In a teahouse in Guangzhou, we often see a family sitting together drinking morning tea.
In addition to a pot of tea, there are many dim sums on the table. The "four kings" of Cantonese dim sum are the most commonly eaten: barbecued pork buns, shrimp dumplings, egg tarts and dry steamed siu mai.
Therefore, Cantonese people drink morning tea, not just drinking tea, but have evolved to focus on tea.
Barbecued Pork Buns Photo by Sun Qiuxia
Just like Sichuanese cannot live without hot pot, morning tea has become an indispensable part of the life of the old people.
In the teahouse, everyone tasted the delicious food while telling family and friends that the east and the west are short.
The voices of the tea guests come and go, and the relationship between people is gradually getting closer.
Beiyuan Shrimp Dumplings Photo by Huang Sun Qiuxia
In Guangdong, "please morning tea" has become a common way of socializing.
"Drinking tea is not yet!" became one of the most frequently said words when the old people met.
How rich is the morning tea snack?
If there is no snack, morning tea will almost lose its soul.
Generally speaking, the dim sum in the tea house is refined, beautiful, new and ingenious. The well-known Cantonese dim sum includes shrimp dumplings, dried steamed siu mai, horseshoe cakes, barbecued pork buns and so on.
Photographed by Sun Qiuxia, the king of roasted wheat in Beiyuan
Different from dumplings in the north, Cantonese-style shrimp dumplings are made of clear noodles and fresh shrimp, pork, and bamboo shoots as fillings. The surface is transparent, and the tender color of fresh shrimps can be seen vaguely, which is appetizing.
Dry steamed siu mai is also one of the traditional breakfasts of teahouses that Guangzhou people like. It is steamed with a thin skin wrapped in semi-exposed meat fillings. The color is delicious, refreshing and not greasy. It has become a must-have for Lingnan teahouses.
Pantang in the western suburbs of Guangzhou is rich in horseshoe (water chestnuts). The horseshoe cakes made from the horseshoes from this place are ground into powder. The cakes are the most authentic, soft, slippery, refreshing, and tough. The taste is extremely sweet.
Rice Paper Potsticker Dumplings Photo by Sun Qiuxia
The char siu bun, which evolved from the pork buns in the north, is soft and non-sticky. The meat filling is salty and fragrant. After steaming, the appearance of "smiling" is better. Its taste depends on the technique and seasoning of roasting char siu.
As the birthplace of Cantonese dim sum, many century-old restaurants in Guangzhou carry the taste bud memories of generations.
Located on Xiaobei Road, Yuexiu District, Beiyuan Restaurant, founded in 1928, is an antique garden restaurant with characteristics of Lingnan gardens.
Beiyuan Restaurant no longer offers morning tea on weekdays, but snacks are also available during the lunch period.
At around 11 noon, the tea shoppers were already waiting at the door for the opening of the market. Some were with friends and some accompanied their parents to drink tea. Soon there was a long queue in the lobby.
The exquisite dim sum at Beiyuan Restaurant, including the signature barbecued pork buns, ancient French preserved meringues, shiitake mushrooms, and Beiyuan shrimp dumplings.
Phoenix feet photo by Sun Qiuxia
Lei Liang, general manager of Beiyuan Restaurant, told reporters that most of the customers in the store are usually from Guangzhou. People usually order some old-style dim sums, such as chicken feet, ribs, shrimp dumplings, etc. "The black sesame cake we newly developed is also more popular. welcome."
Traditional teahouses must not only satisfy people's memory of traditional food, but also constantly update and improve according to current dietary concepts to retain diners.
Black Sesame Cake Photo by Sun Qiuxia
The pictographic dim sum feast is a major feature of the time-honored Panxi Restaurant. It enables dim sum to break through the traditional notion that it is only used as a refreshment, and it has become the intangible cultural heritage of Guangzhou.
