This tea is not that tea.

In Henan, especially in rural areas, people who don't know the situation will be fooled by these concepts.

In most rural areas of Henan Province, if you are invited to tea, don't think it is brewed black tea, green tea or Pu 'er Longjing Maojian tea. The most likely thing to appear in front of you is a bowl of boiled water. If brown sugar and white sugar are added to this bowl of water, it means that you are regarded as a distinguished guest, and this bowl of water will be particularly emphasized as sugar tea.

Why boiled water is called tea may be related to the depression of people's livelihood and the lack of materials in the Central Plains since modern times.

According to the elders, there used to be a habit of collecting persimmon leaves and drying them as tea to entertain guests. That's because the color of persimmon leaves is similar to that of tea, which also proves from another angle that Henan people are not ignorant of tea, but really can't afford tea for many years.

In many places in Henan, there is a custom called dinner tea, which should also be a relic of the customs in those years when materials were scarce.

In the past, rural areas in the Central Plains generally had two meals a day, and the diet in each season or even one day was arranged in strict accordance with the habit of eating during busy hours and eating at leisure. Because I have to work in the morning, I have to make a regular diet that can supplement my physical strength and is slightly nutritious, that is, "dry rice"; After dinner, I resigned, so I just made some thin stomachs. Cut a piece of sweet potato and cook it into soup, often a meal. A well-off family may get a little batter in this soup, which is called sweet potato tea. It is estimated that this is the reason. Everyone has a convention to order dinner tea directly.

When people in the city or foreigners go to the countryside and suddenly hear the word "drinking tea", some people really make jokes because of misunderstanding.

In the 1960s and 1970s, when cadres went to the countryside, they all went to people's homes to eat pies. Two cadres worked in urban and rural areas, lived in communes and were sent to a family in the village for dinner. In the evening, I was already hungry and looking forward to being called to dinner by the delivery man. An eight or nine-year-old boy came running with a runny nose and threw a sentence in the air.

"Uncle invites you to have tea at home."

These two people are a little confused. It's time for dinner. Why are we going to have tea? I can't go. If I miss dinner, I will be hungry all night.

"Tell uncle we won't drink tea."

The child didn't answer and turned away.

The two waited and waited, hoping, and no one invited them to dinner. They were hungry all night.

The next morning, the same child broke into their house without knocking.

"My uncle asked you to go home for dinner."

Two people rushed to follow the children to his house, wolfing down cornmeal stickers and muttering cornmeal confusion.

"It's dark at night. Why don't you two come for tea? "

They said they were waiting for dinner, so they didn't come for tea, which made all the onlookers laugh.

"Dinner in the evening is called tea!"

The two cadres were embarrassed by this laughter. Who would have thought that this joke would be played not far from home: in Henan, or even in the same area.