Recently, The Nearly 100-year-old Lianxiang Building announced its closure:
"The Lotus House in Central will temporarily operate until the end of February, after which it will be closed for rectification, and we may meet with tea customers again in the future."
Although this Lotus Xiang Lou is not the one we saw on the Tenth Road, in fact, they were "originally born from the same root", which was "split" by a cake shop in Xiguan at that time.
▲ Image from Wikipedia
At present, Guangzhou Lianxianglou is still in the downtown area "water rolling tea beauty", and the Hong Kong Lianxianglou, which has the same roots and branches as it, is due to the lease problem, and I don't know if there will be a period later.
The "future" of this long-established brand in Central is less than a month away, and looking back at the past of Lian Xiang Lou, you will find that it also carries more than a hundred years of history.
▲ The original shop of Lianxiang Tea House, picture from Wikipedia
For such a long time, what "treasure" does it hide that can make tea customers cling to it?
Lianxianglou, formerly known as "Lianxiang Cake And Pastry Shop", is a wedding cake shop selling cake cakes and pastries in Xiguan, Guangzhou. Its fame is attributed to a "soulless fish" experience by founder Chen Weiqing:
Master Chen once boiled lotus seed sugar water, accidentally fell asleep, and the whole pot of things was almost mushy. But he felt that the failed product was very fragrant, and after mashing the lotus seeds, he found that the paste-like lotus seeds tasted very delicious. Master Chen had an epiphany and turned the lotus seed into a lotus filling in the cake.
The shortbread stuffed with lotus paste is delicious and popular with the bakery along with its shortbread.
▲The picture is from the network
In 1889, it was renamed "Lianxiang Lou". Cakes are sold on the ground floor, and tea is served on the second and third floors. Most of the customers of Tao Tao Ju are literati and inkers, while Lian Xiang Lou has attracted a large number of Cantonese opera families.
By 1910, it had changed its name again.
At that time, Chen Ruyue, a Hanlin scholar in Foshan, after tasting the lotus rong cake of Lianxianglou, felt that the taste was unique, and proposed to add grass and flower heads to the "Lian" character of Lianxianglou to integrate the lotus rong into the signboard, which is now the lotus rong in our mouth.
Chen Ruyue personally inscribed it, and the store made it into a gold lacquer plaque and hung it on the front of the store to witness the fame of LianxiangLou.
▲ Hanlin scholar Chen Ruyue handwritten Lotus Fragrant Tea House, the picture source see watermark
Maybe this plaque can really town shops, the business of Lianxianglou is getting better and better, and it has begun to develop the evening market and arrange feasts.
In the same year that Lianxianglou changed its name, it was acquired and re-raised by Tan Xinyi, the "king of the tea house", attracting 122 shareholders to invest, with a total amount of 12,420 taels of silver (about 2.5 million yuan now).
Much of this large investment was used for decoration: hand-carved tables and chairs, Manchurian windows, timber and acid-branched armrests.
Business is getting more and more prosperous, and Lianxianglou gradually dominates the tea house industry in Guangzhou.
▲See watermark for image source
Later, Lian Xiang Lou expanded its business to Hong Kong.
Hong Kong's first generation of Lotus House was settled in Queen's Road, Central in 1927, and was later relocated to the former site of the Xiangjiang Restaurant on Wellington Street.
Until the 1950s, Hong Kong Lian Xiang Lou would distribute dividends to shareholders in Guangzhou. Later, due to historical reasons, the Lian Xiang Lou in Guangzhou and Hong Kong lost close contact.
By the 1980s, Guangzhou shareholders no longer received dividends, and in terms of operation, the provincial Port Lianxiang Building had become "independent".
When Three branches were opened in Hong Kong LianXiang Lou, the development of Lian Xiang Lou in Guangzhou entered a trough:
In the 1970s, the gold lacquer sign was destroyed, and the tea house business stopped, selling only cakes and semi-finished products, and even changed its name to "Dongsheng Lou" for a time.
