What is the tea set, its relationship with health preservation, and tea customs?
Tea set
Tea set, also known as teaware or teaware in ancient times. Tea set is an essential tool in all tea brewing processes, not only referring to teapots and cups, but also considered to have a significant impact on the quality of tea.
The "Tea Handbook" written by Zhu Quan, the 17th son of Emperor Taizu of the Ming Dynasty, lists 10 types of tea sets, which is relatively rare:
Tea stove, tea stove, tea mill, tea mill, tea stand, tea spoon, tea cup, tea bottle.
The earliest teapots were made of materials such as gold, silver, and jade. Since the Tang and Song dynasties, due to the rise of ceramic craftsmanship, it has gradually been replaced by copper and ceramic tea sets. Copper tea sets are relatively cheaper compared to gold and jade, with better boiling performance. Ceramic tea sets can hold tea while maintaining its aroma. More importantly, their prices are relatively low, making them easy to promote and popular among the public.
The Famen Temple Museum in Fufeng County, Shaanxi Province preserves a complete set of pure gold tea sets used by the Tang Dynasty emperors.
The tea sets produced in Changsha, Hunan during the Song Dynasty were very exquisite and valued in platinum. Zhao Nanzhong once offered a custom-made set of tea utensils worth a thousand taels of gold to the emperor.
Various teapots made by Ming Dynasty worshippers and Shi Dabin's handmade purple clay teapots have become expensive artworks.
Tea and Health Preservation
The Shennong Classic of Materia Medica records that Shennong tasted a hundred herbs and encountered seventy poisons daily, and was relieved by the tea. "Tu" is the ancient Chinese character for tea. The earliest function of tea was medicinal.
In the third year of Tang Dazhong (850 AD), there was a monk who was 130 years old. Emperor Xuanzong asked him what medicine he needed to live such a long life. The monk replied, "I have never known the nature of the medicine. In my life, I only love to drink tea. Whenever I travel to a place, I first beg for tea to drink. Drinking a hundred bowls is not too much." The emperor gave the monk fifty pounds of first-class tea.
In Ming Gaolian's health classic "Zunsheng Bajian", it is written: "Drinking real tea can quench thirst, reduce appetite, eliminate phlegm and sleep, promote water flow, brighten the eyes and enhance the mind, eliminate annoyance and greasiness, and one cannot be without tea for a day."
Tea customs
Making tea
The habit of Chinese people drinking tea has undergone significant changes from the Tang, Song, Ming, Qing to modern times.
Tang dynasty
During the Tang Dynasty, tea was mostly processed into tea cakes. The people of the Tang Dynasty did not "drink tea", but "eat tea". The process of preparing tea is as follows:
Moxibuste the tea cake over fire.
Put the roasted tea cake into copper tea and roll it into granules.
Sieve the tea grains with a tea sieve and take the fine powder.
In order to improve the bitter taste of tea, mint, salt, red dates or ginger slices are often added for seasoning, and spices such as borneol are often added.
Mix the fine tea powder with the above ingredients to make a sauce.
Then mix tea sauce with other foods for consumption.
Hunan still retains the habit of "eating tea" - eating tea leaves. Mao Zedong had a fondness for delicious tea. When tea was introduced to England, the British people would mix tea leaves soaked in boiling water with bread slices for consumption.
Song dynasty
"Tea flourished in the Tang Dynasty and flourished in the Song Dynasty." In the Song Dynasty, tea products became increasingly abundant, and tea drinking became increasingly sophisticated. People began to pay attention to the color, aroma, and flavor of tea, and seasoning gradually decreased. At this time, loose tea made by steaming green tea appeared and tended to be mainly loose tea, while the cooking and drinking procedures were greatly simplified.
the Ming dynasty
In the Ming Dynasty, cake tea and group tea were relatively rare, and more tea was mainly consumed as loose tea. The method of cooking tea gradually evolved from frying tea to brewing tea.
the Qing dynasty
In the Qing Dynasty, tea was closely integrated with people's daily lives, and urban tea houses emerged and gradually emerged, becoming activity venues suitable for various social classes. Tea was integrated with folk cultural activities such as folk art, poetry festivals, dramas, lantern riddles, etc. Ordinary families often entertain guests with tea.
modern
According to different situations (such as special etiquette in different occasions), Chinese tea has different brewing methods. For example, green tea is lighter and more delicious than oolong tea and black tea, so it needs to be brewed with colder water. For more information on this topic, please refer to Hegongfu Tea.
