There is a custom of drinking Lei Cha in Jiangle City Pass in Fujian. According to the old people, the local people drink Lei Cha, which is said to be related to a Taoist woman surnamed Wu.

There is a very special drink called lei cha in the Jiangle area of ​​Fujian, which is made by putting tea leaves, sesame seeds, peanuts and other ingredients into a lei bowl, crushing them, and brewing them with boiling water. In the local area, Lei Cha has become an important form of expression of Hakka culture. Even the nursery rhymes sang: “Walking to the east, traveling to the west, drinking Lei Cha, playing haha, coming and going to get married.” The reason why people love to drink Lei Cha is, It is related to this Taoist woman surnamed Wu.

Jiangle used to be called Guyongzhou. According to legend, there was a Taoist temple in ancient Yongzhou earlier, named “Changchangguan”. The viewing site turned out to be a large bamboo forest. After splitting the bamboo to build the temple, the bamboo whip will not die. When spring comes, the front and back of the temple are full of thin Ruo bamboo and hairy bamboo shoots. The bamboo whip even went through the wall to transfer ownership, and sprang out from the cracks in the bricks in the temple, looking out. The Taoist priest of this “Long Changguan” is a Taoist woman surnamed Wu. She teaches people to sprinkle sesame seeds and mash rotten bamboo whips. A few years later, the bamboo whips were rotten, but sesame seeds grew all over the Taoist temple. One year, when sesame seeds were bearing seeds, there was a severe drought in Guyongzhou, and even an old tea tree behind “Changchangguan” withered and turned yellow.

One year, there was a severe drought in Jiangle city, and there were many hungry people in the disaster year, and hungry people often fell to death on the road. At this time, the plague spread again. With a compassionate heart, Wu Daopo took all the food in the Taoist temple to help the victims, and finally only a small bag of sesame seeds was left. How to do?

Wu Daopo saw it in her eyes and was anxious in her heart. She wanted to save the victims, but she suffered from the fact that there was no extra food in her eyes. Wu Daopo looked at the baskets of freshly received sesame seeds beside her, and thought that if they were fried for relief, it would be of no avail, so how could they save money and save more victims?

Wu Daopo looked at the densely packed hungry people at the gate of the Taoist temple, and asked the Taoist boy to pick some dry tea stalks, grabbed some sesame seeds, mixed the tea stalks, put them into a mortar and ground them into fine powder, and then brewed them with boiling water. More than a dozen cylinders of sesame tea are distributed to everyone. For several days in a row, until the next crop is harvested.

This was a solution she thought about for a long time and finally came up with. Just try to melt these sesame seeds and use them. First, grab some sesame seeds and raw rice, then mix them with dry tea stalks, put them into a bowl, grind them into fine powder, and then brew them into a jar of Leicha with boiling water for the nearby victims to drink. The hungry victims were dizzy with hunger, but after drinking this kind of Lei Cha, it not only relieved their hunger, but also quenched their thirst and produced body fluids, refreshing their minds. For several days in a row, Wu Daopo brewed tea for disaster relief every day until the next crop was harvested. Unexpectedly, some people would become addicted after drinking Wu Daopo’s Lei Cha. If they don’t drink it for a day, they will feel restless, so they often grind Lei Cha to drink.

Now “Chang Chang Guan” has already collapsed, but Wu Daopo’s Lei Cha has been handed down. Later generations added some condiments and improved them into different flavors such as sugar Lei Cha, clear water Lei Cha, five flavor Lei Cha, Qibao Lei Cha, etc. It became a kind of etiquette for Hakka people to entertain guests and was very popular among people.

Jiangle Chengguan, Fujian Province, makes Lei Cha locally, and the ingredients are very particular. In addition to using sesame seeds, some also add peanuts to grind, so that the taste, fragrance and color are good. Some are mixed with drugs to play the role of disease prevention and treatment. In the hot summer, people add bamboo leaves and honeysuckle, and drink it to cool off the heat.