The modern person demands everything to be as quick as possible. People are using machines to make tea because they are more concerned about quantity and efficiency than the traditional process of making it. The traditional process, however, possesses its own special rhythm and aroma, but is slowly disappearing from modern life. This year Meimen Qigong Culture Center’s Meimen Tea Cafe in Taipei has invited Li Chao-chieh, a renowned tea expert, to give lessons on the traditional art of making tea. It is hoping to raise the level of growing, making and drinking tea to that of wine tasting in Europe.
Liang Ya-chung, president of the Dashu Association, took part in this year’s tea-making events to gain a better understanding of the meticulous process of tea-making. He says that Li, who has 30 years of experience in making tea, follows traditional tea-making methods very closely, which are very time consuming and require a lot of effort, for example, understanding how to cultivate Camellia sinensis bushes, as well as the plucking, withering, oxidation, disruption, fixation, bruising, rolling, and sweltering of tealeaves, all of which are carried out in scrupulous detail.
With traditional tea-making processes, the daily weather — including humidity and temperature — must be taken into account during every step of the process. Sight, smell, and touch are also used during the process to determine the tealeaves’ level of oxidization and when to proceed to the next step, which is how you get rid of weed-like odors, and unwanted flavors, and ensure that the fragrant aromas and abundant nutrients of the tealeaves are preserved.
Photo: Weng Yu-huang, Liberty Times
照片:自由時報記者翁聿煌
Tea aficionados will usually tell you that really great tea will not keep you up at night or cause an upset stomach, and that it can be brewed several times without losing its flavor.
Liang says Asians have been drinking tea for thousands of years, and that the history of tea drinking culture in Asia is just as rich as that of the wine drinking culture of the West. On the other hand, the West has developed a wine tasting culture that respects the cultivation and harvesting of grapes, the wine-making process, the characteristics of wine produced in different regions and years, and even have a system for critiquing and comparing them. The similarly meticulous processes involved in the art of tea, however, have yet to receive the proper respect they deserve, Liang says.
In today’s industrialized and commercialized societies everything is so fast-paced, and tea-making processes now require the efficiency of mechanical mass production. Young people typically drink the bottled teas that are found in convenience store refrigerators, which is lamentable because it makes preserving the values of traditional tea-drinking cultures extremely difficult.
(Liberty Times, Translated by Kyle Jeffcoat)
Photo: Shen Chi-chang, Liberty Times
照片:自由時報記者沈繼昌
現代人凡事求快,連製茶也使用機器講究大量與效率,但是就漸漸少了傳統工序製作的韻味與香氣。台北市梅門一氣流行養生學苑的「梅門飲居」今年邀請國內的製茶達人李兆杰,傳授手製茶的技藝,也希望將種茶、製茶與喝茶的品味,能提升至歐洲人品酒的層次。
大樹協會理事長梁亞忠今年參加梅門飲居的手製茶之旅,對傳統茶的嚴謹製作態度有更深的認識。他指出,擁有卅年製茶經驗的李兆杰師傅,謹守的傳統製茶技藝耗時費工,從茶樹的栽培、茶菁採摘,到日光萎凋、室內靜置、浪菁、大浪、殺菁、揉捻、烘焙,依循正統一絲不苟。
傳統製茶工序中,每道工序都得依當時的天氣濕度及氣溫條件,在過程中隨時以視覺、嗅覺、觸覺來判斷茶葉發酵的狀況,決定何時進行下一階段的工序,才能確保在製茶過程中去除掉茶葉的臭菁味和雜味,保留茶葉蘊含的花果香及豐富養分。
所以懂茶的人會說,真正的好茶葉,不會讓人喝了睡不著覺,或是引起腸胃不適,而且禁得住多次再泡,卻不致淡而無味。
梁亞忠感嘆,東方人喝茶已有幾千年的歷史,飲茶文化不比西方人喝葡萄酒的歷史短,但是西方人卻可以發展出品酒文化,尊重葡萄樹的生長、結果和釀酒的工序,不同產區、年份的葡萄酒的特色也能被評論比較,但是同樣需要慢工出細活的茶道,卻沒受到應有的重視。
尤其現在工商社會一切求快,茶葉製程強調機器大量生產的時效,年輕人只喜歡喝超商冰箱裡的瓶裝茶,不由得令人感嘆,傳統茶道文化的價值保存不易。
(自由時報記者翁聿煌)
The strongest earthquake to hit Taiwan in 25 years killed at least 16 people and damaged dozens of buildings, but the destruction was largely contained thanks to decades of preparedness work. Taiwan sits on the “Ring of Fire,” an arc of intense seismic activity along the Pacific Rim, and — much like neighboring Japan — has a long history of catastrophic quakes. How does April 3 compare with other recent quakes? The April 3 earthquake, which measured 7.4 on the moment magnitude scale, was felt across Taiwan. It was the most severe since a 7.6 magnitude quake in 1999 killed
Around the time of the Dragon Boat Festival in June, the streets of Taiwan are filled with the delightful aroma of zongzi, a traditional snack made of sticky rice wrapped in leaves. The leaves are folded into a cone and then filled with sticky rice and other ingredients such as braised pork belly, peanuts and salted duck egg yolks. The filled leaves are then tightly tied with kitchen twine and ready for cooking. 每到六月端午時節,街頭巷尾就會飄出粽子的香氣。粽子是將糯米包進粽葉的傳統美食,先將粽葉折成圓錐狀塞入糯米,以及紅燒肉、花生、鹹鴨蛋黃等配料,用棉線綁緊後即可烹煮。 Dragon Boat Festival (n. phr.) 端午節 aroma
Everyone has seen a piece of fruit turn brown after being cut. Have you ever wondered why that happens? It is a common phenomenon that occurs due to a chemical reaction called enzymatic browning. The appearance, flavor and nutritional value of the fruit are all affected by this reaction. Some fruits, such as apples, pears, bananas, avocados and peaches, are more prone to enzymatic browning than others. These fruits contain high levels of an enzyme called polyphenol oxidase, or PPO for short. __1__ This causes a chain of chemical reactions that ultimately transforms the phenolic compounds into
A: As well as Eid al-Fitr, Southeast Asia is celebrating the Water Festival this week. B: And this year, Thailand is expanding the celebration between April 12 and 16 for the event, officially known as the Songkran Festival, expecting to make 24.3 billion Thai baht in tourism revenue. A: Does Taiwan celebrate the Water Festival? B: Some local cities and counties do have similar activities. A: Let’s go experience the festival then. A: 除了「開齋節」外,東南亞「潑水節」本週也盛大登場! B: 泰國今年從4月12日到16日擴大「宋干節」連假,預估觀光收入可高達243億泰銖。 A: 台灣會慶祝「潑水節」嗎? B: 有些縣市會舉辦類似活動。 A: 那我們也去體驗一下吧。 (By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times/台北時報張聖恩)