Tea soup plum introduction

Tea soup is a traditional snack in Beijing, which originated from Mongolian camellia oleifera. Although there is tea in the name, it has nothing to do with tea. The production of Beijing tea soup is divided into grinding and brewing. Wash the millet flour, soak it in cold water for two hours, drain the water, grind it into flour, and then finely grind it, and it becomes the millet flour special for flour tea. When eating, first put a proper amount of millet flour into a bowl, mix it with a proper amount of warm water to make it into a paste, then rinse the paste with boiling water in the soup pot, and then sprinkle with eight seasonings such as sesame, osmanthus, brown sugar or white sugar, so it is also called "eight-treasure tea soup".

During Xianfeng period of Qing Dynasty, the founder of tea soup was famous for making tea soup and other snacks. He used to make tea soup and other foods for Ci 'an and Cixi in the Qing Dynasty. After the death of Cixi, at the invitation of eunuch Wei Gonggong, she set up a stall in Dong 'an market, specializing in snacks such as tea soup, oil tea, Yuanxiao, scones and cold noodles. In the Republic of China, tea soup Li spent most of the year carrying the big copper pot they used to make tea soup and rushing to the temple fair. At that time, there were two Zhong Jing temples outside Qianmen and Andingmen in Beijing, namely, Ciren Temple in Zuo 'anmen, Fazang Temple, Wangdao Temple in Hufang Bridge, yanshou temple in Liulichang and Fire Temple. Li Tonglin's son, Li Shizhong, followed his father to the temple fair at an early age and learned family crafts.

1934, the Lama of Baita Temple invited the second generation of tea soup Li to set up a stall in front of Baita Temple. In winter, we manage tea soup, camellia oleifera and Yuanxiao, and in summer, we manage scones, bean jelly and Daoxiao Noodles. Although it is still simple to use the entrance of the temple as a storefront, after all, there is a fixed storefront address, so the original single board case of selling tea soup has also been upgraded to a "double combination long table", surrounded by bamboo strips and connected by round copper nails. The whole case is 6 meters long and the surface is painted with varnish, which is extremely clean and smooth. The wooden boxes, bowls, plates, saucers and spoons used to hold raw materials in the case are very particular. The wooden box is 60 cm long and 12cm high. It is varnished once a year and still shines after decades. On this long, slender table, there are also porcelains from Ming Jiajing to Qing Daoguang years. All of them are produced by official kilns, which can be called the treasure of tea soup vendors. Today, the Li family still treasures this whole set of musical instruments.

Tea soup plum is exquisite in materials and unique in workmanship. The Li family has a special mill, which uses donkeys to grind millet into powder and then passes through a radish sieve. It is said that tea soup should be pure in taste. "Tea soup plum" has three unique skills. One is to make tea soup with big copper pots. When making tea soup, stand near the spout and pull the pot hard. When boiling water rushes out of the spout, the hand holding the bowl sinks with the water to chase the water, and then lifts it up after the water sinks to the bottom. Hot water boiled all the millet noodles in the bowl. This set of kung fu looks very simple. Actually, it's hard to master. It is easy to make the tea soup "green" (the middle part is not fully cooked) or "rotten" (the surrounding part is not fully cooked) without being fully cooked. Secondly, when the skill of "tea soup and plum" is developed to the extreme, you can know the weather situation of the day according to the tea temperature by making two bowls of tea soup in the morning, which is better than the weather forecast. The third is "buckle bowl of tea soup". After the tea soup is ready, buckle the bottom of the bowl on the strip, push it conveniently, let the bowl slide on the strip, then grab the bowl with your hands, turn it over and pour the sugar, so that the tea soup in the bowl remains the same, and no drop of tea soup is spilled on the strip. This is a stunt. The tea soup washed by Li is like a wax ball. If you cut it with a spoon, you can see that there are honeycomb eyes inside and outside the cross section.

From the early years of the Republic of China to the eve of the founding of New China, it was the heyday of "tea soup plum". It is said that there were nine tea soup pots in Beijing at that time, and Li Ji tea soup accounted for six, which shows its popularity. After the founding of New China, "Tea Soup Plum" still maintained the old tradition and continued the tea soup business in Baita Temple. 1952, Li Shizhong attended the Beijing materials exchange meeting held in the Temple of Heaven and won a red flag for the meeting with snacks such as tea soup. However, the good times did not last long. 1959, the big copper pot was also destroyed during the Cultural Revolution.

After the reform and opening-up, on the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month (1985), Yu led his son Li Lianbao and other nine children to appear in the snack street of Beijing Ditan Spring Festival Cultural Temple Fair, and hung up the signboard of "Tea Soup Plum" again. Later, it was opened in Gongmenkou Hutong facing the street behind Fuchengmennei Street in Xicheng District, and some big shopping malls also set up stalls.

There are many "tea soup plums" in Beijing, among which the famous one is Tianqiao "tea soup plums". Li Tianqiao was originally a descendant of the old Beijing Tianqiao "Tangzi Li", whose ancestors sold candy. After liberation, this kind of "sugar" made by hand in the open air is not allowed to operate again because it hinders food hygiene. After the Cultural Revolution, he switched to selling tea soup. The service trademark "Tea Soup Plum" has great appeal and gratifying economic benefits. Because China did not accept the application for registration of service trademarks before 1993, it could not be protected. There is a dispute over the right to use and inheritance between Baita Temple "Tea Soup Lane" and Tianqiao "Tea Soup Lane".