Lei Cha, popular in Shanwei City, Jieyang City, and some areas in Guangxi and western Hunan, is one of the ways to receive guests grandly and economically in the old days.
The beater is also the grinder. Leicha is a health-preserving tea drink made by putting tea leaves, sesame seeds, peanuts and other raw materials into a bowl and then brewing them with boiling water. Lei Cha is distributed in six provinces in South China. The places where the ancient customs of Lei Cha are preserved include: Taoyuan, Linli, Anhua, Taojiang, Yiyang, Fenghuang, Changde and other places in Hunan; 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, Guild, Babu and other places in Guangxi; Hsinchu and Miaosu 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 so-called Hedong area locally), Nanfeng County (Sangtian, Taiyuan, Taihe) in Fuzhou, Jiangxi Province ) and other places, there is also the custom of Lei Cha, but it is still unclear when its spread began. Its production method is much simpler than that of Hakka Lei Cha.
Lei Cha production methods vary from place to place, especially in the selection of ingredients. According to regions and ethnic groups, it can be divided into two categories: Hakka Lei Cha and Hunan (non-Hakka) Lei Cha.
For example, the folk Lei Cha in northwestern Fujian is made by putting tea leaves and an appropriate amount of sesame seeds in a pottery pot, grinding them into fine powder with tea sticks and adding boiling water; Qingyuan, Yingde, Shanwei City, Jiexi, The Hakka Leicha drunk by the Hakka people living in Puning and other places is to put the tea leaves into a tooth bowl (a Leicha pottery pot with lines on the inner wall) and grind it into powder, then add cooked peanuts and sesame seeds in turn, grind and grind it, and then add Add a little salt and coriander, and brew it with boiling water; there is a special custom of drinking sesame Leicha in Taohuayuan, Hunan. It is to grind tea leaves, ginger, and raw rice in a mortar made of hawthorn wood, and then wash it with boiling water for drinking. If you can put some sesame seeds and fine salt in, the taste will be more fragrant and delicious.
When drinking Leicha from the Qin Dynasty, you should first drink it while it is hot, and secondly, swallow it slowly. Only in this way can you feel the feeling of “nine bends and ileum, refreshing and happy”. Finally, brew with boiled water, and then put some sugar. Lei Cha is as sticky as a paste after it is made, the color is light coffee, the aroma is tangy, and the mouth is smooth, soft and sweet. The preparation method is roughly the same as Taoyuan, but the eating method is different. Taojiang Lei Cha is usually sweetened with sugar, making it a “sweet drink”. Taoyuan Leicha uses salt, which is mostly “salty food”. Women in Taojiang have a special custom of drinking Lei Cha after they become pregnant. It is said that the more Lei Cha they drink, the whiter and fatter their babies will be.
The raw materials and production methods of Lei Cha vary from place to time and from person to person, and can be roughly divided into two types, one is rice tea and the other is spice sticks. Rice tea is what the ancients called “ming porridge”. The preparation method is to soak tea leaves, raw rice, ginger, etc. in water, and then put them in a ceramic mortar with radial grooves on the inner wall and form fine teeth. The hammer made of edible miscellaneous woods such as hawthorn is repeatedly ground into a paste, then mixed with leeks, sweet potato shreds, etc., poured into a pot and boiled into gruel. When eating, sprinkle with a proper amount of fried crushed peanuts, sesame seeds, mushrooms, bamboo shoots, shredded pork and other seasonings. Spice tea is also called nunnery or salt tea.
