Zhangjiajie Folk Custom: Inviting Guests Home for Oil Tea
Tea culture is a major part of Tujia culinary culture. The Tujia region abounds in tea, and processing techniques are refined. The most distinctive ethnic tea tradition is oil tea soup. Its preparation is elaborate: tea leaves, vermicelli, and soybeans are first fried, then cooked bacon bits, tofu cubes, and puffed corn are added, along with scallions and ginger.
This article has been compiled from historical materials on 'Zhangjiajie Tour Guide Network' (33519.com · Specialty Foods / Cuisine / Customs section). Prices, business hours, administrative divisions, and statistical data mentioned in the text may already be outdated. Before traveling, please refer to the latest announcements from merchants, scenic areas, and local competent authorities; the parts involving folk legends and folk customs are local historical and cultural anecdotes, provided for cultural reference.
Tea culture is a major component of Tujia food culture. The Tujia region is rich in tea, and its processing techniques are refined. The most distinctive ethnic-flavored element of Tujia tea culture is oil tea soup. The making of oil tea soup is very particular: first, tea leaves, vermicelli, soybeans, and other ingredients are deep-fried, then cooked cured meat pieces, tofu cubes, and puffed corn are added, along with chopped scallions, minced ginger, and other seasonings, and finally boiling hot oil soup is poured over it. The taste is rich, fragrant, and delicious.
Oil tea soup warms the body in winter, relieves summer heat, refreshes the mind and relieves fatigue, satisfies hunger, and sobers one up. Many people cannot go a day without it in any season and must drink it daily. It is the traditional ethnic beverage with which the Tujia people treat guests. A Tujia folk rhyme goes: "When a guest comes, no need to prepare rice; invite them home to drink oil tea."
For the Tujia people, oil tea soup is indispensable for all three meals a day. Tujia oil tea soup is one of the representative cultural phenomena of the Tujia people in Zhangjiajie. In the Tujia language it is called "Se Si Ze Sha," and it can be called a masterpiece of Chinese tea culture with a long history. According to Qing Dynasty ancient records: "The Tujia people fry soybeans, corn, puffed rice, and various green and crisp items in oil, take water and oil, boil tea leaves and soak them in the soup, and serve it to guests to show respect, calling it 'oil tea.'"
Tujia oil tea soup, along with Tibetan butter tea and Mongolian milk tea, is praised as one of China's three great famous drinks.
Tujia Customs
Tujia oil tea soup is a snack that resembles both a tea drink and a soup-type refreshment—fragrant, crisp, smooth, and fresh, delicious and palatable, refreshing and thirst-quenching. It is a traditional and deeply beloved flavor food of the Tujia people. Hence the folk sayings: "Without drinking oil tea soup, the heart feels uneasy," "Three big bowls at each of three meals, and you'll be strong when working," and "A day without oil tea soup, and even a table full of wine and meat loses its appeal." At the same time, drinking oil tea soup is a traditional etiquette of the Tujia people for entertaining guests. Whenever distinguished guests arrive, the Tujia people always serve a bowl of fragrant oil tea soup to welcome them.
Tujia oil tea soup is the most elaborately made and represents the highest courtesy among the four traditional Tujia teas (White Crane Tea, Puffed Rice Tea, Oil Tea Soup, and Egg Tea). Using this soup to treat guests is the highest hospitality etiquette that the Tujia people have inherited for thousands of years.
The Tujia people are hospitable. Whenever a guest arrives at the village, the host warmly comes out to welcome them and invites the guest to sit in the main room of the stilted house. While the host chats with the guest, the hostess goes into the fire pit room, sets up a wok over the square fire pit edged with bluestone slabs, and fries up bowls of walnut kernels, puffed rice, sesame, peanuts, soybeans, puffed corn, and other items in tea oil or lard. After the food is fried, it is brought out and placed on the square table in the main room. Then the hostess pours an appropriate amount of tea oil into the wok. When the oil begins to smoke, she adds a small handful of tea leaves and seasonings such as Sichuan pepper, black pepper, shredded ginger, and salt, stir-fries briefly, then pours in a small ladle of cold water, presses and stirs with a spatula, adds more water and simmers for a few minutes, and sprinkles on chopped scallions and garlic. When the soup boils, it is poured into the bowls containing the fried foods, and thus the piping hot, fragrant oil tea soup is ready. Drinking oil tea soup requires no chopsticks or spoon—one drinks it down together with the solid bits and the soup. Drinking oil tea soup requires a certain skill; otherwise, when the soup is finished, the residue remains at the bottom of the bowl, and one has to use one's hand instead of chopsticks, which is rather embarrassing. Those who know how to drink oil tea soup take in the fried tea leaves, puffed corn, walnut kernels, and other ingredients evenly along with the soup. The trick is to keep the soup "rippling" while drinking; as the soup ripples, the solid foods float up and can be drunk along with it.
