As is known to all, boiling Tea, steaming tea, and infusing tea are three different ways of enjoying tea.
Boiling tea is a form of tea art. During the prosperous Tang and Song dynasties, Chinese people used to Drink boiled tea. Infusing tea is also an art. As the saying goes: “Use boiling Water for aged tea and hot water for tender tea.” Boiling refers to using freshly boiled water, while infusing means using water from a thermos. Steaming tea, however, is quite rare.
In Liubao Town, Cangwu County, Guangxi, there is another popular way of enjoying tea: braising.
Braising is a commonly used cooking method in southern cuisine. In southeastern Guangxi, there is a unique custom where serving tea is a way of hospitality for locals. Guests are welcomed with tea as if it were wine, and the tea remains warm even after guests leave. This is a tradition among the people of Liubao. “No tea to taste” implies that the host is either indifferent or lazy by nature. If you visit someone and “do not even taste the tea,” it suggests disrespect towards the host.
The reason why locals choose to braise their tea might be due to several factors. Firstly, preparing a pot of braised tea is simple and convenient. Secondly, Liubao aged teas, especially the old tea leaves and young shoots consumed by local residents, are too mature and require boiling or braising. Thirdly, it is said that braising can eliminate parasites in the tea, making it much safer than simply infusing it.
More importantly, braising helps extract the inner substances from the tea.
Due to quality concerns, many teas dare not be braised because they are of poor quality. Some teas treated with Fertilizers to promote growth and increase yield would become soft and pale when braised, and may even disintegrate, revealing their inferior quality at first glance. On the other hand, high-quality teas become more flavorful the longer they are braised.
This can serve as a standard for assessing tea quality. However, it should not be equated directly with quality. To evaluate the quality of tea, multiple factors need to be considered, and one cannot solely rely on whether it withstands braising. First, the ability to withstand braising is related to the raw materials; aged tea leaves, for instance, are naturally more resilient to braising than tender leaves. Second, the relationship between braising endurance and processing techniques is also crucial; excessively processed teas are definitely not suitable for braising. Third, some teas are better suited for multiple infusions rather than braising.
However, within the same category of tea, the better the tea withstands braising, the higher its quality, which makes sense to a certain extent.