Cha fighting in the Song Dynasty
The method of tea fighting in the Song Dynasty is as follows: first boil the water in a bottle, and then mix the paste. The so-called "paste preparation" depends on the size of the tea cup. Use a spoon to pick up a certain amount of processed tea powder and put it into the tea cup. Then pour boiling water in the bottle to mix the tea powder into a thick ointment. The consistency is used as the measure. Before mixing the ointment, you must "warm the cup". Cai Xiang's "Cha Lu": "If the Qi in the cup is hot, the tea will not float if it is cold." Add boiling water. To measure the outcome of a tea fight, first look at the color and uniformity of the tea noodle soup flowers; firstly, look at the traces of water on the inner edge of the cup where the tea soup flowers meet. Tanghua noodles require a bright white color with "pure luster". Folks call it "cold porridge noodles", which means that the soup noodles are like the shape of white rice porridge when it is slightly condensed after being cold; the soup noodles are uniform and moderate, which is called "congee noodles". "grain", as fine and even as white millet grain. The soup flowers will dissipate after being maintained for a period of time. At this time, a circle of water marks will appear on the inner edge of the lamp. The one with the first water mark appears is considered negative. As Zhu Mu said in "Fangyu Shenglan": "The method of fighting is that the one who retreats first is the loser, and the one who lasts the longest is the winner."
Tea fighting usually involves two people fighting against each other, often "three fights and two wins". The unit term for calculating the outcome is "water", and the quality of two teas is said to be "a few degrees of water difference". ".
Doucha began in the Tang Dynasty. According to research, it was created in the tea village of Jianzhou, Fujian, which is famous for the production of tribute tea. Every spring, after new tea is made, tea farmers and tea drinkers rank the best and worst new tea in order. It has the characteristics of comparing skills, winning and losing, and is full of fun and challenge. The victory or defeat of a tea fighting match is like the victory or defeat of a football match today, which attracts the attention of many citizens and villagers. It was called "Tea Battle" in the Tang Dynasty and "Tea Fighting" in the Song Dynasty. It had a strong color of victory and defeat. It was actually a form of tea evaluation and social activity.
Tea fighting, also known as "tea fighting" and "tea fighting", is an "elegant pastime" enjoyed by those who had money and leisure in ancient times. What is tea fighting? Tea fighting, which means competing on the quality of tea, is one of Huizhou's traditional folk customs. Tea fighting began in the Tang Dynasty in Huizhou, Guangdong. It is also said to be the tea town of Jianzhou, Fujian, which is famous for its tribute tea. Tea fighting is a tea ceremony where tea farmers and tea people compare the quality of new tea after it is made every spring. The victory or defeat of a tea fighting match is like the victory or defeat of a football match, which attracts the attention of many tea farmers and tea drinkers. In the Tang Dynasty, it was called "Ming Zhan", and in the Song Dynasty, it was called "Cha Dou". The name is different but the actual thing is the same, both of which have a strong color of competition.
In the Song Dynasty, Su Dongpo already recorded that "outside the mountains, he only favors customs and likes to fight for tea". This custom was still prevalent in Huicheng until the Republic of China. Doucha is developed on the basis of tea tasting. Tea tasting is also called tea tasting. The host invites a few close friends to put the brewed tea into a teacup the size of a small wine glass and taste it carefully like drinking wine. Doucha is different from this. Dou, in Huizhou dialect, means fighting, and also means showing off one's strength and winning in a fight. At that time, a well-educated private school teacher once summed up the meaning of tea fighting by saying, "Comparing the essence of baskets and baskets, competing for judgment and judgment."
Those participating in the tea fight must each offer their famous teas and take turns tasting them to determine the winner. The content of the competition includes the color and aroma of tea leaves, the aroma and mellowness of tea soup, the quality of tea sets, the priority of boiling water, etc. Tea fighting must be judged collectively, and the one with the best preparation wins.
The place for tea fighting is usually in a relatively large-scale tea shop. Most of these shops have two entrances: the front hall is large and serves as the storefront; the back hall is narrow and has a small kitchen - convenient for making tea. Some also have rooms, and the boss’s family also lives in them. Of course, some neighbors and workers are friends with this Taoist, and a few people get together to talk about the tea ceremony, and some even start fighting over it. Some homes have more elegant inner rooms or ancient courtyards with sparse flowers and trees, or their homes are near the river or the West Lake, which are good places for tea fights.
Tea fighting is mostly done during the Qingming Festival, so it is the best time for new tea to come out. The participants in the tea fight are all tea-drinking enthusiasts, ranging from a dozen to five or six people. During the tea fight, there were also many neighbors watching the excitement. If there is a fight in a tea shop, the owners or clerks of nearby shops will take turns to join in the fun, especially the customers who are there and want to buy tea.
