There is an old Chinese saying: "The seven necessities of running a household are firewood, rice, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, and tea." This saying illustrates that tea is indispensable in the lives of the Chinese people. However, while people know that drinking tea is enjoyable and beneficial to health, they are often unaware of the art of tea drinking, such as the great importance of choosing different teas for different seasons. Traditional Chinese medicine advocates: drinking scented tea in spring, green tea in summer, oolong tea in autumn, and black tea in winter.
In spring, most parts of China experience a monsoon climate with distinct seasons: mild spring, hot summer, cool autumn, and cold winter. During spring, the spring breeze revives the world, and yang energy begins to grow, bringing vitality to all things. However, people often feel drowsy and lethargic, a phenomenon known as "spring drowsiness." Drinking scented tea can alleviate the adverse effects of this condition. Scented tea is sweet and cool, yet also carries a fragrant and pungent aroma that helps disperse the cold pathogens accumulated in the body during winter, promotes the generation of yang energy, refreshes the mind, and naturally dispels "spring drowsiness."
Scented tea is a treasured variety of tea that combines the flavor of tea with the fragrance of flowers. "Flowers enhance the tea's aroma, and each brings out the best in the other." It is made by blending tea leaves and fresh flowers, utilizing the tea's ability to absorb aromas and the flowers' ability to release them. Jasmine tea is the most famous of these. This is because the jasmine flower has a pure and gentle fragrance that, when infused into tea, creates a rich, mellow, and refreshing taste that is both pleasant and appealing. To brew high-quality scented tea, a transparent glass cup with a lid is recommended. Place 3 grams of scented tea in the cup and brew with freshly boiled water that has cooled to around 90°C. Immediately cover the cup to prevent the aroma from escaping. After two to three minutes, it is ready to drink, and one will be instantly greeted by a rich fragrance that is both refreshing and invigorating.
In the summer heat, under the scorching sun, people sweat profusely, expending a great deal of energy and feeling listless. This is the ideal time to drink green tea. Green tea is an unfermented tea, and its nature is "cool," which means it "clears heat." It is best for relieving internal heat, promoting the production of saliva to quench thirst, aiding digestion, and resolving phlegm. It can also accelerate the healing of mouth and mild stomach ulcers. Furthermore, it is highly nutritious and has medicinal values such as lowering blood fat and preventing vascular hardening. When brewed, green tea produces a clear color, a delicate aroma, and a fresh taste. Drinking it regularly in the summer can clear heat and relieve summer heat, while strengthening the body. Prized varieties of green tea include Longjing from Lion Peak in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, whose soup is a vibrant green with a delightful fragrance, acclaimed as the "finest of Chinese green teas"; Biluochun from Taihu Lake in Jiangsu, with its jade-green color and rich aroma; and Huangshan Maofeng from Anhui, which has a pure and fragrant taste.
To brew green tea, use water at 90°C. For high-quality green teas and delicate famous varieties, the buds and leaves are fine and tender, and their aroma is often a low-boiling-point type of delicate fragrance. Therefore, water at 80°C is sufficient for brewing. When brewing, do not cover the cup to avoid trapping steam, which would affect the tea's fresh taste.
In autumn, the sky is high and the clouds are light, a cool autumn wind rustles through the trees, and flowers and plants wither. The dry climate often leads to a dry mouth, chapped lips, a condition in Traditional Chinese Medicine known as "autumn dryness." During this time, oolong tea is the recommended choice. Oolong tea, also known as Wu Long tea, is a semi-fermented tea, falling between green and black tea. Its color is bluish-green to brown, and when brewed, the center of the leaf appears green while the edges are red, earning it the beautiful description of "green leaf with a red rim." It possesses the fresh fragrance and natural floral notes of green tea as well as the mellow taste of black tea. It is neither too cold nor too hot, but temperate, and helps to moisten the skin and throat, promote the production of saliva, clear internal heat, and help the body adapt to the changing natural environment. Famous varieties of oolong tea include Fujian oolong, Guangdong oolong, and Taiwan oolong, with Wuyi Rock Tea from northern Fujian and Tieguanyin from Anxi in southern Fujian being particularly renowned. However, oolong teas are often classified by the tea plant variety, such as Tieguanyin, Qilan, Meizhan, Shuixian, Taoren, and Maoxie. Oolong tea is typically enjoyed strong, with an emphasis on savoring the aroma. It should be brewed with 100°C boiling water. After brewing for a moment, the tea from the pot is poured into cups. When drinking, the aroma is rich and lingers in the mouth.
In winter, the weather is cold and the world is frozen. All things lie dormant, and pathogenic cold invades the body, causing a decline in physiological function and weakening yang energy. Traditional Chinese Medicine states: "In the depth of winter, the life force of all things is stored away, and the body's physiological activities are in a state of inhibition. The key to health preservation lies in protecting against the cold and keeping warm." Therefore, black tea is the superior choice for winter drinking. Black tea is sweet and warm, which helps nourish the body's yang energy. It is rich in protein and sugar, which generates heat to warm the abdomen, enhances the body's ability to resist the cold, and can also aid digestion and remove greasiness. During processing, black tea undergoes full fermentation, which oxidizes the tannins, hence it is also called a fully fermented tea. After the fresh tea leaves are oxidized, they form red oxidation polymer products—theaflavins, thearubigins, and theabrownins. Some of these pigments dissolve in water, creating the red tea soup when brewed. Famous traditional Gongfu black teas include Huhong, Yihong, Ninghong, Minhong, Taihong, and Qihong, with Qihong from Qimen County, Anhui, being the most celebrated. To brew black tea, it is best to use freshly boiled water and cover the cup to preserve the aroma. The British customarily drink "afternoon tea," often blending Qihong with Indian black tea, and adding milk and sugar. In some parts of China, it is also customary to drink black tea with sugar, milk, and sesame seeds. This practice not only generates heat and warms the body but also adds nutrition, strengthening the body.