In fact
Aside from the commonly enjoyed “Laba Porridge,”
there is another Laba beverage in the Tea world—the “Laba Tea.”
Have you heard of it?
What's in Laba Tea?
Laba Tea, also known as Eight-Treasure Tea, has origins dating back to the Tang Dynasty, making it a famous tea with over 1,400 years of history. It is said that during the prosperous Tang period on the Silk Road, merchants would commonly brew a tea soup using dried fruits from various regions along with tea leaves, which served as an early form of Laba Tea for quenching thirst.
Laba Tea typically consists of eight components, including tea leaves, red dates, goji berries, walnut kernels, longan, sesame seeds, raisins, and chrysanthemum flowers, among others. Additional ingredients can be added according to personal preference.
How to Brew Laba Tea?
The only requirement for drinking Laba Tea is to use a lidded bowl, as most of the tea ingredients are dried fruits. After pouring boiling water over them, the ingredients need to be stewed with steam to achieve the best taste, making a lidded bowl the perfect choice.
Place the eight ingredients into a lidded bowl and rinse with boiling water, causing the ingredients to swirl within the bowl. When savoring the tea, one will notice slight variations in each sip, as each ingredient releases its unique flavor at different times and temperatures.
On ordinary days, Tea drinking is about aroma and taste, but drinking Laba Tea is more about the process of preparing and blending the ingredients, along with the festive atmosphere. It's lively and interesting, imbued with the warmth of daily life.
How Many Infusions Can You Get from Laba Tea?
In general, Laba Tea can be infused multiple times, with each dried fruit requiring a different brewing time. This means that every bowl offers a fresh experience.
The first Infusion may be slightly lighter in taste, while the second sees the dried fruits gradually infuse, resulting in a richer flavor. By the last sip at the bottom of the bowl, there's a refreshing sweetness, as the rock sugar at the bottom slowly dissolves.
This wonderful, gradually changing taste in a single bowl of tea is truly irresistible. After several infusions, the red dates, raisins, and longans become plump, and the tea broth is filled with fruity fragrance, becoming even sweeter. This marks the golden moment for Eight-Treasure Tea.
What Are the Joys of Drinking Laba Tea?
When drinking Laba Tea, people often enjoy the blending process. The soaked dried fruits can be eaten while drinking, and new tea ingredients can be added. Its sweet and delicious taste, combined with a unique mouthfeel, has the benefits of nourishing yin and moistening the lungs, clearing the throat, and soothing the voice. It's vivid and fun, imbued with the flavors of everyday life, representing a unique pleasure and carefree state.
Selecting different types of tea can bring about overall changes in Laba Tea: choosing black tea can create a harmonious blend of rich fruity aroma and fragrant, mellow black tea, leaving a lasting aftertaste; selecting Pu'er, with its warm and smooth character, can also have excellent detoxifying and beautifying effects. There's no need for the complexity or ritual of formal tea tasting, just ease and spontaneity, which is part of the charm of Laba Tea.