What is morning tea

Morning tea, Chinese social eating custom. The custom of morning tea is mostly found in the southern region of China, especially in Guangdong and Jiangsu Yangzhou Taizhou Yancheng area. When it comes to the traditional culture of Guangdong, morning tea is one of the most colorful. Food in Guangzhou, flavor in Xiguan.

Xiguan is the core area of Guangzhou's culinary culture for more than 300 years, and the birthplace of the most authentic Cantonese dim sum, Guangzhou's top ten snacks are all from the Xiguan area. When you come to Guangzhou, you must come to Xiguan to drink tea and morning tea, naturally, Xiguan famous snacks. On weekends and holidays, Cantonese people gather at teahouses to enjoy morning tea with their young and old, or with three or five friends. Sigh" means "enjoyment" in Cantonese, so it is clear that drinking morning tea is a pleasant pastime in the minds of Cantonese people, and at this level it is no different from any other recreational activity.

Basic Information

Chinese Name

Morning Tea

Main Ingredients

Black Tea, Oolong Tea .......

Flavor

Aroma

Origin

Guangdong and Jiangsu Yangtai regions

Features

Dried shreds are made from dried bean curd, and the person who cuts the dried shreds first shaves a piece of dried bean curd evenly with a knife into about 20 slices, then lays it out diagonally and cuts it into thin shreds comparable to matchsticks, and then pours it into boiling water to rinse it repeatedly. Because of the lye, the dried shreds are soft and chewy.

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Origin of Morning Tea

Soviet Morning Tea

Morning tea in the Yangtai region can be traced back to the pre-mid-Qing period. "Taking the top prize and tasting the tea before the rain, the building opens to the green rain to try the new tea." This is a poem by Zhu Yueting, a poet from Taizhou during the Daoguang period of the Qing Dynasty. As the poet describes, before the middle of the Qing Dynasty, Taizhou's teahouses were only a single business of tea, which gave birth to "Yu Xuan", "Green Rain House", "Guangshengju", "Pin Xiang" and other well-known teahouses. In the late Qing Dynasty, some foreign merchants and local people opened teahouses one after another, and the competition among peers was fierce. In order to attract business, some teahouses in addition to tea, and sell dried silk, noodles and other snacks, this innovative business ideas gradually affected the food industry in Taizhou.

The late Qing Dynasty, "Fuchun", "Hailing Spring", "Yiyuan", "the residence of" and "Da Dong Restaurant" and other teahouses came into being. "The people who live" is Taizhou teahouse in a well-known old store, its store site was in the Sun Jiaqiao near the Qing Dynasty, due to the taste of this morning tea is very good, when the people of Taizhou are rushed to "the people who live" to taste the morning tea, so that the teahouse business is booming, to go late! It is difficult to be seated, but there are still diners waiting for a place in the store, which has left a hysteria in the local folk in Taizhou, which is: "How can you be so 'the person who lives'?" It means that this person is stubborn and inflexible.

"Dadong Restaurant" is a teahouse founded in the early 1940s, it was opened by a Wu Dongtai boss, Wu boss is quite good at business, he opened, a change in the pattern of monotonous varieties of morning tea in Taizhou, he was in the quality of the morning tea, the type of up and down the work, the launch of the fish noodle soup, the big boiled dry silk, small cage Soup buns and other new varieties of morning tea, although the price is more expensive than other teahouses, but still attracted many diners to come to taste, even the commander of the army in Thailand at that time, Li Changjiang, also patronized from time to time. With the change of the years, most of the old teahouses no longer exist, but the streets and alleys of Taizhou are still dotted with many small and large stores operating morning tea. This is also known as Fu Chun Hotel, Continental Hotel, Pi Bao Shui Teahouse and more than 10 hotels in the morning tea is the most famous. In addition to Fu Chun, several other hotels are now moved to restore the old street in Taizhou.