When the Tujia people celebrate the New Year, blood tofu is indispensable in the oil tea soup. Blood tofu is made by mixing fresh tofu and fresh pig's blood with minced pork, Sichuan pepper, and chili powder, then smoking and drying it; when eating, it is deep-fried until cooked.
Tujia oil tea soup is not only loved by the Tujia people but also greatly enjoyed by other ethnic groups living in Tujia areas. Oil tea soup not only fills the stomach but is also an important green food and beverage with high nutritional value. It can prevent and treat illnesses, and regular consumption can strengthen the body and prolong life.
Historical Origins
Since the Tujia people have only a spoken language and no written script, the accounts of the origin of oil tea soup vary widely. It is said that oil tea soup was invented by Tujia cowherd boys playing "house" in the tea mountains. They picked up a handful of tea seeds on the mountain, roasted them in a clay pot to produce tea oil, then picked tea leaves and fried them in the oil, added mountain spring water, and mixed in the puffed corn they had brought with them—the more they ate, the more flavorful it became. Having tasted this self-made delicacy, the cowherd boys often made this most primitive "oil tea soup" in the mountains. Later, this matter spread to the adults, who tried to improve the method using iron woks, tea oil, and tea leaves, and over time it became the oil tea soup commonly drunk in Tujia areas. From then on, oil tea soup was passed down in Tujia regions. Another account says that around the Ming Dynasty, the Tujia people often suffered from invasions and were besieged by the feudal ruling class. By New Year's Eve, only some coarse tea leaves, tea oil, corn, and garlic sprouts remained at home, so they had no choice but to cook a pot of "oil tea soup" with these things to celebrate the New Year, and this custom has been followed ever since. Yet another account holds that oil tea soup originated in the Han Dynasty. It is said that when the Han general Ma Yuan (Fubo) was stationed in Youyang, the local miasma threatened the soldiers' health, so the general ground together tea leaves, zhuyu, sesame, and other ingredients into powder, added salt to make a soup, and gave it to the soldiers to drink to prevent miasma. Later, the local people followed suit, and it gradually became a custom, eventually evolving into today's "oil tea soup." As early as the 23rd year of the Jiaqing reign of the Qing Dynasty (1819), the "Longshan County Gazetteer" clearly recorded: "There is what is called oil tea: take soybeans, corn, sesame, puffed rice, dried tofu, dried pine mushrooms, and cured meat toppings, stir-fry them in fat oil, then scoop them out; add water, add tea leaves to the oiled wok, boil several times, ladle into bowls, and soak the various items to serve guests as a sign of respect."
Later, the local people followed suit, and it gradually became a custom, evolving into today's "oil tea soup." "Oil tea soup" is delicious and can serve both as food to satisfy hunger and as a beverage to refresh the spirit. There is a Tujia ballad that goes: "The sons and daughters of the Tujia love to sing, only because they've made oil tea soup to drink..."
Preparation Method
The method for making Tujia oil tea soup is: first, fry an appropriate amount of tea leaves in cooking oil until wax-yellow, then add water to the wok, along with natural seasonings such as ginger, scallions, garlic, and pepper powder. Once the water boils, ladle it into bowls and add pre-fried (or pre-deep-fried) "puffed goods" such as puffed rice, puffed corn, tofu puffs, walnut kernels, peanuts, and soybeans, and it is ready to eat. The key to making oil tea soup is the quality of the tea leaves and the heat control when frying them; the choice of seasonings and "puffed goods" can be adjusted to the guest's taste. The Tujia people call making oil tea soup "beating oil tea soup," and there is a dedicated iron wok that is usually hung on the wooden wall of the fire pit room when not in use.
The cooking utensils needed for making oil tea soup are relatively simple. In rural areas, only an iron wok, a trivet, a spatula, and some fire are needed; in towns, only an iron wok, a spatula, and a stove are needed. In Wantang Township of Longshan County, many households even have special jars for holding oil tea soup—made of pottery, iron, copper, or porcelain. When storing oil tea soup, the jar is placed by the fire to keep warm, and when going up the mountain to work, a large jar of oil tea soup is taken along for lunch. The dedicated iron wok and jars for oil tea soup are not washed for years on end, because the oily coating also prevents rust.
