Emotional knots in tea snacks

The hustle and bustle of the Guangzhou teahouse is the best expression of family happiness; sincerely choosing delicious snacks for relatives and friends; reading newspapers and gossiping; looking at the children running in the aisles with loving eyes; In this secular scene, the tea contained in the teapot has become so intimate.

The beautiful marriage of tea and snacks

"Drink? Have you had tea?" (Have you had tea?) is the mantra of greetings by Guangzhou people. In Cantonese, "drinking tea" means The meaning of drinking tea. Most Chinese people drink tea without food, but Guangzhou people do not drink tea. They always drink tea with snacks. It is unclear where this habit came from. Some say it is influenced by Western food, and some say it is due to the Lingnan cuisine. The weather is so hot that it is difficult to eat snacks without drinking tea.

Dim sum evolved from ancient snacks. According to records, some snacks such as dried fruits and pastries were included in banquets in the Tang Dynasty. Although dim sum was not invented by Guangzhou people, it was Guangzhou people who promoted dim sum and spread it all over the world.

Dim sum initially appeared as a supporting role, but later became the protagonist of tea drinking. Refreshments are an important part of Guangzhou's tea-drinking culture, with various varieties and exquisite preparation. The varieties, styles and flavors of tea cakes are composed of skins, fillings and techniques. There are twenty-three kinds of skins in four categories, and forty-six kinds of fillings in three categories. They can be combined with each other in various styles. Every tea house has its signature cakes. Reflecting the traditional style of the tea house. Therefore, in Guangzhou’s food culture, refreshments have become an indispensable part due to their exquisiteness and richness.

Guangzhou has a "business-oriented" value orientation since ancient times, and tea drinking has also moved from families to the market, forming specialized tea drinking residences such as teahouses, teahouses, teahouses, and teahouses. It flourished especially in the Qing Dynasty. Most of the time-honored teahouse brands in Guangzhou today were founded in the Qing Dynasty and have a history of more than a hundred years.

Guangzhou people drink tea and pay attention to the quality of the tea, but also the quality of the desserts and the environment of the teahouse. First of all, the names of the teahouses are very literary, such as Panxi, Lianxiang Tower, Taotaoju, etc. The architectural styles are unique, either facing the pond, backing the mountain, or covered with plants; the decorations are luxurious yet simple, and the older the teahouse is, the more The more couplets and poems there are, the more a couplet or a poem is placed in a tea house, it looks elegant and elegant. It is a kind of decoration and publicity for the tea house; it is a kind of appreciation and admonishment for the tea guests.

The comfortable life of "one cup, two pieces"

Guangzhou people drink tea according to the time: morning tea, afternoon tea and night tea.

In the early spring of Lingnan, Guangzhou people have the habit of getting up early. Morning tea is the highlight. After eating, you will be energetic and happy to work all day. However, lifestyles are changing. Nowadays, most of the morning tea drinkers are the elderly. The older generation of tea drinkers retain the habit of drinking morning tea. They have plenty of time. Morning tea is the main way of leisure for the elderly. They are also more frugal and usually " "One cup, two pieces", that is, a pot of tea and two snacks, to chat together after morning exercise. Due to changes in working styles and living habits, the younger generation mainly drinks afternoon tea and evening tea for the main purposes of leisure, making friends and working.

In the long-term development, Guangzhou tea culture has formed a unique tea-drinking etiquette, that is, knocking and refilling water. In order to express gratitude when someone pours tea for you, you should knock a few times on the table with your fingers. Express gratitude; when pouring tea, there is also knowledge. You cannot pour your own first, you must start with others, and the last one is yourself. When you want to refill the tea, you don't have to shout out to say hello. You just need to open the lid of the teapot and the waiter will fill it up automatically.

Some people may think that drinking tea is a cumbersome activity, but it is not.

When you enter the teahouse, the waitress first gives you a record card. She first asks how many people there are and records it on the card. This is called a tea seat. Each person has a tea seat; each tea seat The fee ranges from one to a few yuan; choose a table and sit down. First, a pot of tea is served. The tea leaves are optional, including oolong, Pu'er, chrysanthemum, chrysanthemum, etc.; then you can help yourself, and the snacks are You don't have to pick it up yourself. The teahouse has dedicated service staff who take turns pushing trolleys around the hall. Various snacks and snacks are placed on the trolleys. As long as the car comes to you, you can stop it and take whatever delicious food you have.

The service lady will take the initiative to write down the account on the record card. All dim sum are divided into six grades: small, medium, large, top, special, and super. What are the differences in prices in different teahouses. The waiter uses a small stamp to stamp the corresponding grade on the record card, and these small stamps are used to pay for the final settlement. Of course, other items such as porridge are freshly made, so you have to choose them yourself. The procedure is the same as buying snacks.

In this way, it is up to you to choose the snacks that suit your liking. While eating and drinking, you can enjoy the refreshments carefully.

If you ask Guangzhou people who are away from home, they will definitely say that they are obsessed with drinking tea. Drinking tea is not only a material consumption, but also a spiritual enjoyment, in which it is a process of self-regulation of the mind and body. Tea is an introduction, snacks are used to add to the fun, and the ultimate goal is to connect with each other. In fact, drinking tea is a way of socializing. Even friends from out of town will be conquered by it as long as they go to the teahouse a few times.

When friends come from far away, I will definitely invite them to drink tea, either under the window of the time-honored Manchuria store or by the lake, holding a cup and chatting, although it is not as good as Zhou Zuoren's "under the paper window of the tile house" Half a day's leisure can be as ethereal as ten years of dusty dreams, but it can also relax the normally tense nerves.

You can ignore the moistening tea, but the exquisite snacks are a pleasing art, and the variety is dazzling: noodles can be made into soup or stir-fried; steaming porridge; noodles White and tender rice rolls; steamed buns with a mix of salty and sweet; pastries with attractive colors and shapes; snacks with both meat and vegetables, there is always something to suit your taste; Western snacks are also on display, too numerous to mention.

Often when friends are enjoying themselves, they will continue to guide them to appreciate other tea drinkers. In addition to its functions of dining and entertainment, teahouses also serve the needs of business contacts. Teahouse guests come here to talk about the stock market and property market, and exchange various economic and commercial information. Teahouses also once became the best place for business negotiations. However, with the diversification of consumption nowadays, there are more dining places to choose from, so many people lament that the tea house culture is also declining day by day. But in traditional Guangzhou family gatherings are held in teahouses.

Yu Qiuyu said in "Five Cities": "From a certain point of view, the flower market and morning tea are just small embellishments of life. There are so many major social events, how can we be so intoxicated." Perhaps Mr. Yu also hates the fact that iron cannot become steel, but little does he know that it is these small embellishments that enable Guangzhou people to always maintain a clear mind.

The hustle and bustle of Guangzhou’s teahouses is the best expression of family happiness: sincerely choosing delicious snacks for relatives and friends; reading the newspaper and talking about eight things; looking at the children running happily in the aisles with loving eyes. : In this secular scene, the tea contained in the teapot has become so intimate.