By drawing patterns on the surface of a cup of tea, Chabaixi, an ancient Chinese tea trick shown in a recent TV drama, has gone viral for it is similar to modern latte art (咖啡拉花). However, ten years ago, this special technique was close to disappearing completely. Zhang Zhifeng, a practitioner of Chabaixi, found scenes of Chabaixi in the drama aroused great interest among ordinary people, so he started to try his best to recover it.
Chabaixi can create endless patterns such as bamboos and mountains or even calligraphy. There are over a dozen steps from grinding (碾碎) tea for fine powder to pouring boiled water, stirring the mixture for thick froth (泡沫) and finally drawing the patterns. It is different from making latte because people use clear water as the object to put into the cup instead of milk. But when the water touches the surface of whipped (搅打起泡沫的) tea, it turns into a white color and disappears in 20 minutes. The process before the drawing is known as the tea-making technique, diancha, the quality of which is important to whether patterns can be successfully produced later.
"Chabaixi is one of the countless forms of tea-making techniques in China. The importance of Chabaixi is that not only is this technique special in the world, but also gives us a window into people's lifestyle in the Song Dynasty, a period of time when relaxation activities in some ways are like what we have now." Zhang said.
"This technique is key to the tea culture of the Song Dynasty and it would be a shame to let it disappear. This technique must be passed on to the next generations so they can understand its history." Zhang said.