Heat an iron wok over high heat, add rapeseed oil, and first fry the peanuts until golden brown, then set aside on a plate. Next, fry the dried tofu until it puffs open, then set aside; when frying the dried tofu, control the heat so it doesn't burn. After frying the dried tofu, the glutinous rice cakes can also be briefly fried in oil; walnut kernels can be fried or not. Next, remove the oil from the wok and replace it with a small amount of lard (because ordinary vegetable oil is generally less fragrant than lard). When the oil reaches about 60% heat, add minced ginger to the oil, and at the same time add tea leaves and stir-fry for just 1–2 seconds, then pour in an appropriate amount of water (just enough to cover the tea leaves). When the water boils, press lightly with a spatula—the purpose is to release the tea flavor by pressing after the tea leaves have opened up with the water added; this not only releases the tea juices but also prevents the tea leaves from scorching and allows them to soften into the soup. After boiling for 1 to 2 minutes, add a larger amount of water and bring to a boil, add salt to taste, then ladle into bowls and add the fried peanuts, dried tofu, walnut kernels, minced garlic, and so on. This way you can drink the soup while eating the peanuts, dried tofu, and walnut kernels in it. If paired with fire-roasted glutinous rice cakes, the taste is full of lingering fragrance and a long, pleasant aftertaste.
It is worth noting that MSG should not be added to oil tea soup, because MSG would alter the soup's original flavor. Also, chili is generally not added to the soup, because it can easily cause choking when drinking.
There is an art to drinking oil tea soup, and knowledge involved in drinking tea-leaf soup. The Tujia people have a saying: "Oil tea soup doesn't steam, and it scalds the foolish son-in-law." Because lard is generally used to make oil tea soup, after it is made the lard floats on the surface, and the temperature is extremely high, but unlike boiling water it does not give off white steam, so you cannot tell it is hot. Foolish sons-in-law, treated to oil tea soup by their mothers-in-law, gulp it down in one big mouthful to show appreciation—at best scalding off a layer of skin from the tongue, at worst causing blisters all over the mouth. Although everyone knows this saying, many people still fall for it every time, all because the oil tea soup is just too fragrant.
Oil tea soup can be drunk on its own or paired with various side ingredients. It is said that the most elaborate oil tea soup can have dozens of side ingredients. However, ordinary families usually eat just a few: puffed rice, crispy rice crust, peanuts, walnut kernels, sunflower seeds, and so on. The traditional way of drinking is without a spoon or chopsticks—holding the bowl and drinking while turning it in circles, with the aim of finishing both the soup and the side ingredients at the same time; or inserting a single chopstick into the bowl and slowly stirring in circles while drinking the soup. To finish both the soup and the side ingredients at once also requires a bit of skill—in Tujia parlance, "your tongue needs to grow hooks." In some Tujia mountain villages, elderly people drinking oil tea soup don't even let their mouths touch the bowl; they just deftly suck at the edge of the bowl, and the contents flow into their mouths. The delight in this is simply indescribable.
Tea Art Performance
The first procedure is preparing the ingredients—"gathering all fragrances into a delicacy." The main ingredients include peanuts, walnut kernels, soybeans, sesame, crispy fried meat bits, tea leaves, and rapeseed oil. After stir-frying or deep-frying the above ingredients, they are placed into a grinding mortar and crushed into granular or powdery form. Separately, tea snacks such as buckwheat crisps, puffed rice, and yellow dumplings are deep-fried until crisp and set aside.
The second procedure: making tea paste—"blending all fragrances into one." Fry the tea leaves in tea-seed oil until yellow, add an appropriate amount of water, then add the prepared soybeans, peanuts, and other ingredients, and use a long-handled wooden ladle to slowly press and knead in the iron wok, crushing the cooked tea leaves and blending them with the various ingredients into a paste-like tea paste for later use. It can also be made and used immediately by adding water and boiling into oil tea.
The third procedure: boiling the oil tea—"blending all fragrances into a fine dish." Put rapeseed oil into the wok, add the prepared tea paste and lightly stir-fry, then add water and bring to a boil, add an appropriate amount of salt and pepper powder, sprinkle with roasted sesame, and the fragrant oil tea is ready.