The Song Dynasty was an era that paid great attention to tea ceremony. From the emperor to the scholar-officials, everyone wrote books and theorized about it. For example, Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty, Zhao Ji, wrote "Daguan Tea Theory", Cai Xiang wrote "Tea Records", Huang Ru wrote "Tea Tasting Notes"... Some literati in society also have a popular life interest of "tea fighting". According to notes written by people in the Song and Ming Dynasties, the content of tea fighting generally includes the following three aspects: tea fighting, tea ordering, and tea plays.
Tea fighting. When two or more people fight, there are two main aspects: one is the color of the soup, that is, the color of the tea. "Tea is more valuable than white", "green and white are better than yellow and white" (Cai Xiang's "Tea Records"). The second is Tanghua, which refers to the foam on the soup surface. There are two criteria that determine the quality of the soup flower: the first is the color of the soup flower. The color of the soup flower is closely related to the color of the soup, so the two standards are the same; the second is the water mark after the soup flower appears. Whether it appears sooner or later, the earlier one loses and the later one wins.
If the soup is thin and even, like "cold porridge noodles", you can bite the edge of the cup tightly and stay together for a long time. This best effect is called "biting the cup". On the contrary, if the soup blooms, you cannot bite it, as it will spread quickly. Once the soup flowers disperse, "water marks" (brown water lines) will be exposed where the soup and the cup meet. Therefore, the sooner or later the water marks appear will become the basis for the quality of the soup flower.
Sometimes the quality of the tea is slightly inferior to the opponent, but if the water is used properly, it can still win.
Sometimes using the same water to make tea can best test the quality of the tea. In this kind of tea fighting, you must understand the nature of the tea, the quality of the water, and the effects after frying, and you cannot do it blindly. Fan Zhongyan of the Song Dynasty put it well in his "Song of Fighting Tea": "The taste of fighting tea is light and intoxicating, and the fragrance of fighting tea is thin orchid. Among them, the quality of the tea can be deceived, and ten eyes and ten fingers can be used."
Song Dynasty Huizong once said: "Green is the most valuable thing on a cup, rabbit hair is the best." Su Shi's poem "Farewell to Master Qian Nanping" said: "The Taoist came out of Nanping Mountain at dawn to try the three-flavored tea hand. Suddenly he was surprised at noon that the hare hair on the cup was spotted, and he started to fight. Spring vat of goose wine..." This poem illustrates that when Taoist Qianshi in Nanping Mountain was fighting tea, he also used the rabbit hair cup that was admired by people at that time. Cai Xiang, who was appointed as Caosi of Fujian Province in the Song Dynasty (supervising the production of tribute tea affairs), in the book "Tea Records" compiled by the emperor, made it more clear about the relationship between the black porcelain rabbit hair cup and the tea tea: "The color of tea is white, so it is suitable to drink tea." The black cup made in Jian'an is dark and has a pattern like rabbit hair. Its base is slightly thick, so it is most useful. If it comes from other places, the fire is thin or the color is purple, and it is not as good as the blue and white cup. "Because it is not used by Douchi family. "When fighting tea, you must first fight color." The tea color is noble and white, and those with bluish white color are dizzy and heavy in water reception, while those with green color are clear in water reception. People in Jian'an compete for tea. The color of tea is green and white, which is better than yellow and white. Since Doucha likes to use white tea, and the contrast between black and white is sharp, black porcelain tea cups are most important.
There are two main criteria for determining the outcome of a tea fight.
First, the color of the soup. That is the color of tea. The general standard is pure white as the top, green white, gray white, yellowish white, etc. as the lower ones. The pure white color indicates that the tea is fresh and tender. The heat is just right when steaming. The green color indicates that the heat is insufficient during steaming. The gray color indicates that the heat is too high during steaming. The yellow color indicates that the tea was not picked in time. The red color indicates that it was fried. Overcooked.
The second is Tanghua. It refers to the foam that appears on the soup noodles. There are two criteria to determine the quality of Tanghua: the first is the color of Tanghua. Because the color of the soup flower is closely related to the color of the soup, the color standard of the soup flower is the same as the standard of the soup color; secondly, after the soup flower appears, the water mark appears sooner or later. The earlier one is negative and the later one is negative. win. If the tea powder is ground finely, the soup is ordered and whisked just right, and the soup is even and fine, like "cold porridge noodles", you can bite the edge of the cup tightly and stay together for a long time. This best effect is called "biting the lamp". On the contrary, if the soup blooms, you cannot bite it, as it will spread quickly. As soon as the soup flowers disperse, "water marks" (brown water lines) will be exposed where the soup and the cup meet. Therefore, the sooner or later the water marks appear becomes the basis for determining the quality of the soup flower.
