Changde folk-custom Taohuayuan Helei tea

Drinking tea is a unique custom in Taohuayuan. Whether it is hot summer or cold winter, people here usually don't eat lunch, but set a table of tea. When guests come home, they will set a table of tea.

Tea mashing is made from ginger, raw rice and raw tea, so it is also called "Sansheng soup". When making tea, first put the above three raw materials (rice must be swollen with water) into a bowl and beat them with a wooden stick to make paddles, which are called "beating tea feet". This stick must be hawthorn. Beating with hawthorn wood can leave a faint and lasting fragrance in tea, and also make the "feet" last for a long time without rotting.

There are also many stresses about making tea and drinking tea. After sitting down, always put a small bowl in front of everyone and a "foot" ball in the bowl. Half a spoonful of "feet" is more appropriate. After transferring the "feet" into the bowl, rinse a bowl of old boiling water with a simmer pot. The pot should be lifted high, the water should be washed quickly, the water should be washed into a whirlpool in the bowl, and the "feet" should be washed evenly in the tumbling water. The pot stopped drinking water, and with the hot air coming out of the bowl, a unique fragrance floated out. You must drink tea while it is hot, preferably when the boiling water has just rushed down and the hot air has not dispersed. At this time, you suddenly feel that your heart is open, your liver and spleen are comfortable, and there is an inexhaustible fragrance in your stomach. Then slowly savor it, spicy and salty, and gradually taste the taste. Wait until a bowl of tea is down, and you will be comfortable and relaxed.

Tea smashing has a long history and is said to have originated in the Eastern Han Dynasty. At that time, the famous general of the imperial court was ordered to attack Hutou Mountain in Wuling in his later years, passing through the village of Aconitum (that is, the area around Taohuayuan). It was midsummer. Unexpectedly, there was a plague epidemic. Hundreds of soldiers fell ill, and Ma Yuan himself was infected with the plague. He had to order troops to be stationed in caves on the hillside and send soldiers to seek medical advice. An old woman here was very moved to see that the military discipline was strict, and Qiu did not commit a crime wherever he went. She volunteered to give her an ancestral secret recipe: using ginger, raw rice and raw tea as paddles, and then rushing into boiling water every day to let the soldiers drink tea. After drinking this soup, the patient's condition is greatly reduced and gradually improved; After taking this soup healthily, it also avoids the spread of plague.

This kind of legend involves Liu Bei, Zhuge Liang and Zhang Fei, but it is more about Ma Yuan. Neither Liu Bei nor Zhuge Liang has been to Wutou Village, which is beyond reproach; Although Zhang Fei took Wuling to Wutou Village, he did not leave a record of the epidemic of plague. Only Ma Yuan's statement can be found in historical records. There are Ma Shi (House), Fu Bo Cave, Mawangmiao, Mawangxi and other monuments and commemorative landscape names as evidence. But whoever it is has been smashing the source of tea for a long time.

Smashing tea is actually a kind of drink. Because the "foot" is ground, the famous tea is broken. Later, people put sesame seeds and salt in tea to increase the color, fragrance and taste of tea. Gradually, this kind of tea became famous.

Tea smashing is divided into clear water smashing tea and paste smashing tea, and clear water smashing tea is the kind mentioned above. As for pasty tea, it is to melt rice noodles with cold water, cook them in an iron pot on rice, add "feet", mix well and cook them slightly.

Whether it is clear water or muddy tea, the effect is the same. It can soothe the liver and regulate the intestines, dispel the epidemic and avoid the epidemic. Now, while drinking tea, there are many foods on the table, such as fried soybeans, peanuts, shells, Baba, canned vegetables, cakes and so on. These things are collectively called "pressing tables".