Tea culture is a major component of the food culture of the Tujia family in western Hubei. The Tujia area in western Hubei is rich in tea, and the processing and production technology is exquisite, and it has a long history, which has become a well-known object of tribute to the Central Dynasty in the Tujia area, and it is also a superior gift for tujia folk gifts. Tea is a home-cooked beverage in the Tujia area of western Hubei and has become a necessity for life, and there is a unique way to drink it. Drinking tea is not only a need of the daily life of the Tujia family, but also a kind of etiquette.
Oil tea soup
Tujia's oil tea soup has a long history of making and drinking, and has the most ethnic and local flavor characteristics. Lu Yu recorded in the "Tea Classic" that during the Tang and Song dynasties, "In the midst of Jingba, watch the tea leaves make cakes, and the old people's cakes are made of tea paste, and those who want to drink them, the scented orders are red, mashed, placed in porcelain, covered with soup, and presented with shallots, ginger, and oranges, and their drinking is unconvincing." Tongzhi's "Xianfeng County Chronicle" records, "Oil tea: rotten dried and cut into pieces, fine tea, yin rice is fried with paste, boiled in water, dry and wet, people either enjoy it, or worship themselves, and if there is no more eclipse in the day, they are dazed." Tongzhi's "Chronicle of Laifeng County" records: "The natives fried soybeans, baogu, rice, tofu, sesame seeds, and green scorched things, took water and oil, boiled tea leaves for soup, and paid tribute to the guests, known as oil tea." Some places call it tea: "Take wu yun, walnut, ginger, flax and boil it to make tea, but there are only ones along the border with Qianxian." ”
Tujia oil tea soup production is very exquisite, the custom of drinking oil tea soup is very long, many people drink it into a habit, there is a song: "Three days do not drink oil tea soup, dizzy and panic." ”
Four courses of tea
The "four teas" of the Exi Tujia family are also unique, mainly in the Rongmei toast area, which can experience the ancient tea drinking pleasure and charming flavor. The first tea is white crane tea, called "affectionate heat", that is, a bowl of cloud mist tea brewed with boiling boiling water, light and elegant, intended to steam and entertain guests; according to legend, it is made of white cranes in the white crane well near the Rongmei Tusizhai House, and the water of the white crane well is used to brew Rongmei tea, which is called white crane tea. Rongmei tea was once a pilgrimage tribute, and the literati Gu Cai visited Gu Rongmei in the early Qing Dynasty, leaving behind the famous sentence of "the peak of the world-shattering crane, the absolute Rongmei tea". Two courses of tea, called "fragrant fragrance", that is, the tea leaves are filled with minced bacon, its fragrance is incomparable; three teas are called "sweet and sweet honey", that is, using rice seeds to make sugar tea, its taste is bitter and sweet, and some places three teas are oil tea soup; four teas are egg tea, called "round and full". Egg tea was first seen in festive occasions, and was mostly used before weddings, children, birthdays of the elderly and other wedding feasts, and was the highest etiquette for welcoming distinguished guests such as elders. This substitution of eggs for tea is intended to be a good wish. In this way, the expression is satisfactory and very vivid and appropriate. In actual life, four teas can be brewed on one or two courses, or four teas can be brewed in turn, generally according to the identity of the guest.
Cans of tea
In the Alpine Tujia area, there is also the habit of drinking cans of tea. That is, use the earthen pot as a utensil for making tea, first put the tea leaves in the jar and roast it with fire, brew it with boiling water when the aroma is overflowing, pour it out for drinking, its fragrance is incomparable, or add ginger slices, become ginger tea, drink when fragrant and delicious, refreshing and nourishing. Low mountain also used to make herbal tea in large pots, drink it on three days, cool and quench heat and thirst, and spare at home.
Whether it is oil tea soup, canned tea or large pot herbal tea, it is a good drink for the Tujia family to drink daily and after the wedding banquet, birthday celebration, new house completion, guest banquet and other occasions. Tujia folk song: "Guests do not do rice, please come to the house to drink oil tea." ”
Grow tea, pick tea, make tea
The Tujia family not only drinks tea ordinary and exquisite, but also creates a series of tea cultures such as tea planting, tea picking, and tea making. Due to the courtesy and simplicity of the Tujia family, who live in the mountains, the technology of planting, harvesting and making has been passed down from generation to generation, and the tea in the Tujia area has long entered the family of the "official eunuch prince", and the Wujiatai of Xuan'en, the Hundred Driving Division of Hefeng, and the Yanglushan Mountain in Padang were once the base of tribute tea. At the beginning of the 17th century, the "Yihong Kung Fu Tea" in Enshi Lichuan and other places was also exported to Russia and Britain, and the Hefeng "Rongmei" tea was also known as "Queen Tea" by the British.
The heavy physical labor of the Tujia family in western Hubei is performed by men, such as planting tea seeds and cultivating tea seedlings to picking, stir-frying and kneading. These tea girls, tea women, and tea women who live in the mountains have created thousands of "tea songs" in the course of labor production. There are dozens of tea songs, such as "Tea Song", "Tea Picking Song", "Yang Que Picking Tea", "Tea Trumpet" and so on. These tea songs in the tea work reflect the life, sentiments and social situation of the Tujia tea farmers from various aspects. The Literati also wrote poems on the theme of tea picking, either praising or recounting the situation of tea picking. One of the "Tea Picking Songs" in Gu Cai's "Rong Mei Ji Tour" is the most representative: "Pick tea and go to the deepest part of Yun Mountain." He often works as a tea picker every year, and his sideburns are ragged. Picking tea does not taste it yourself, and the woman bakes it is finally busy. The whiskers are full of green baskets, who are its traffickers Hunan merchants. Good tea has to enter the Zhumen, and the smell of the clear spring is fragrant. At this time, who read the tea picker, once died of haggard to the mountains. Tea picking and re-picking tea, it is better to pick flowers! Although the flowers are green and the money is small, inserting them into the sideburns makes people good. ”
Source: Play All Over Enshi