fourth Arch Building, and he wanted to go out to eat together. We all know about his relationship with the Yuan family, and we also know that he and Yuan Keding are both active members of the "Preparatory Security Society". The "prince" he said was Yuan Keding, the grand duke of Yuan, and as for calling him "prince", it may be the nickname behind it. Although my great-uncle was revered as Yuan Shikai's "Four Friends of Song mountain" during the Yuan Shikai era, and also served as the curator of qing history, he actually did not advocate the implementation of the imperial system, and the relationship with Yuan was also if he was divorced, and as for the descendants of the two families, there was no contact. Yun Gongfu met with him, and he knew that Yun Gongfu had come to my house, but he insisted on waiting outside, which was also the reason why we had never interacted with each other. This Grand Duke Yuan was the vanguard of the implementation of the imperial system, and once spent all day playing tricks and advocating the imperial system in the fake "Shuntian Times" to deceive him, so that Yuan Shikai said when he was dying, "Ke Ding harmed me." Later, his money was cheated out of money, and he was very sloppy, and at that time he was living in the home of his cousin Zhang Boju. When I heard that it was the "prince", I was very curious, thinking that the prince in the fairy tale must be a beautiful teenager, perhaps wearing armor, so I made a fuss to see him with Yun Gongfu. Fortunately, it was close at hand, and the place where Yuan Keding met him was in the small tea house in the Fourth Arch Building. Far away, I saw an old man with a hunchback sitting near the door, with a cup of tea in front of him, but there was no pot, and it was probably given to him to drink. It was so easy to wait for Yun Gongfu to come, so I was anxious to go to dinner with him. Yun Gongfu pointed at me and said to him that he was the great-grandson of Duke Cishan, and Yuan Keding only said "ah, ah" twice and looked at me. At this time, I saw that it was an old man, where is there a little bit of "prince" scenery? His clothes were neat and tidy, and although he was lame (his leg had been broken while riding a horse in Germany), he was a bit domineering. Later, I saw him once at the tea house in Beihai Fangshan, but I was not deeply impressed. This is how I saw Prince Hong Xian twice. Especially the time when the Tea House of the East Fourth Arch Building is still vividly remembered.
That's a long way off. Speaking of drinking tea, the difference between home and outside is the fuel for boiling water, generally the water at home is burned with coal, and the water in the outside tea house was mostly burned with firewood at that time, and the water burned by these two different fuels is not the same. Wood-fired water tea is more flavorful, especially brewed flower tea, which seems to be more delicious. Once I drank tea on Mount Tai, it seemed to be near the Zhongtianmen Gate, tea was sold by local farmers, lighting the fire with firewood, although the tea was very poor, but it was very fragrant and a little pyrotechnic. Brewing tea with it may not be good, but brewing jasmine tea is very good. Now jasmine tea always feels that it is not as good as before, it can only be brewed for two bubbles, and the third tea can hardly be drunk and becomes tasteless. Once went out to a meeting, brewed a cup of jasmine tea in the train car, because the room is small, so the aroma filled the whole box, there is a southerner in the same room, claiming to be the most authoritative spice scientist in China, he immediately said to me: "You jasmine tea do not drink anymore, the current jasmine tea is smoked with jasmine essence, not the traditional, fresh jasmine in the past." He said that he had made a lot of comments on this, maybe he was right? However, how many years of drinking flower tea, is a good bite, I am afraid it can not be changed, but unfortunately others sent me so many good oolong series, are transferred to give people. The problem of loving to drink flower tea is always ridiculed by the elegant people, let him go.