Pictographic dim sum banquets include: sea cucumber, shrimp, white rabbit dumplings, curry chicken diced fried golden pig, scallops and chicken hedgehog, etc.
Desserts include: tangerine peel with bean paste, chick, bird's nest with yanye milk and plum, lotus and frog, Gu Mingchun, etc.
The chairman of the Guangdong Food Culture Research Association, SC Johnson, told reporters: "Cantonese people say,'Will you drink tea?' Most of the meaning is to drink morning tea. For us in Guangzhou, the most important part of drinking morning tea is inseparable from eating. We used to say "one cup and two pieces (one cup of tea, two pieces of snacks) when we were drinking tea. Now this rule has been broken. If some friends "set up", or if a group of friends drink tea, the so-called two There is no need to care about it."
Why are Cantonese obsessed with drinking morning tea?
Cantonese drinking tea is divided into morning tea, noon tea, afternoon tea and night tea according to time.
In the past, Guangzhou people had the habit of getting up early, so morning tea was the highlight. The teahouse was already bustling at six in the morning. Some people brought bird cages to amuse themselves, and some listened to Cantonese opera while drinking tea.
Therefore, drinking tea is also called "sighing tea" (meaning to enjoy) in Guangdong.
With the changes in work and lifestyle of Guangzhou people, most of the tea customers of morning tea are now mostly elderly, and young people mainly drink morning tea for lunch.
Green Tea Sweet Meal Photo by Sun Qiuxia
Lei Liang told reporters that there were four teas in Guangzhou in the 1980s: morning tea, noon tea, afternoon tea, and night tea. Now the eating habits are different. Morning tea and noon tea are the most common, and afternoon tea is also available.
Many restaurants in Guangzhou also make dim sum besides meals at noon, and most customers like to eat more dim sum.
When did morning tea officially start? There is no clear conclusion yet.
SC Johnson told reporters that according to most records, during the Xianfeng period of the Qing Dynasty, Foshan, Guangzhou and other places began to have "li pavilions", basically drinking tea and eating ordinary dim sum.
Mara cake photo by Sun Qiuxia
It is understood that the "Er Li Pavilion" generally uses bungalows as shops, and wooden stools are used to serve refreshments on the roadside. Since the price of tea is only two per cent, these shops are called "Er Li Pavilion."
Later, a more high-end tea house than the "Er Li Pavilion" was born. The tea house has a two-story scale, allowing tea guests to sit down and talk slowly.
With the further development of the commodity economy, the tea house gradually became prosperous and gradually "developed into the tea house cake industry."
According to SC Johnson, in the teahouses at the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, the price of tea on each floor was different.
"There is a saying in Guangdong called'the rich go to high-rise buildings, and the money goes underground (squatting)', which means that the rich go upstairs to drink tea, and ordinary people still consume it in the liguan."
What kind of motivation made Cantonese people insist on going to teahouses to drink tea?
In SC Johnson's view, one of this intangible motivation is the maintenance of personal connections.
"Laoguang people don’t make friends in teahouses a day or two days. It’s a unit of year. A person may have tea in the same teahouse for ten years. People who meet every day are still more comfortable seeing each other. This makes you feel at ease. Suddenly there are a few people. If the sky is missing, it may be a happy event, or it may not be a good thing."
Nine-tiered Pagoda Pan-Fried Fish Cake Photo by Sun Qiuxia
Today, although many young people no longer drink morning tea, in SC Johnson's view, the form of morning tea will change for different groups of people, but it will not affect its inheritance.
Red rice sausage photo by Sun Qiuxia
"When young people get older, they will drink morning tea like their parents, grandparents, and grandparents. Old people used to take bird cages with a piece of cloth on them, open them, or take a teapot to listen to Cantonese opera. This kind of atmosphere doesn’t It will change, but there may be different art forms in the future, and the morning tea culture will still be passed on from generation to generation." SC Johnson said.
Author: Sun Qiuxia He Junjie