The Song people had many ways to drink tea, and they even made latte art? After reading this, I feel that coffee latte art is nothing nowadays

Latte art, a fun way to enjoy coffee.

The addition of milk to coffee is an artistic combination of espresso and milk foam under human control. It may not add deliciousness, but it adds real flavor.

Tea Art vs Coffee Art

Some people are amazed by the exquisite latte art, while others don't care.

The worldly-wise people of the Song Dynasty said: "You drink coffee, I drink tea. You make latte art, I serve tea!" A thousand years ago, they had already started to play "latte art" on tea soup. At that time, it was called tea art .

This bowl of tea from the Song Dynasty is not peaceful.

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Thousands of years ago, the Song people's large-scale magical tea tour

During the Song Dynasty, the Chinese method of making tea was introduced to Japan, and after localization, it formed the modern Japanese Matcha Ceremony. In fact, Japanese Matcha is not exactly the same as the Song Dynasty tea, but the basic method is the same.

The story of tea art starts with tea-making in the Song Dynasty.

To make tea, simply put, first grind the roasted tea with a tea grinder, then grind it into fine tea powder with a stone mill. After sieving, put it into a tea bowl, then pour in hot water, and use a bamboo tea whisk to beat the tea until fine bubbles appear on the water surface.

The twelve tea utensils in "Illustrated Praise of Tea Utensils" by Shen'an, an old man in the Southern Song Dynasty, are utensils used for making tea, and are extremely exquisite.

The tea-fighting competition, which originated from making tea by brewing tea, was an impromptu tea-drinking event invented by the Song people who were good at eating and having fun.

Tea-fighting has existed since the Tang Dynasty. It was originally a competition held by tea growers to evaluate new tea after it was made. In the Song Dynasty, riding on the prosperity of tribute tea, tea-fighting became popular across the country. The great poet Su Dongpo wrote: "By the Wuyi River, millet sprouts, Ding in front and Cai in the back, Xianglong added. Everyone has their own ideas to compete for the new tea, and this year's competition will be used to make the official tea."

So what are we competing for in tea-tea contests?

The so-called "one bucket of soup color, two buckets of water marks".

First, white tea was the most valuable color in the Song Dynasty. The color of the tea soup in the tea competition was related to the age of the tea leaves and the temperature of steaming and roasting the tea leaves. If the tea leaves were fresh and the temperature of steaming and roasting the tea leaves was just right, the tea soup would be bright white.

Secondly, look at how long the water marks last. The foam produced by the tea competition sticks to the wall of the tea bowl, which is called "biting the cup". The longer the cup is bitten without showing water marks, the winner is. The foam is also poetic to the tea contestants. It is all foam, but it has many nice names, such as: Qionghua, Xuehou, Yunjiao.

The mural of Zhang Shiqing in Xuanhua during the Liao Dynasty depicts the scene of "carrying a dagger while pouring soup"

The question is, how can tea be beaten to produce large amounts of stable foam?

This is actually scientifically based. The main ingredients in tea that can produce foam are tea saponin, protein, water-soluble pectin, etc. The tea paste tea used in the Song Dynasty tea competition has a high tea saponin content and is very easy to form stable foam.

However, this is not the end. The Song people’s love for tea tourism far exceeds our imagination.

On the basis of tea fighting, the Song people further unlocked new skills in playing with tea. They discovered the technique of painting on tea, which is called "tea division" and also the legendary " tea art ". The word "art" originated in the Han Dynasty and is the name for various folk arts. Tea art is a magic trick with a bowl of tea soup.

Tao Gu, a scholar in the early Northern Song Dynasty, said in his "Tea Tea Record":

"Tea became popular in the Tang Dynasty. In recent times, some people use a special trick to make the tea water veins form images of animals, insects, fish, flowers and plants, which are as delicate as paintings. But they disappear in a moment. This is the change of tea, and people at that time called it "tea play". "

This is an ancient tea ceremony that enables "the veins of tea soup to form physical images".

Unlike coffee latte art, which uses coffee and milk, two different materials, to create patterns, tea art relies on only tea and water . The tea soup forms a stable suspension, and then the white foam is separated with tools, it can create thousands of amazing patterns.

Today’s coffee latte art was not a rare thing for people in the Song Dynasty.

Three major tea-drinking items

Good equipment is essential for tea making and tea serving. The main tools for making and dispensing tea include tea stove, tea bottle, tea whisk, tea can (box), tea cup, cup holder, tea towel, tea spoon, water pot, etc.

The teapot, tea whisk and teacup are the three major items for making tea.

Ancient teapot vs coffee brewing pot

A teapot , also called a soup pot, a pitcher, or a water jug, is used to boil water and make matcha. It has a small mouth and a thin waist, and can be made of metal or ceramic.