Cantonese Morning Tea

Morning Tea

Morning Tea

Talking about the origin of Guangdong Morning Tea, we have to trace back to the reign of Xianfeng Tongzhi. At that time in Guangzhou, there is a kind of pavilion called "Yili Museum", hanging in front of the door with the word "Tea" two wooden signs, supply tea and cakes, simple facilities, only a few wooden tables and benches to welcome customers, chatting for passers-by to rest their feet and talk. Later appeared tea house, scale gradually larger, into the teahouse, since then the Guangdong people on the teahouse drink morning tea has become a trend. Until today, Guangdong morning tea in tea has become a supporting role, tea but more and more exquisite and diverse, this traditional culture with the rapid development of Guangdong's economy has not only no signs of disappearing, but more and more become the leisure life of the Guangdong people in a bright landscape. There is also a called "2% Museum" also for the same snacks, the difference lies in the price and equipment, teahouse tea to three minutes 6%, while the 2% Museum of tea costs only 2%, a far cry, a full sixteen times. Some of the old-fashioned teahouses are divided into levels, upstairs is more expensive than downstairs, because the upstairs air-conditioning (or electric fan) and the place is more spacious reason. Since the name "morning tea", tea is naturally an indispensable part of Cantonese morning tea. The tea for morning tea is mainly black tea, which warms the stomach, removes greasiness and facilitates digestion. Commonly, there are fermented tea (Anhua black tea, Pu-erh tea, etc.), oolong tea (Iron Goddess of Mercy, Da Hong Pao, etc.), and some people also like to drink chrysanthemum tea, i.e., adding chrysanthemums to Pu-erh tea, to take its coolness to get rid of fire. Black tea is dark red, thick, bitter and astringent, and although it is not as good as green tea in terms of sight and taste, it is an excellent match for the richly flavored teas in Guangdong's morning tea.

Guangdong morning tea's longevity, and Guangdong since ancient times, trade flourished, rapid economic development is inseparable. In Guangdong, the morning tea time can talk about business, exchange of information, but also can meet friends, talk about the world. Businessmen take the teahouse as a place for negotiation, while ordinary people express their pressure here and get half a day's leisure. In the old days, there was a couplet in Guangzhou's "Miaoqixiang" teahouse:

"Busy for fame, busy for profit, busy, drink a cup of tea to go;

Labored bitter, labor bitter, bitter in the joy, take a pot of wine to come."

A couplet on the third floor of the famous teahouse "Tao Taoju" in Guangzhou reads:

"Tao Qian is a good drinker, Yi Ya is a good cook, and he meets the gentleman in the seat;

Tao Kan is a good drinker, Xia Yu is a good cook, and it is a pity to see the time in the cup. "

Think should be the vast majority of Cantonese people drink morning tea when the psychological portrait of it.

Tea time

Soviet tea time

Talking about the varieties of morning tea in Yangzhou, Taizhou and Yancheng, the "protagonist" is dried silk. Taizhou dry silk is by the Suzhong famous chef Xing Guisen research and development, Xing Guisen was originally the imperial chef Ji three crippled disciple, Ji three crippled to specialize in cooking dry silk is famous. In the Republic of China, Xing Guisen worked as a chef in Wan Hua Lou on Xicang Street in Taizhou, and he introduced handmade hot dry silk for the public after intensive research.

The dried silk is cut from dried tofu, and the person who cuts the dried silk first uses a knife to cut a piece of dried tofu evenly into about 20 slices, and then diagonally spreads and cuts it into thin strands comparable to matchsticks, and then pours it into boiling water to scald it over and over again. Because of the lye, the shredded tofu is soft and chewy. Of course, the dried threads themselves have no flavor, and rely on seasonings to blend them in. Soy sauce, water, sugar, salt, adjusted to the right degree of intensity, slightly sweet and fresh flavor, this process is called "boiling oil", sesame oil is an addition to start the aroma. Sprinkle ginger, cilantro, carrots, peanuts, squash diced into a light and delicious hot dry silk. As for the boiled dried threads, they are made with meat, shrimp, mushrooms, bamboo shoots, fungus, greens and other auxiliary ingredients, and boiled in a high soup.

Yangzhou people, Taizhou, Yancheng people in the morning tea, most of the choice to Anhui Kui needle, Zhu Lan and Hangzhou Longjing three mixed with the preparation of the "Fu Xiang" tea, this tea to bubble, clear color, rich and mellow, melting Kui needle color, Zhu Lan of the aroma of the flavor of the Longjing in one. There is also a story about this tea, according to legend, in the old days, Taizhou teahouse tea drinkers were divided into levels, the gentry and wealthy businessmen drink Longjing, ordinary families drink Kui needle, foreigners in Thailand drink Zhulan, drink these three kinds of tea are required to pay. Teahouse in the next day will sell the remaining three kinds of tea leaves mixed with the end of the brewing, free of charge to provide to the carter, porter and other low-wage members of society to drink. Once, a salt merchant relatives inadvertently drank this tea, feel very good, then recommended to the salt merchant, the salt merchant drank, this blend of composite flavor of the tea called "Fu (compound) incense" tea, and recommended to friends and colleagues. One by ten, ten by a hundred, over time, this "Fu Xiang" tea became the new favorite of the people at that time. Nowadays, "Fuxiang" tea is being promoted, and more people are enjoying the happy time brought by this famous tea.

