Folk Etiquette: Five Kinds of Tea

Seven things to open the door every day, rice, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar and tea. This is the mantra of people in Qixian Lake area. Although tea ranks last, it is also an indispensable element in people's daily life. The people in Qixian Lake area are civilized and pay attention to etiquette. Especially when guests come to our home, they are very attentive to others. Drinking tea is their first etiquette for entertaining guests.

There are many kinds of tea in a broad sense. Generally speaking, there are five kinds of tea in Qixian Lake area of Yiyang: tea for making tea (shredded ginger), sesame bean tea or broken tea, boiled egg tea with red dates, litchi and longan, sweet wine tea and flour tea. According to the intimate relationship with the guests, communication frequency, distance, social occasions and seasons, the host often divides the guests into three categories: frequent guests, rare guests and distinguished guests, and different kinds of guests are treated with different teas. But no matter what kind of guests come, even neighbors visit, the host must give up his seat first, which is the most basic etiquette. Friends, neighbors or colleagues who come and go frequently are called regulars. Frequent friends and neighbors, who haven't seen each other for a long time, or who have been away for a long time before returning to China to visit, are called rare guests. Close friends, children's parents-in-law, elders, bosses and distant relatives are called distinguished guests.

Regular customers come, so it's more casual. Give your seat first, and then offer a cup of tea, green tea or herb tea. Herbal tea is usually brewed with boiling water, cooled, filtered out and poured into a teapot for drinking. Drinking tea is different in different seasons. Generally speaking, people often drink herbal tea in hot weather and boiled water to make tea in cold weather.

It is rare to have guests, and the grade of tea is high. Do not use simple tea leaves, but use sesame beans to make tea or tea.

Tea brewed with fried sesame seeds, soybeans, tea leaves, salted ginger and boiled water is called sesame bean tea. The method is: firstly, cut off Jiang Miao and fibrous roots with scissors, wash away the sediment, break off ginger toes and scrape off the epidermis. Mix well with water according to the ratio of adding alum to cold water per catty, and then soak ginger in water. After half a day, take out the ginger and drain it, then marinate it with proper amount of salt, stir it once a day, take it out after three or five days, slice it, stretch it and dry it for later use. You can also take out the ginger salt and boil the salted ginger water. When it gets cold, soak the ginger and take it with you. Put it into a teacup filled with fried soybeans and sesame seeds, add tea leaves and shredded ginger, and brew with boiling water to become fragrant ginger, salt and bean tea. It is characterized by light yellow color, spicy taste, promoting fluid production and appetizing, dispelling cold and warming up, refreshing and invigorating qi, strengthening body resistance and eliminating pathogens, and unique flavor.

With the arrival of guests, the specifications of tea are higher. Instead of sesame bean tea, the hostess provided a bowl of boiled eggs, lychee, longan and red dates. After the eggs are cooked and shelled, add dried litchi longan and red dates, and add brown sugar before cooking. The number of eggs is generally 2-4, and the host will decide according to the guest's grade and food intake. In most cases, it is three, and the most polite is four. Red dates are red, litchi longan is round, eggs are smooth, soup is sweet, and color, fragrance, taste and shape are all available. How can you eat such high-grade tea without making people feel warm and grateful? The host entertained the guests with this tea with the intention of wishing them a happy life, all the best, peace and perfection in all seasons.

If guests visit on traditional festivals or the Spring Festival in the first month, the tea served by the host will be changed into another style. The host set the wine table, and the red paint table was filled with nine dishes of famous local teas, such as fried rice cakes, sweet potato chips, peanuts, melon seeds, small flower chips, dried dates, raisins, camellia chips or other non-staple foods. Cook homemade glutinous rice liqueur to wash eggs, and some also put a small amount of sparkling wine. The host and guest sat around, chatting while eating, talking and laughing, intimate and lively.

If the host family holds a wedding, wedding, birthday, etc. Or, if the guests are aristocratic relatives, such as Gao Peng's boss, children's in-laws and elders, Huxiang people will use the most upscale tea gift-"noodle tea". Yiyang noodles are very famous in Hunan. The considerate Yiyang people put noodles into the tea ceremony, replacing tea with noodles and rice with tea. First set the tables and chairs, and put nine or 12 small dishes on the red painted table, which are full of local dishes. Hot shredded pork noodles or egg noodles are served on the table, and everyone is happy while drinking and eating vegetables.

If guests come from home, such as children, in-laws and boss Gao Peng, they can enjoy the top hospitality of Huxiang people and taste five kinds of tea in Dongting Lake.

The first course is to make tea, to welcome guests and moisten the throat. The second tea is sweet egg tea. Eggs and lychee longan are cooked together, which means that guests come to the door and are lucky. Three teas and nine dishes, delicious food and delicious tea are on the table. It is intended to taste homesickness and increase friendship. The fourth kind of tea is flour tea (ditto). The last kind of tea is ginger salt tea. It is intended to help guests get rid of greasy food, so that they can keep out the cold during the trip and get home safely.

Five kinds of tea soup, five flavors and five connotations can make the distinguished guests at home have fun, friendship and feel the local customs and cultural heritage.