It was not until 1984 that Lian Xiang Lou was able to reopen the tea market. After the renovation, the lobby of LianxiangLou hung a lotus crystal lamp worth 170,000 yuan, which was like the gold paint sign of the past, just like the treasure of the town store.
▲The picture is from Nandu Guangzhou
In 1996, Hong Kong's third-generation Lotus House was relocated to 160 Wellington Street and has been in business ever since. Now, based in Hong Kong, it has announced that it will close at the end of February 2019.
One tea house, two places of Lotus Fragrance, Guangzhou and Hong Kong's Lotus House on the same timeline, out of different development trajectories.
In addition to the exquisite dim sum produced, in fact, the most regrettable thing for Hong Kong tea customers is the tea house culture hidden in the Lotus Xiang Lou.
Hong Kong Lotus House is famous for its three treasures: duckbill tea pot, phlegm pot and tea cup.
Tea cup is the biggest feature of Lianxiang Lou, still retained, customers take the tea cup, select the tea leaves, the waiter will use the duck mouth tea pot to pour boiling water, the first brew of tea to wash dishes and chopsticks, the second brew of tea before the start of drinking.
In the early days, the tea house will also be equipped with a sputum jar per table, spitting and pouring food scraps for tea customers, most tea houses have long abandoned the sputum can because of health problems, only Lianxiang Lou did not "willing" to eliminate it until the past two years.
▲ Image from topick
Lianxiang Building also maintains a number of double-decker round tables with a history of nearly half a century. The double-glazed tables placed in the early tea houses were so that the "Qitang" could see whether there were any deceitful tea guests hiding dishes, so that the tea house received less money.
✎ Qitang: Waiter in the store.
In the past, tea houses calculated the price of tea by floor, and the higher the floor, the more expensive the tea money. Therefore, at that time, being able to go upstairs to drink tea was a symbol of status, and now it is often said that the "second floor elegant seat" got its name.
There is also a dim sum aunt who can push a dim sum cart, a "qitang" who takes a large water pot to make tea, a snack paper used to count money, and a cage that becomes a decoration...
▲Look carefully, where is the cage? Image from the web
Almost all of Hong Kong's Lian Xiang Lou retain these traditional rules and objects, but the atmosphere of the old tea houses in Guangzhou is rare and buy less.
The tea cups, duck-billed tea pots and phlegm pots that represent the essence of the tea drinking culture of the old Guangzhou are gradually replaced by large teapots and kung fu tea sets, and once the Lotus House in Hong Kong is closed and no longer reopened, will the old-style tea house culture be submerged?
Hong Kong's Lian Xiang Lou is about to close, the old brand is missing one, and the public's reaction to this kind of news is gradually becoming formulaic:
Sigh "What a pity! After that, recalling the bits and pieces I experienced in the tea house in the past, I put this matter into the depths of time, and then took it out to remember it when it was right.
While lamenting, we seem to ignore the contradictions and problems behind the end of the tea house.
People's pursuit of food and the city's desire for reconstruction contradict each other, and finally end with the "surrender" of Lianxianglou's temporary closure.
Some tea customers believe that when it comes to the Cantonese tea house culture of the past, you can only find it in the old tea house in Hong Kong.
Lian Xiang Lou this long-established brand has gone through a century of wind and rain, and now the Branch of Hong Kong is about to close, guangzhou's tea house in the pace of the times at the same time, how should the traditional culture of the past settle down?
▲The picture is from Huacheng Network
There are also some tea guests who will worry that the Cantonese tea house culture will disappear because of the temporary departure of LianxiangLou this time.
Hong Kong Lian Xiang Lou may not be the last time-honored brand to bid farewell to the public, Cantonese tea house culture may not be the last culture to be forgotten by the public, can we in Guangzhou realize its crisis?
Dear friends
Which old-fashioned tea house will you go to now?
What other tea house culture do you know?
Feel free to share in the comments section!