Through the international cultural business card of "tea", travel around the tea world!
Today, let's talk about Pakistan's tea culture.
The historical ties of the chinese and Pakistani peoples can be traced back to the ancient Silk Road, where tea, as a medium of friendship, lasted for centuries. Chinese affectionately called Pakistan "Pakistani Railway".
You may not know that Pakistan, with the help of China, built the first modern tea garden and achieved large-scale production.
When we delve into the lives of Pakistanis, we can see that their love of tea is no less than that of any other people.
Coat of arms of Pakistan
The emblem of Pakistan also bears the symbol of tea, and on the shield in the middle of the coat of arms are printed four crops, which are painted with cotton, wheat, tea and jute. It can be seen that the status of tea in the minds of the Pakistani people.
The development of Pakistani tea culture
Green tea in Pakistan has been a thousand-year-old tradition. On the Silk Roads, tea, spices, flowers, vegetables and fruits were the most important commodities, and merchants carried these commodities from China all the way west, from the Taklamakan Desert north or south to Kashgar, then to Kashmir, India, Afghanistan, Iran, Samarkand, Baghdad and Constantinople, and then to the Mediterranean.
There are many caravanserais in Pakistan, where merchants and travelers stop, which also facilitates the distribution of green tea. The pakistani habit of drinking green tea has also been followed to this day.
People drink tea in teahouses in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar. Xinhua News Agency (Photo by Umar Kayum)
Black tea was first introduced and popularized during the British colonial era in South Asia. Tea was first introduced to Britain as a medicine, and due to its high price, tea was only a luxury.
In the early 1730s, the opening of a shipping route between Britain and China led to a surge in European tea imports and a sharp drop in prices. With the colonial expansion of Europe, Europeans were not accustomed to the fact that the countries of the East profited too much from their own products, so they began to seek alternatives.
Through research and analysis of the environment and ways of tea cultivation, the British began to establish a large number of plantations in the northeastern Indian state of Assam and completely converted tea into an industrial product. The plucked tea leaves enter the factory, through steam or flowing water driven by machine processing, almost without any manual intervention, you can process boxes of black tea, greatly reducing the cost of tea production, but also reduce the purchase price.
In addition, the British colonial rule of South Asia also brought the habit of drinking black tea to this region, which had an impact on pakistan's modern food culture.
Kido/ Photo (Source: Ma Honeycomb)
China helped "Pakistan Railway" build the first modern tea garden
Pakistan is a big tea consumer, but it did not grow tea before. In order to let The Iron Friends of Pakistan no longer rely on imports, be able to drink good tea "carefully" and solve the local tea supply, it is time for the Chinese iron brothers to help them.
In 1986, the Pakistani government established the National Tea Research Station on 50 acres of land in the Shinkiari district of Mansehra, on the advice of Chinese tea experts, and in 2013 became the National Institute of Tea and High-Value Crops (NTHRI) of Pakistan. NTHRI is an important player in encouraging tea cultivation in Pakistan.
After three years of inspection, Chinese tea experts published a brief report on Pakistan's tea planting capacity, confirming that 64,000 hectares of land suitable for tea cultivation are located in the mountains of northwest Pakistan, where the valley slopes are between 1,000 and 1,900 meters above sea level, and the snow meltwater of alpine glaciers can provide a source of life for tea plants. By 1987, 5.3 hectares of tea gardens had been established, and the trial planting situation was good.
However, Pakistani tea is still dependent on imports, imported varieties of black tea, imports are second only to the United Kingdom, Russia, more imported black tea powder, with milk tea companion (in fact, it is sugar-free milk powder), you can cook good milk tea at home.
Pakistan has a large population and a rich labor force, if these labor forces can be well developed, I believe it will certainly be able to open up a wider tea garden and be self-sufficient.
China has also played a crucial role in the promotion of tea in Pakistan. As potential tea growing areas are located along the CPEC, China can support commercial tea promotion in Pakistan through joint ventures as well as technology and finance.
Tea life in Pakistan
When you first drink tea with the Bartis, you are a stranger; The second time, you are our guest; The third time you drink tea with us, you are already our family. --[Beauty] Greg Mortenson, "Three Cups of Tea"
Pakistan was originally part of British India, so tea drinking has a British color, most people are accustomed to drinking black tea, especially milk black tea.
Pakistan's climate is hot, there is little rain all year round, due to the long-term consumption of beef, mutton, dairy products and other foods with high oil content, tea is the local people's thirst to quench the heat, consume food and relieve greasy "magic weapon".
Generally, tea is drunk once in the morning, after lunch and dinner, and some families even drink tea 5 times a day. Most Pakistanis use the samovar cooking method, that is, first boil the water in the kettle, then put on the black tea, cook for 3-5 minutes, then use the filter to filter out the tea residue, and then inject the tea soup into the tea cup, add milk and sugar to mix well and drink, in addition, there are a few families without adding milk to replace it with lemon slices to taste, also known as lemon black tea.
Pastoralists in Pakistan's northwestern highlands and near the Afghan border love to drink green tea. When drinking green tea, it is often accompanied by white sugar and a few small cardamom to increase the cool taste.
Types of Pakistani tea
People living in different parts of Pakistan have bred different styles of tea drinking in the diverse civilizations on the Silk Road.
Masala Chai
It is popular in Karachi, southern Pakistan. This tea, which literally translates as "mixed spice tea", also known as "Indian milk tea", originated in India and is a drink based on black tea leaves, flavored with spices and herbs. Base tea is usually a black tea with a stronger flavor, such as the "mamri" of Assam black tea, which is a loose leaf tea that has been treated in a special way, which avoids spices from masking the taste of the tea. The spice blend added is called karha and includes cinnamon, star anise, fennel seeds, pepper, nutmeg, cloves, ginger root, honey, vanilla, etc. The traditional method of preparing Masala Chai is very simple, generally milk, water, loose leaf tea, sweetener and karha (spice mixture) are put into a pot and decocted, boiled and the tea and spice residues are filtered out of the tea water.
Masala Chai
Doodh Patti Chai
It is more popular in the punjab province of central Pakistan. Doodh means milk, patti means leaf, and this tea literally means "milk leaf tea". It is only made of milk and tea leaves, and will also add spices such as cardamom, ginger, cinnamon, fennel seeds to the tea, and can also add sugar according to personal taste, and the residue of tea and spices will be filtered out of the tea after cooking.
Doodh Patti Chai
Kahwah
It is endemic in northern and western Pakistan, including Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan and much of Kashmir. Some locals believe the drink dates back to the Yarkand Valley of Xinjiang during the Kushan Empire in the first and second centuries AD. In Sir George Glearson's Kashmiri Dictionary, the term kahwa is defined as " sugar-sweetened tea in Kashmiri" ( ) .
Kahwah is cooked with a samovar, where green tea is first boiled in water, then cardamom, cinnamon, shredded almonds, saffron and sugar or honey are added and served in a small, shallow cup called khos.
Kahwah
Noon Chai
Also known as "Kashmir tea", it is a tea made from pearl tea, milk and baking soda. Traditionally, tea leaves, milk, salt, and baking soda are cooked in a cooker called samava.
Noon Chai, the main drink of Kashmir residents, is eaten with traditional local bread, often garnished with crushed almonds and pistachios.
Dried fruit garnished with Noon Chai
Tea is usually drunk at breakfast, lunch breaks at work, and at home in the evenings. Afternoon tea is common in hotels and restaurants, usually buffets and snacks. Evening tea can usually be eaten with sweets such as biscuits or cakes, but can also be eaten with savory snacks such as curry corners.
Source: Tea Ceremony CN