Beaters, grinding also. Lei Cha is a healthy tea drink made by grinding raw materials such as tea leaves, sesame seeds, and peanuts in a beating bowl and then brewing it with water. Lei tea, popular in Shanwei and Jieyang as well as parts of Guangxi and western Hunan, was one of the grand and economical ways to receive guests in the old days.
Its production method is as follows: first, put the tea leaves into a tooth bowl (a special pottery with a sawtooth pattern on the inner wall), and after wetting, use hardwoods such as pomegranate wood or lychee wood to make a 3-foot-long hammer (wooden pestle) back and forth. Stir and smash, then put cooked peanuts, sesame seeds, mint leaves, etc. into the toothbrush to make a paste, add an appropriate amount of salt, and pour boiling water into it, so it is also called Leicha.
Then the host puts the fried rice, etc. into a bowl filled with salty tea, and brings it to the guests steamingly. Everyone sat around in the living room, drinking and chewing, chatting about family affairs, or talking about current affairs, while the host diligently added salty tea, fried rice, etc. to persuade them to drink.
Regarding the origin of Leicha, the modern saying is that it was a street snack sold by He Po, an old woman in Nanguan City, Hepo Town, Jiexi County, Jieyang City, Guangdong Province. At that time, Nanguan City was the only way to do business in Chaoshan and Huizhou, and He Po’s Leicha solved the fatigue of businessmen, so it became famous.
Lei Cha is distributed in six provinces in South China. The places where the simple customs of Lei tea are preserved are: Taoyuan, Linli, Anhua, Taojiang, Yiyang, Fenghuang, Changde and other places in Hunan Province; Hailufeng, Yingde, Luhe, Jiexi, Wuhua and other places in Guangdong Province; Jiangxi Province Ganxian, Shicheng, Xingguo, Yudu, Ningdu, Ruijin and other places in Fujian Province; Jiangle, Taining, Ninghua and other places in Fujian Province; Hezhou Huangyao, Guihui, Babu and other places in Guangxi; Hsinchu, Miaosu and other places in Taiwan and so on.
In addition, in Hehu, Luoshan, Jiaokeng, Railway, Luoshi, Xiushi and other places under the jurisdiction of Fengcheng City, Jiangxi Province (that is, the local Hedong area), Nanfeng County, Fuzhou, Jiangxi Province (Sangtian, Taiyuan, Taihe, etc.) ) and other places, there is also the custom of making tea, but it is still unclear when it began to spread. Its production method is much simpler than that of the Hakka people’s Lei Cha.
The production methods of Leicha vary from place to place, especially in the choice of ingredients. According to regions and ethnic groups, it can be divided into two categories: Hakka Leicha and Hunan (non-Hakka) Leicha.
For example, the folk Leicha in northwestern Fujian is made of tea leaves and an appropriate amount of sesame in a pottery Leicha, ground into fine powder with tea sticks, and then added with boiling water; Guangdong Qingyuan, Yingde, Shanwei, Jiexi, The Hakka Leicha drink by the Hakka people living in Puning and other places is made by putting the tea leaves into the tooth bowl (the Leicha pottery pot with lines on the inner wall) and pounding it into powder, adding cooked peanuts and sesame in turn, then rotating and pounding, and then adding Add a pinch of salt and cilantro, and brew with scalding hot water.
Peach Blossom Spring in Hunan has a special custom of drinking sesame tea. The tea, ginger and raw rice are crushed in a bowl made of hawthorn wood, and then poured into boiling water to drink. If you can put some sesame seeds and fine salt in it, the taste will be more fragrant and delicious. One should drink Qin Ren Lei tea while it is hot, and the other should be slow to swallow. Only in this way will one have the feeling of “nine songs and ileum, relaxed and happy”.
The Taojiang Leicha in Hunan is mainly composed of sesame and peanuts, which are crushed in a grinding bowl, then brewed with boiled water, and then put a little sugar. Lei tea is thick and sticky after being made, the color is light brown, the aroma is fragrant, and the entrance is smooth and soft, sweet and refreshing. The preparation method is roughly the same as Taoyuan, but the eating method is different.
Taojiang Leicha is generally sweetened with sugar, making it a “sweet drink”. Taoyuan Leicha, on the other hand, contains salt, which is mostly “salty food”. When women in Taojiang become pregnant, they have a custom of drinking lei tea, saying that the more lei tea they drink, the fatter the baby will be.
