Along with firewood, rice, oil, salt, sauce and- vinegar, tea is considered one of the seven necessities for life in China. Now, it has also won global recognition as a shared cultural treasure of mankind.
On Nov. 29, Chinese traditional tea processing skills and their related social practices were added to the UNESCO intangible cultural heritage (非物质文化遗产) list. Since ancient times, Chinese people have been planting, picking, making and drinking tea.
More importantly, China's tea culture has formed Chinese customs. It is Chinese traditional custom that a host should welcome visiting guests with boiled tea. A poem by Song poet Du Lei reads, "I offer tea, not wine, to a guest on a cold night. When water boils on the stove, fire burns with flame bright. "
Boiling tea is one of the oldest Chinese tea brewing methods, dating back to the Tang Dynasty (618-907). Tea leaves were boiled for a long time and sometimes they were cooked together with different kinds of herbs and fruits. During this process, people can enjoy a quiet time. Later in the Ming Dynasty(1368-1644), a faster and more convenient method become more popular-steeping(冲泡).
_______▲_______. On the app Xiaohongshu, or Little Red Book, there are over 40, 000posts on the topic of "stove-boiled tea"(围炉煮茶). They lightly roast tea leaves before boiling them in a teapot on a stove. People sit around the stove in a natural setting and have snacks with their hot tea. Some also wear traditional hanfu as if it could take them back to those ancient times. Through" stove-boiled tea", people can taste a slower life and find their inner peace. As is written in one Xiaohongshu post, "It is very relaxing to drink hot tea, feel the fall breeze, and chat with best friends."
