A Bud N One Leaf

Dear Readers,

Since the accessiblity problem (the site is not viewable to my readers living in China.) is still pending, after tried a number of blog providers, I finally decided to open a new blog with the following blog platform for those who have been complaining that they couldn't view my blog.

My new blog site is: http://specialitytea.blog.sohu.com/

Mainwhile, I'll still update text contents at here as a backup, so you could read my writing and gossip at the famaliar URL.      

Thanks for stay with A Bud N One Leaf! 

Since this week (or maybe longer?), I'm not able to view my blog though I can post and edit, so do my blog visitors who get online through China isp providers. Blog.com was alerted of the problem with question ticket raised by me.

The internet problem brought me back to the middle ages, my posts are like drift bottles carried away by a black sea, out of sight from people at this shore... We are now so accustomed to the exsistence of modern technology, which makes our live convenient, without which we would somehow feel paralyzed.

Maybe it's time to pick up an old fashion tea break to fully relax: boil water in a clay pot over a clay stove fueled with charcoals to brew a cuppa in porcelain cups. Good suggestion, but, hold on: tap water or bottled water from supermarket could not be old-fashioned classic; I'm not suppose to drill a well in my block, rivers in my city do not meet the drinkable standard yet, and in this season, Shanghai has little rainfall, even there were a rain, the rainwater is polluted and unfit to drink.

Alas, farewell my fantasy of reliving the old way. We've walked a long way from, and can't go back; even if we took all the troubles to go back, that life might not be as poetic as we imaged from a long distance seperated by time.

a cheering up painiting "aroma of the tea"

This is a tea blends originated from the silk road, it was invented by Chinese Muslims living in the area. If you go to Ningxia, a Hui* autonomous region. your local host will surely greet you with this unique tea. The tea is commonly served in a Chinese Gaiwan (a tea cup with matching lid and saucer).

The tea blends consists of eight ingredients, hence comes the name "eight treasure tea".

The ingredients in a cup are:

Jasmine green tea ---------------- 1 tsp
Chrysanthemum flower ---------------- 2 pcs
Red date ---------------- 3 pcs
Dried longan ---------------- 3 pcs
Walnut kernels ---------------- 2 pcs
Raisin --------------- 5 pcs
Sesame ---------------- 1/2 tsp
Rock Sugar ---------------- 1 pc

Put all the above into a Gaiwan, pour in hot water and steep for 3-5 minutes, a special cuppa is ready to serve.

You could also use dried apple pieces, rose bud, and orange peels to replace some chrysanthemum, red date and sesame. or experiment with novelty ingredients. 

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*Hui: one of China's largest ethnic minority groups, with a population near 9 million. The ancestors of Hui were 7th century Islamic Arabs and Persians, who came to China for trading through the silk road, latter settled down as permanent residents, and cross-married with Uygers, Hans and Mongolians. Gradually, those people formed their unique culture, with common belief in Islamic religion, distinctive customs and unique social system.

Hui people and their famous hala beef noodle stall.  My neighborhood has two beef noodle stalls ran by Hui people, I usually patronize one of them, they are good at stew red meat, but too salty to my taste. 
The men often wear white caps, and some elderly women cover their hair with scarves; they speak mandarin with strong accent, with some Persian/Arabic phrases in their dialogue.   

The brick is called "mi zhuan" in Mandarin, or "rice brick" when translated into English. The size is bigger than a dictionary.

Mi Zhuan is made by compressing broken black tea fannings and dust.

The manufacturer, located in Hubei China, is famous for making various tea bricks, their products including Green Tea Bricks (qing zhuan), Black Tea Bricks (mi zhuan) and Chinese Black Tea Bricks (fu zhuang).

Tea bricks are mainly consumed by China's ethnic minority living in inner Mongolia and north-west border, who boil them to make milk tea. So traditionally, tea bricks were also known as bian xiao cha (tea for border minority). A small amount of tea bricks are being exported to Russia, Mongolia, southeast Asian, etc.

I've sampled mi zhuan pure without adding milk, the taste is bitter and a bit coarse, obviously it is not my cup of tea. But the look is very nice, like a piece of art.

Tea Table Arrangement is a fine art in China. Through prudent selection and placement of tea-wares, table cloth and accessories, it brews imagination and creativity into a tea ritual.

Below are some shots taken from the Tea Table Arrangement Contest.

The first set looks a bit crowed, it would be better to take off both the bamboo mat and the dark blue cloth mat underneath; use a plain color table cloth (pale color) to replace the one with floral prints; and exchange the green-lid tea tin with a porcelain caddy in the same hue as the teapot.

The second set is nice. The casual placement of purple petals echoing with the paintings on the teapots. If I must be picky, the only drawback is the size of the white tea displayer on the brown mat.