Dai Bamboo-Tube Tea, Hani Clay-Pot Tea, and Jinuo Tea Salad
The tea mountains of Xishuangbanna and Pu'er are home to many peoples, including the Dai, Hani, Jinuo, Bulang, and Lahu. In their lives, tea isn't just a drink but also food, a gift, and a way of welcoming guests. Using what's at hand, each people has developed ways of preparing tea completely different from Han Chinese brewing. Here are three customs that are often mentioned.
Dai Bamboo-Tube Tea
The Dai live mainly in the plains and river valleys of Xishuangbanna, Dehong, and elsewhere, where bamboo is the most common material in daily life, and bamboo-tube tea was born of that.
How it's made
- Choose a tender, fragrant bamboo (often called "fragrant bamboo") and cut it into a tube with a node at one end.
- Pack sun-dried maocha into the tube.
- Roast the tube beside the fire pit so the leaves soften with the heat.
- Press the softened leaves down tightly with a wooden stick, add more leaves, and keep roasting and pressing until the tube is full.
- Once the leaves are roasted dry, split open the tube and take out a cylinder of tea carrying the fresh fragrance of bamboo.
How it's drunk
To drink it, break off a small piece and steep it with boiling water in a bowl, or simmer it in a pot. The tea carries bamboo's distinctive fresh fragrance, a flavor different from ordinary shaiqing maocha.
Bamboo-tube tea is also a kind of "compression," which, like pressing cakes, makes it easy to store and carry. Bamboo-tube tea products are sold on the market today too; see Bamboo-Tube Tea. The Lahu and Bulang have similar bamboo-tube tea methods.
Hani Clay-Pot Tea
The Hani live in the mountains of southern Yunnan. Nannuo Mountain in Menghai, Xishuangbanna, is an important Hani community and a famous ancient tea mountain; see Nannuo Mountain.
How it's made
- Fill a pot fired from clay with water and bring it to a boil over the fire pit.
- Toss in a handful of home-dried maocha.
- Keep boiling for a few minutes so the tea flavor fully comes out.
- Ladle it out and drink from cups made of bamboo.
When it's served
Clay-pot tea is often used to welcome guests: when someone visits, the host boils a pot of tea, and everyone drinks and chats. Tea boiled in a clay pot is rich, with notes of woodsmoke and earthenware. A pot of tea is shared by everyone, giving it a strong sense of togetherness.
The difference between boiling and steeping tea is that the leaves keep heating in the water, so the flavor is richer. If you'd like to try it at home, see Simmering Pu'er.
Jinuo Tea Salad
The Jinuo live mainly on Jinuo Mountain in Jinghong, Xishuangbanna, known in the past as Youle Mountain, one of the famous "Six Ancient Tea Mountains" of the Qing dynasty; see Youle Mountain and the Jinuo People.
Jinuo tea salad turns tea leaves directly into a dish; its Jinuo name is often transliterated as "labopipi."
How it's made
- Pick fresh, tender tea leaves.
- Rub and crush them by hand until soft, and put them in a large bowl.
- Add local seasonings, commonly chili, garlic, and salt, sometimes also huangguo leaves (a local herb) and pickled bamboo shoots.
- Add a little spring water, mix well, and let it rest so the flavors meld.
How it's eaten
Tea salad is usually eaten with rice. It tastes fresh, slightly bitter, spicy, and salty, and it's great with rice. This way of eating preserves tea in its most primitive form: before the invention of tea-making techniques, people may well have eaten fresh leaves just like this.
At home, you can make a similar salad with the spent leaves of brewed young raw tea; the method is in Cooking with Pu'er.
Comparing the Three Customs
| Dai bamboo-tube tea | Hani clay-pot tea | Jinuo tea salad | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Raw material | Sun-dried maocha | Sun-dried maocha | Fresh tender leaves |
| Equipment | Fragrant bamboo tube, fire pit | Clay pot, bamboo cups | Large bowl |
| Method | Roasted into a tea cylinder, then steeped | Boiled in a pot | Crushed and dressed |
| Form | Drink | Drink | Food (side dish) |
| Occasion | Daily life, hosting guests, carrying | Hosting guests, gatherings | Everyday meals |
Do These Customs Still Exist?
Yes, but their form is changing. As transportation and lifestyles change, young people of each people have also grown used to brewing tea in gaiwans and teapots, and traditional customs aren't as common in daily life as they once were. However:
- They're still common at village festivals, weddings, and when hosting guests;
- Many guesthouses and cultural events on the tea mountains let visitors experience them;
- Bamboo-tube tea and others have become products you can buy on the market.
These customs vary from village to village; the above are general ethnographic descriptions. If you have the chance to visit the tea mountains, the best way is to ask locals and experience them yourself; see Visiting Yunnan's Tea Mountains.
FAQ
How do the Dai drink tea? A common way is bamboo-tube tea: maocha is packed into a fragrant bamboo tube, roasted and pressed until full, then the tube is split to remove the tea cylinder, and a piece is broken off to steep or boil.
What is Hani clay-pot tea? Water is boiled in a clay pot, maocha is added and boiled for a few minutes, and the tea is ladled into bamboo cups; it's often used to welcome guests.
How is Jinuo tea salad made? Fresh, tender leaves are crushed and mixed with chili, garlic, salt, and other seasonings plus a little spring water, and eaten as a side dish with rice.
Do these customs still exist? Yes. They're still common at festivals, when hosting guests, and in cultural experiences, but in daily life young people mostly brew tea in ordinary ways.