Noodles are the "grand finale" of Yangtai Salt Morning Tea. Including fish soup noodles, fresh meat wontons, dry noodles, boiling noodles, fried noodles and other varieties, which is the most popular fish soup noodles awarded at the 1942 Panama International Exposition. The fish soup of fish soup noodles is very sophisticated, with wild eel bones, small carp, large pig bones stir-fried with onions and ginger, and then slowly simmered over high heat. After the noodles are cooked, they are served in the thick fish soup, sprinkled with small peppercorns and garlic leaves to bring out the tantalizing flavor of the fish. Forking the smooth noodles and drinking the mellow fish soup, the refreshing flavor surrounds the heart for a long time, and the old Taizhou diners commented on it as "thick in the mouth, and moist in the stomach". As with the Cantonese morning tea, Taizhou morning tea in the dim sum varieties are also many, there are crab roe soup dumplings, bamboo shoots ding meat buns, radish silk buns, three ding big buns, mushroom and green cabbage buns, dried vegetable buns, shrimp steamed dumplings, glutinous rice dumplings, lasagna and so on, dim sum skin selection of high-quality wheat flour, filled with fresh meat and fresh meat and aquatic products, coupled with the handmade ready to do now steaming, so the thin skin filled with snacks tastes fluffy, tender and tasty. If you want to taste every kind of dim sum, you can also choose a variety of dim sum have the same mixed cage.

Cantonese tea

The status of tea in Guangdong morning tea is also very important. Refreshments are divided into wet and dry two kinds, dry points have dumplings, powder fruit, buns, crispy points, etc., wet points are congee, meat, tortoise jelly, tofu flower, etc.. Among them, the dry points are the most exquisite, and sells very well. For example, every teahouse must make the signature shrimp dumplings, translucent crystal dumpling skin wrapped in two or three tender shrimp, before lifting a very small glimpse of the crystal in a little red, to be gently bitten after the mouth, the crystal dumpling skin peculiarly pliable and the shrimp's natural sweetness and crunchy combination of delicious taste, let a person have a long and memorable memory. Another example is the special bird's nest egg tart made by some high-class teahouses, in which several layers of golden and crispy egg tart shells are filled with tender yellow bird's nests that are translucent and transparent, which is already appetizing, not to mention that the sweetness and softness of the bird's nests and the powdery crispness of the puff pastry after entering the mouth are a perfect combination, which is so delicious that you can't stop eating it. The congee, such as congee and congee, skinny meat congee with egg, and congee with sliced fish, is a soft and smooth congee with different meats, fish, and eggs, accompanied by crispy shrimp and green onion, and sprinkled with a small spoonful of pepper, which makes it taste sticky, sweet, and rich in flavor.

At this point, you may not be able to resist the temptation to try the Cantonese morning tea. But wait, how much do you know about the etiquette of Cantonese morning tea? Cantonese people have several small etiquettes when drinking morning tea, such as opening the lid of the teapot when there is no water in it to show that it needs to be refilled, the habit of knocking on the table with the index and middle fingers of the right hand slightly flexed to show appreciation when someone pours tea for them, and shouting "pay the bill" to the waiter after finishing the morning tea. How did this etiquette come about?

Let me tell you a little bit about these etiquettes. Allusion in the "buried", in fact, is the bill to the pile, the meaning of the collection, that is, the checkout: and pouring tea "knocking hand salute" is from Qianlong's micro-visit to the South: legend has it that when Qianlong in the teahouse to the attendant pouring tea, the attendant in order not to disclose his identity, to bend his hands to knock on behalf of the desktop kowtow, which has been passed down, and now even more from the Guangzhou morning tea table spread to all parts of the country: open the lid to renew the same water from an interesting story: once upon a time there was a rich merchant to go to the teahouse to drink tea, the seat called to the waiter to renew the water, the results of the other side to open the lid of the teapot, the rich merchant will bite into the pot of canaries were released, and the teahouse and the teahouse lawsuit, the results of the final teahouse lost the lawsuit, from the boss of the teahouse will be stipulated that the guests to renew the water must be opened by themselves to open the lid of the teapot. Although it is only a legend, but the two sides through a small action to communicate with each other, do not need to call out loud, should also be considered a civilized embodiment.

Intestinal noodles

Intestinal noodles, also known as rolled noodles, pork intestinal noodles (due to the shape of pig intestines), during the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression by the Panton Lotus Hall created, now snack stores, teahouses, restaurants, hotels are supplied. It is the rice paste in a special multi-layer steamer or cloth steamed sheet by sheet into a thin skin, respectively, put on meat, fish, shrimp, etc., steamed and rolled into long strips, cut on the plate. To add raw materials called beef sausage, pork sausage, fish sausage and shrimp (kernel) sausage; without filling is known as the column sausage; rice syrup with sugar is called sweet sausage.

