my country’s Tea Culture: The Origin of Kung Fu Tea. When I wrote an article and mentioned Southern Fujian Kung Fu Tea, I couldn’t decide whether to use “Kung Fu Tea” or “Gong Fu Tea”. By the way, I wanted to check the difference between the two terms. It turns out that the Internet is also in chaos. According to "Ci Hai", both can be used interchangeably. Traditionally, Gongfu tea is mostly used in Chaozhou area and Kungfu tea is used in Fujian and Taiwan areas. The earliest Gongfu tea that appeared in the literature was not a tea tasting method, but a tea variety. Tieguanyin. After Lu Tingcan of the Qing Dynasty proclaimed himself the tea sage Lu Yu, he was informed by the magistrate of Chong'an County in 1717. After his retirement, he compiled a "Xu Jing" published in 1734. The book quoted from "Suijian Lu" as saying: "Wuyi tea... is also known as The rock produced is named, and the best one is called Gongfu tea." It can be seen that Gongfu tea was originally a famous tea in Wuyi tea.
But soon after, the tea called Gongfu tea became less popular and few people mentioned it. People gradually call the tasting method of brewing oolong tea in a small pot and small cup as Gongfu tea, or Gongfu tea. Tea species evolved into tea art. "Kung Fu" means time-consuming, and "Kung Fu" mostly refers to high abilities. However, people from Fujian and Guangdong make tea not only to kill time, but also to strive for perfection. Their patience and craftsmanship amaze outsiders, and they don't know which aspect they admire more. In ancient books, these two words are confused. I personally prefer to call it Kung Fu tea. According to records, Zhangzhou people were the first to indulge in drinking oolong tea in small pots and cups. The "Longxi County Chronicle" compiled in 1762 during the Qianlong period said: "The tea from Lingshan Temple is highly prized by the people. If you are near, buy it from Wuyi. If you have a tea fight in May, you must use Dabin jars and Ruochen cups. ... Those who have this habit can't help themselves, and many people indulge in it in remote areas, and the cost of tea is thousands. "Dabin jar indicates that the Yixing purple clay pot made by Dabin in the late period was valued for its small size. In addition, the small purple sand pot made by Hui Mengchen, a famous pot maker in Yixing in the late Ming Dynasty, is also very famous and is called Mengchen pot. Ruochen cup refers to the small porcelain cup made by the famous Jingdezhen master Ruochen. The Mengchen pot and Ruochen cup later became the typical tea sets for Kung Fu tea. According to Peng Guangdou's "Min Suo Ji", he passed by Longxi in 1766, and a local old man invited him to drink tea: "The cup is very small, just for one sip. As soon as you swallow it, your heart and spleen will be refreshed. Knock on it, it's true. Wuyi."
Yuan Mei talks about his experience of drinking tea in Wuyi Mountain in "Suiyuan Food List": "In the autumn of Bingwu (1786), I visited Wuyi Manting Peak and Tianyou Temple, where monks and Taoists were arguing. Serve it with tea. The cup is as small as a walnut, and the pot is as small as an incense stick. I can't bear to swallow it in my mouth. I smell the fragrance first, then taste it, and chew it slowly and thoughtfully."
Based on the descriptions of the above three historical materials, there is no doubt that it is Kung Fu tea. The first person who clearly mentioned "Gongfu tea art" was Yu Jiao, who served as the official historian of Xingning, Guangdong from 1793 to 1800. He said in "Dream Factory Miscellaneous Works Chaojia Fengyue Ji": "The method of cooking Gongfu tea, this book Lu Yu's "The Book of Tea", and the utensils are more exquisite." He described in detail the method of drinking Kung Fu tea in Chaozhou, saying that purple clay pots, small cups, advocating Wuyi tea, etc. should be used. The customs are like Zhangzhou and Wuyishan. Xiamen’s historical materials appeared later. "Xiamen Chronicle·Customs" compiled in 1832 says: "It is customary to sip tea. The utensils are small and fine, the pot must be called Meng Gong pot, and the cup must be called Ruochen cup. The tea weighs one or two, and the price can be four or five times more expensive. If you cook it over a slow fire, it will taste like a sip of wine. If you pay attention to the aroma, you will sip it carefully. Otherwise, it will be called Gongfu Tea, or it will be called Junmo Tea. There is a practice of tea fighting. Those who have this habit can't do it themselves. There are even scholars who study all year round and their income is not enough to pay for tea. "Drinking tea makes people bankrupt. In China, only Kung Fu tea has this kind of skill." Living in Xiamen, I often lament how difficult it is to drink tea. Shi Hongbao's "Min Miscellaneous Notes" completed in 1858 also said: "Zhangquan belongs to each family, and the custom is Kungfu tea. The tea sets are exquisite, and the pots are as small as walnuts, called Meng Gong pots, and the cups as small as Ruochen cups. The tea is named Wuyi cup. Small varieties are the most popular, and one tael is worth several yuan." According to early historical data, Kung Fu tea became popular in Wuyishan, Zhangzhou, and Chaozhou in the late 18th century. In the early years of the Republic of China, "Qing Yi Lei Chao" compiled by Xu Ke mentioned the popular areas of Kung Fu Tea: "Gong Fu Tea is popular in central Fujian and also in eastern Guangdong. It covers Ting, Zhang and Quan in Fujian, and the trend in Guangdong is also in all four prefectures. "In fact, influenced by Fujian and Guangdong, Kung Fu tea is also popular in Taiwan. Lian Heng's "Collected Works of Mr. Yatang" says: "Taiwanese people's taste of tea is different from that of China, but the same as that of Zhangquan. There are many people from three continents in Taiwan, so their hobbies are similar. The tea must be Wuyi, the pot must be Mengchen, and the cup must be Ruo Chen, these three are the key to tasting tea. Otherwise, it is not enough to be proud, and it is not enough to entertain guests. "The popularity of Gongfu tea has a basic premise, which is the invention of oolong tea. This is not how green tea tastes. Most tea history experts believe that the oolong tea making process was invented in Wuyi Mountain in the early Qing Dynasty. It is very likely that the Kung Fu tea art of tasting oolong tea also originated from Wuyi Mountain and then spread to southern Fujian, Chaoshan and Taiwan. For about two centuries, Wuyi rock tea was the tea of ??choice for Kung Fu tea practitioners everywhere. At the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, local alternative teas were developed in various places. People in southern Fujian drank Tieguanyin in Anxi, people in Chaoshan drank Fenghuang Dancong tea, and Taiwanese drank Dongding Oolong.
Kongfu tea is famous for its exquisiteness, which has raised Chinese folk tea art to a new level. The strangest thing is that the originator of Wuyishan is not famous for Kung Fu tea. Ten years ago, I went to Wuyi Mountain for an interview. In the villages I visited, people drank tea from large, crude porcelain pots and bowls, showing no particular care. No wonder southern Fujian and Chaoshan areas rarely recognize Wuyi Mountain as the ancestral land of Kung Fu Tea.
(Repost)