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Introduction to Taojiang Lei Cha

In Taojiang County, Yiyang City, drinking Lei Cha has long been a custom, and almost every household has a pottery bowl, bowl stand, and Lei Cha stick. When making Lei Cha, the tea leaves are crushed first, followed by sesame seeds, ginger, and peanuts, all of which are ground into a paste. There are also various flavors prepared with boiled sugar and water, like soybean milk or milk, and it tastes cool and delicious. The taste is sweet and can be drunk in four seasons, especially in summer.

When a guest comes, fill it up with a big bowl, and the guest can drink as he pleases. The more guests drink, the happier the host will be. This is for regulars. If a rare visitor comes, while drinking Lei Cha, homemade tea and food are also served, such as fried sweet potato chips, fried soybeans, fried Qiaoguo skin, popcorn, capers, chili radish, etc. After the 1980s, there have been processing factories producing Lei Cha, and there are also business households facing the street who exclusively sell Lei Cha.

Drinking Taojiang Leicha also has the habit of setting “dishes”. On the antique table of the Eight Immortals, there are usually eight “plates” placed, including withered shelled peanuts, burnt fried sweet potato chips, rolling pumpkin seeds, crispy fruit slices and purple foreign nests. …are some homemade, appetizing and delicious green food.

Why are there eight dishes? The local people say two meanings: one is that eight people sit at a table, which means that everyone has a share; the other is that the eight characters are an auspicious number. creed.

In addition to holding large-scale Lei Cha parties on important days such as weddings and funerals, Taojiang people often drink Lei Cha with their families on weekdays. Since Taojiang people drink Lei Cha all the year round, processing Lei Cha is one of the main tasks of housewives in Taojiang area.

People in Taojiang are enthusiastic. Whenever a guest comes to visit, the hospitable host will take a bamboo spoon or a wooden spoon, put a big bowl on the guest, and hand it to the guest with both hands respectfully. The fragrant hot air makes the guests salivate. Guests who don’t understand the mountain rules can’t wait to drink the first bowl of Lei Cha. However, as soon as the guests drink a little, the hostess with sharp eyes and quick hands will pick up the spoon and refill it for you. Therefore, there is no end to drinking. According to the local customs, if you don’t want to drink after drinking the bowl in your hand, then don’t drink the bowl of Lei Cha in your hand, let it stay in the bowl, and wait until you leave the host’s house. Drink it in one gulp, and say goodbye.

Lei Cha uses raw rice, ginger, and raw tea leaves. Sesame seeds and peanut kernels can also be added to enhance the aroma. Put “Sansheng” in a ceramic beating bowl with a wide top and a narrow bottom, an inner diameter of about one and a half feet, and groove-like vertical lines in the wall, and then spin it with a several-foot-long tea stick made of hawthorn wood or high-quality camellia oleifera. Pound, and add a little cold water to make a paste, pour boiling water and serve. 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 taste 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.

Due to development, most of Lei Cha is mainly made of sesame and peanuts, Titian can also add a little other ingredients at will, and the finished product is milky white. And only some special ingredients are added in some small festivals: grain rain, raw tea leaves, etc.!

Lei Cha is only used as a general drink. If it is used for medicinal purposes, such as dispelling wind and cold, relieving summer heat, clearing fire and detoxifying, it can be added such as fine leaf money, mugwort leaves, small leaf guest bowls (horseshoe gold), bamboo shoots (shepherd’s purse), yellow flowers, mint, etc., which are the same as tea leaves. Let’s beat together. Various ingredients, easy-to-cook products, chopped, put into a bowl and boiled with boiling water; those that are difficult to cook, put in a pot to cook, and washed with boiling water into the bowl.