In Hong Kong, Guangdong and other places, intestinal noodles are often served with soy sauce or spicy sauce flavored with peanut oil. In Singapore and Malaysia, it is flavored with sesame seeds and sweet sauce, which may be unaccustomed to Cantonese and Hong Kong diners, but has a nice local flavor.

Boat congee

After the end of the Han Dynasty, Guangzhou became a major commercial port. Tang Xianzu, a famous playwright of the Ming Dynasty, once used the phrase "ten thousand wells on the river, a thousand ships on the ground" to describe the busy scene and majestic momentum of Guangzhou harbor. Against this historical background, Boat Chai Congee, a specialty congee, was introduced in Lai Chi Wan, Xiguan, Guangzhou. At that time, the western suburb of Guangzhou, with its rivers and streams and the red lotus, was rated as one of the eight scenic spots of Yangcheng - "Lai Fishermen Singing". Many literati visited the area by boat, and the boatmen would cook congee on their boats to sell to the tourists. This porridge with fresh fish, fried vermicelli, jellyfish skin, peanut kernels as ingredients, taste extremely fresh, coupled with the beautiful scenery of the boat light, wind and water cold, extremely poetic.

Shrimp Dumplings

Shrimp dumplings, stuffed with fresh shrimp, are truly shrimp dumplings. Shrimp dumplings can be considered the first brother of Cantonese morning tea, and every teahouse is the first to promote its own homemade shrimp dumplings. It is said that the idea of shrimp dumplings originated from the owner of a small teahouse in Guangzhou's Henan countryside. Because the small teahouse is in the water countryside, there are often fishermen selling fish and shrimp in the river, the owner will buy live shrimp, with pork, bamboo shoots, etc. as a filling, original production of shrimp dumplings, shrimp and the freshness of the famous Guangzhou.

A good shrimp dumpling, it must be crystal clear skin, crisp and not sticky teeth. And inside the filling must be the original fresh shrimp for the genuine, at the same time, this fresh shrimp also have to pay attention to: it can not be chilled shrimp, in order to prevent the entrance to the mouth when the feeling is watered down. Finally, you also need to pay attention to the ingredients pork, pork wrapped in fresh shrimp, to put the right amount of parties, do not overpower the main event.

Siu mai

Siu mai, famous traditional snacks. Also known as siu mai, xiao mai, a little wheat, a little plum, burnt plums, ghost puffy head, is to describe the top of the fluffy bundle folded in the shape of a flower, is a kind of hot noodle skin wrapped in stuffing, steamed in a cage of noodle snacks. In Cantonese morning tea, siu mai is the second brother in the menu, just below shrimp dumplings. Cantonese siu mai, with dry steamed siu mai, fresh shrimp siu mai, crab meat siu mai, pork liver siu mai, beef siu mai and pork ribs siu mai are the main ones.

Which, in the 1930s, dry steamed siu mai has been popular in Guangdong, the past 20 years, and spread to large and medium-sized cities in Guangxi, Lingnan teahouse, restaurant tea market must have. Dry Steamed Siu Mai is made of egg, water and flour as skin, pork, shrimp and mushroom as filling, pinched into the shape of pomegranate flower and steamed. The color of the skin is yellowish, the crab roe is bright, the skin is soft, the meat is smooth, and there is a little bit of juice, which is delicious and fragrant.

Steamed Spare Ribs in Black Bean Sauce

Steamed Spare Ribs in Black Bean Sauce, a classic Cantonese morning snack, will be cleaned spare ribs, scallions and other ingredients in the pot to burst incense, sheng out, in the format of the seasoning mix, plus taro, or pumpkin, or carrots, etc., and finally mixed into the tempeh in the steamer to the aroma of the steamer, it is indeed mouth-watering.

For a good steamed ribs with black bean sauce, the ribs must be steamed off the bone, not stuffed but still chewy. The flavor of the black bean sauce should be completely integrated with the meat flavor of the ribs, chewing in the mouth, a strange aroma will be constant. It is worth mentioning the ingredients, if you add taro, it must be slightly fried with the bottom; if it is pumpkin, it needs to be cooked to be very soft and smooth, preferably with sand; if it is white radish, it is soft but also can not fall apart. These ingredients adsorb the meaty juice of the ribs, and make it absolutely unforgettable to eat.

Steamed phoenix claws

Statistics have shown that steamed phoenix claws have been one of the most popular daily snacks in restaurants and tea markets for many years. This is enough to show that the people of Guangdong for the love of phoenix claws is heartfelt. Phoenix claw by deep-fried, steamed, hair burst full and fluffy, a suck that is off the bone, plus all the flavors of the sauce, eat up all of a sudden will be the teeth and cheeks, even gnawing