Features

The description of the teapot in Daguan Tea Theory is: "The teapot should be made of gold or silver, and can be made in any size according to the needs. The only thing that matters when pouring tea is the mouth of the teapot. If the mouth is wide and straight , the tea will be poured in tightly and not scattered; if the mouth is not round and small but sharp, the tea will be poured in slowly and not drip. If the tea is poured in quickly and not dripping, the surface of the tea will not be broken."

The mouth of the tea bottle is small and easy to control the water flow, making it convenient to make tea.

A tea whisk , also known as a bamboo whisk, is a special tool for making tea, used to stir and beat the tea.

Features

Historical records from the early Northern Song Dynasty show that tools such as spoons and chopsticks were used to stir tea. By the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, the tea whisk emerged as a new force. Not only was it recorded in detail in the "Daguan Tea Theory", it also began to appear frequently in poems and essays. The "Teaware Illustrated Praise" of the Southern Song Dynasty even included it as a typical stirring tool and named it " Bamboo Deputy Commander ".

A teacup is a tea utensil used to hold tea.

Features

The best teaware is a large, stable, bamboo hat-shaped one. Song people recommended using rabbit-hair teacups, which have thick walls for heat preservation and black color for showing the color of the tea soup.

#What operations do you need to go through to have a tea tour? #

丨Wenhonglongtuan丨

Bake the tea cakes over low heat.

丨Broken Full Moon丨

Crush the tea cake with a tea mortar hammer.

丨Stone brings luck丨

Grind the hammered tea leaves into fine powder.

Use a tea whisk to sweep the tea powder into the container.

丨Shumi Luocha丨

Use a tea sieve to sift the tea powder.

丨Tea bottle brewing丨

Use a tea bottle to make some tea powder.

丨 Melt glue initial cleaning 丨

Use a tea whisk to mix the tea powder into a paste.

丨Bamboo Whisk丨

Use a bamboo whisk to hit the teacup, with your fingers moving around your wrist.

丨Painting丨

Use clean water as ink, a tea spoon as a brush, and tea paste as paper to paint.

Soul Latte Art Master, Emperor Huizong of Song

Tea-fighting was an activity popular throughout the country in the Song Dynasty. From high-ranking officials to ordinary people, everyone was obsessed with it.

Cai Jing recorded such an incident in "Records of the Banquet in Yanfu Palace".

On the 2nd day of the 12th month of the 2nd year of Xuanhe, Emperor Huizong of Song summoned the prime ministers and princes to a banquet at Yanfu Palace. During the banquet, he was in high spirits and ordered his servants to bring tea sets. He demonstrated his tea-dividing skills in public. "He poured the tea himself and stirred it. After a while, the white milk floated on the surface of the cup, like sparse stars and a faint moon. He looked at the ministers and said: This is my tea. After drinking, they all bowed their heads to thank him." This soulful latte art master personally divided the tea for the ministers to watch before drinking and tasting.

#Flying in pairs·Black tea#

#Success immediately#

#Yuanyang Black Tea#

Regardless of whether it tastes good or not, Song Huizong's tea-serving skills should be pretty good; in addition, tea-serving was a popular skill at the time, and one had to be able to show off his skills in front of others at any time.

"I write casually on a piece of short paper, and drink fine milk and tea in the sunny window." When Lu You was depressed, he would draw a flower in the small attic in Hai'er Lane to divert his attention.

Tao Gu in the early Northern Song Dynasty wrote a book called "Qingyi Lu", in which he mentioned a monk named Fuquan. Monk Fuquan could separate tea into a line of poetry from each teacup. If he used four bowls, it would be a quatrain. After the news spread, people went to the temple to watch Fuquan's performance.

You paint landscapes, I paint flowers and birds. Although there is no smoke of war in this tea war, it is fierce. Green dust flies around the grinding wheel of the tea, and the foam in the tea cup is like green waves. People gather together to compete in the taste and fragrance of tea, and they can also paint and write calligraphy, and they are very happy.

This brought the Song Dynasty people's nationwide latte art entertainment to its peak.

Although tea-drinking has been gradually abandoned since the Song Dynasty, it is still a niche hobby even though some people have picked it up again. However, the happiness we get from this bowl of tea has never changed.

As Mr. Lin Yutang once said: "Chinese people are happy wherever they go when they have tea."

Written by | Chongchong

The pictures in this article are from the Internet

References

"On Emperor Huizong's Tea Culture and the Tea Ceremony of the Song Dynasty from the Daguan Tea Theory" by Yu Wenxia

"The Social Trends of the Song Dynasty Seen from Teaware" by Chen Qiaoqiao

Tea-sharing Poems and Customs in the Song Dynasty Liu Yuhong

"This is how they drank tea in the Song Dynasty" Chinese Heritage Magazine