Tea and Teahouse in Sichuan

Tea and Teahouse

General Information about Tea

Tea was first produced of daily life in China for at least 1,500 years. Teahouses in China have always been the equivalent of the French cafes or the British pubs. It seems to be no threat of being replaced by coffee and other drinks, despite the spread of coffee shops and pubs in cities.

The word “tea”, one of the few words of Chinese origin used frequently in English, is derived from the plant’s name as it is pronounced in south China. In standard Chinese it is called “cha”. Local people in south China have their own dialects, which pronounce “cha” as “te” or “tay”. The vowel in “te” or “tay” sounds rhyming with the “e”.

In the seventeenth century, tea was introduced into Indonesia, where local people in Java picked up the sound of “te” or “tay” pronounced by people in China’s Fujian areas. Later Dutchmen arrived there and soon learned how to drink tea. They brought tea back to Europe. Of course, the “te” pronunciation was transferred into Europe as well as Britain.

In the early days, people usually crushed tealeaves to powder or tiny pieces before they were soaked thoroughly in a liquid. This custom has passed over to the Japanese tea in leaf form.

There are many ways to classify tea. In terms of tea processing it falls into three categories:

1.       Green, or unfermented tea;

2.       Black, or fermented tea;

3.       Semi-fermented tea. The qualities of both green and black tea are perfected through elaborate presses.

Incidentally “black tea” was translated into Chinese as “red tea”, and gradually people

accepted the translation. These three types of tea can be made from the same leaves, though different areas in China have historically been associated with different types of tea.

People drink tea before or after a meal. It is also drunk at any time of say or night. A tea drinker commonly brews his/her tea in cup first by dropping a bit of dry tea leaves into the cup and then dropping a bit of dry tea leaves into the cup and then fills the cup one-third full with hot boiled water. The franker refills the cup before he/she starts to drink. People often say that the tea water smells and tastes best after the third water infusion. Sometimes a heavy tea drinker brews his/her tea twice or even three times. Usually a “dose” of leaves lasts the whole day.

Tea and Teahouse in Chengdu

Three thousand year age, local people in Sichuan areas began to drink tea. According to a historic book by the name of General Sichuan History, local people began to plant tea during the Western Han Dynasty (206BC—24AD). Tea is very popular in Sichuan, especially in Chengdu.

 Located on the streets in City of Chengdu, Sichuan Province, it serves unique local diet and those teahouses carry the Sichuan local living style. It is an important social interaction and gathering place since ancient times.

Sichuan has teahouses in towns and cities everywhere; it has most teahouses in China. We can tell how the people of Sichuan like sitting in the teahouse from the antithetical couplet in their teahouses,

"When is busy, stop by the teahouse take a quick break, Give me a cigarette and help me forget the unhappiness."

How interesting and lively described! It is clear that the people of Sichuan have already regarded going to the teahouse as a part of their life.

The teahouse in Sichuan, particularly in Chengdu, provides the locals a social gathering, entertainment, and chatting place. People in the city formed a habit of stop by the teahouses for a while, to make friends, get together with relatives and friends, know about the social trends, find out news and even hearsay.

Therefore, the teahouse is the place for social in Chengdu, reflecting the life habits and social culture of the local people. In fact, the teahouse had the function of reconciling social disputes in the old days. Having unsettled problems, people would go to the teahouse to discuss and work out methods to settle the disputes.

The teahouse in Chengdu has another function, which is providing the programs and messages of culture and entertainment. The teahouse possesses the performance of Sichuan opera and the local folk artists; it produce various programs from time to time for the Sichuan dulcimer opera or the traditional operas. Sometimes there are storytelling, film reviews, and so forth. They are design to satisfy entertainment and interests taste of the local people.

Sichuan has its own character of serving tea; the teahouse in Sichuan plays the role of making a stormy sea stormier. Up to now the teahouse has been an indispensable center in Sichuan people's life. If you come here, you will fully grasp the local diet culture and life style of people in Sichuan.

The teahouse is not a scenic spot, but it is full of sight efficacy of sightseeing and amusing. So we suggest if you come to Chengdu, it is a good idea for you to have a sit in teahouse. It will be a life time experience you will not forget.

The people of Sichuan pursuit comfort when having tea. The ornament of teahouse is not the table for eight people in south of the Yangtze River but little tea table or little square table. The seat pattern in the teahouse in east Sichuan can not only be sat but also can be lied, while the pattern in west Sichuan is just the bamboo chair with back, very stable and comfortable.

The tea sets are mostly teakettles, teacups in teahouses in other provinces, while the tea sets in Sichuan teahouse are mainly for "three sets", and they are porcelain bowl, porcelain cover, and metal pallet. There is a round hole in the center of the pallet, in which the foot of the porcelain bowl just enchase and it is difficult to turn over.

This design benefit is: the volume of the tea bowl is moderate and when watering the tea fragrance can fully got off from the bowl, while the porcelain cover not only can keep heat but also is ventilate. The water serving man is putting the long mouth copper kettle and adding hot water to customers' teakettle for more than 3 meters away from the kettle, but the water will not spatter to the table. You will no doubt praise the difficult and brilliant technical of the water service man.