Huizhou Tea Culture
Huizhou people’s history of “eating tea” is also very ancient. Pei Yuan's "Records of Guangzhou" in the Eastern Jin Dynasty said: "Gaolu came out of Youping County, another name for Ming. The leaves are large and astringent, and the southerners thought it was a drink." This Youping County was later Guishan County, and it belonged to Huizhou in ancient times. The so-called "Gaolu" is Kucha tea. Lu Yu's "The Book of Tea" also records that Shan Daokai "drank only Su Su". Shan was a native of Dunhuang and settled in Luofu in the first year of Jinpingping (357). Since he wanted to drink tea, he naturally had to grow tea. It is roughly correct to say that tea cultivation in Huizhou began in the Jin Dynasty at the latest.
Tea became popular after the Tang Dynasty, which is closely related to the prosperity of Buddhism. The Tang Dynasty's "Fengshi Hearing and Seeing Notes" said that the southern temple monks "practiced Zen without sleep, and did not eat, and they were allowed to drink tea. They cooked everywhere with their bodies in hand. From then on, they followed suit and became a custom. "One thing he hasn't said yet is that monks regard tea as a "non-sexual" (suppressing sexual desire) medicine and believe that drinking it can help eliminate worldly thoughts. In short, "tea and Buddha are all the same". It is reasonable for Luofu Mountain, where there were many temple visitors in the Tang Dynasty, to be popular in growing and drinking tea. "Complete Poems of the Tang Dynasty" contains Hu Su's poem "Chongxu Guan", which says that "the tea garden is tender in spring and a flag blooms", which shows that there were tea gardens in Luofu Mountain in the Tang Dynasty. Li Ao learned about Xunzhou in the fourth year of Yuanhe in the Tang Dynasty (809). His article "Jieyu" said that Wang Yeren moved to Luofu. "Food", the tea garden at that time was already quite large.
In the Northern Song Dynasty, "tea fighting" had become a folk custom in Huizhou, as evidenced by Dongpo's poems. Dongpo visited Luofu and tasted Zen Master Jingtai's Zhuoxi Spring. He wrote in his "Notes": "Only Hui people outside the ridge like to fight for tea, so the water is worth it!" He also grew tea in Huizhou, and wrote "Growing Tea" Poem: "Although the purple bamboo shoots do not grow long, the solitary root has a long life. Transplanted in Baiheling, after the spring rain when the soil is soft." Purple bamboo shoots are the name of ancient tea. Some people interpret it as "purple bamboo shoots", which is just what it sounds like. There is also a famous poem "Jijiang Jiancha", the first couplet goes: "Living water must be fried with live fire, and you can get deep clarity from the fishing stone." Today, the "Diao Shi" still exists, just on the roadside along the river east of the bridge. There is no more "purity and depth" to be desired, and it is difficult to see the scene of Po Weng's time when "the big ladle stored the moon and returned to the spring urn, and the small ladle was divided into the river and put into the night vase". Later, Tang Geng was demoted to Huizhou and wrote "The Story of a Tea Fight", saying: "Two or three gentlemen competed with each other in Ji'ao Zhai, and I took the water from Longtang to cook it and chose the best one. Which one is the best, a certain time In other words, a certain Fujian man’s merit is particularly high, but he is second to none.” He sent them to Aozhai and Longtang, whose former address is now Xiling in Zizi; to "Zaiyi", he brought dishes to go with tea (one theory is that minced ginger, garlic, onions, leeks, etc. are used for seasoning). The situation of Hui Ren's "tea fight" can be roughly seen here. The word "cook" further indicates that the tea being "cooked" at that time was not the brewing Kung Fu tea today. Dongpo's poem said that "a thin amount of wine is better than tea soup." It is called tea soup because in addition to tea, there are other ingredients such as ginger, onion, pepper, salt, rice, beans, oil and sesame. To enjoy this kind of tea soup boiled with dregs and water, the ancients said "drink", and Huizhou said "eat", which is not unreasonable. In the middle, pour it with soup, and use green onions, ginger, oranges and scallions." This method of drinking tea was recorded in the late Han Dynasty. It is said that it gradually disappeared after the Song Dynasty, but this may not be the case.
There is a Zhuzhi poem circulating in the Hailufeng area that used to belong to Huizhou: "At the time of the meal, the dishes have been eaten, and the teeth and hammers are ringing in several houses. Where can we see the kindness? Look at how many times he hits sesame seeds." The Leicha mentioned here is Hui. The ancient custom of drinking tea is still preserved in East Shanwei and other places. When guests arrive or it is a happy occasion, tea must be beaten to show grandeur. When a child is born for a full month, it is called "full moon tea"; when a new house is built and the beams are raised, it is called "shangliang tea"; when the mother-in-law comes to discuss the marriage of her children for the first time, "in-laws tea" is inevitable. Although the ingredients of tea vary depending on specific conditions, so there are many names such as salty tea, vegetable tea, herbal tea, etc., the cooking method is basically the same as the above-mentioned ancient method.