Sui Xin and her friends spent an afternoon roasting nuts and fruits around a coal stove (炉子) while enjoying freshly boiled white tea. This traditional practice of boiling tea has been described in many ancient Chinese art works. Recently, it has become a popular way for the young to run away from the busy life. It also gives young people of today a chance to get to know more about Chinese tea culture.
Boiling tea over coal stove has always been part of people's lives, especially during cold winters. To promote tea culture among the young, traditional teahouses have turned into new-style ones to meet the tastes of young people. The decoration (装饰) of some stores shows a combination (结合) of traditional Chinese styles and youthful design, such as Heytea's Zhongguancun store in Beijing. Tea makers and modern teahouses are also trying to introduce tea culture to more people by creating new drinks and related (相关的) products to highlight local cultures and history. The drinks and products do catch a lot of people's attention.
Sun Xuling, a co-founder of Theatre Tea, noticed that there has been a clear increase in people's understanding of Chinese tea in the past two years. To meet the need of young people, Theatre Tea is planning on building a tea experience store, which will give customers chances to try different ways of making tea and to learn more about tea culture.
The exploration of new combinations between traditional tea culture, pop culture, and modern life is an exciting and important trend (时尚) in China. With the increasing popularity of Chinese tea, tea makers and teahouses are continuously finding new ways to promote the culture to the young while keeping its traditional customs.