The fourth procedure: serving guests—"a bowl of oil tea expresses respect." Place the deep-fried buckwheat crisps, puffed rice, and so on on a plate in the center of the wooden table, arrange the earthenware bowls on the four sides of the table, and offer the oil tea in order according to seniority—elders, the elderly, and guests.
The fifth procedure: eating the oil tea—"tea fragrance enters the heart and dispels intoxication." Why is it called eating oil tea? Because the many ingredients and tea leaves in the oil tea are all meant to be eaten. Oil tea is already a kind of food, so one says "eating" oil tea. When in Fenggang eating oil tea, by all means don't be polite—generally no fewer than three bowls, called "three bowls and no formality," otherwise it may seem like you look down on the host. After finishing one bowl, you should generously hand the empty bowl to the host, and the host will immediately refill it for you. After three bowls, if you are full, simply rest your chopsticks on the bowl or hand the chopsticks together with the bowl to the host, and the host will no longer pour tea. Eating oil tea is a kind of life enjoyment. Smell the fragrance, savor the flavor, taste the delicacy. The crisp tea snacks are refreshing to the palate, and the clear, fragrant oil tea is refreshing to the heart. It can both fill the stomach and satisfy hunger, and soothe the spirit and invigorate the mind—is this not a kind of enjoyment?
The sixth procedure: thanking for the tea—"ascending to an even higher level of excellence." One should sip while eating and offer praise. After finishing, one should especially express thanks to the warm and hospitable host. If you have eaten oil tea made by a bride, when finishing the last bowl you should place some lucky money (also called "needle-and-thread money") in the bowl and hand it to the bride with both hands to offer congratulations.
The tea art performance is often accompanied by cheerful, lively, simple, and natural ethnic dances reflecting Tujia labor and life, with fresh, smooth music and a lively rhythm.
Nutritional Value
The reason the Tujia people love drinking oil tea soup is not only because it has oil and salt and the fried tea leaves are fragrant and sweet, but also because eating the tea leaves allows the amino acids and trace element selenium in them to be fully absorbed. At the same time, the soup contains ginger, garlic, and other ingredients that have antibacterial and heatstroke-preventing effects and can promote salivation and quench thirst, so that even when climbing slopes and ridges and drinking unboiled water, one is less likely to fall ill. In addition, oil tea soup can warm the body, relieve summer heat, stimulate the appetite, refresh the mind and relieve fatigue, invigorate the meridians and strengthen yang, satisfy hunger, sober one up, dispel dampness, and warm the stomach. It is delicious and habit-forming, with high edible and medicinal value.
Oil tea soup is not only deeply favored by the older generation but also has a broad market among young people. This is because the tea in oil tea soup contains trace elements needed by the human body, not only meeting the body's intake of trace elements, but also having a unique color, overflowing fragrance, rich and intoxicating flavor, crisp and delicious taste, and rich nutrition. It reduces fat and has the remarkable effect of preserving freshness and promoting health. Compared with the iced black tea and iced green tea beverages sold on the market, it is no less impressive—indeed, it may be even better. It is a superior food and drink favored by beauty-conscious women, office workers, sports enthusiasts, and obese individuals alike.
With the progress of modern science and technology and economic development, more and more high-tech products have replaced traditional distinctive culture, and oil tea soup, located deep in the mountains, has also been impacted to varying degrees. At present, various fruit juices, colas, yogurt products, tea beverages, seaweed soup, and other ready-made soups and drinks on the market are constantly being renewed and appear in endless variety. With the accelerating pace of life and rising living standards of today's young people, there is growing fondness for various ready-made products. Traditional distinctive foods like oil tea soup are in danger of being gradually abandoned under the influence of the "fast" and "convenient" mindset of most young people. Although many people in rural areas love to drink it, those who can make it themselves are only the older generation and some young people; in towns, most of those who can make it are professional chefs in restaurants and some elderly people. Therefore, in Xiangxi, western Hubei, Chongqing, and other places, there is a common problem: more and more people love drinking oil tea soup, but fewer and fewer people love to make it and know how to make traditional authentic oil tea soup. Therefore, protecting the inheritance and development of oil tea soup is imperative.
A Fine Drink Spreads Far and Wide
After the reform and opening up, oil tea soup, a traditional Tujia flavor, became even more widely renowned. In 1984, then General Secretary Hu Yaobang and Comrade Hu Jintao inspected Xianfeng and, after drinking this soup, greatly praised its unique flavor and processing technique.
In April 1991, at the First China International Tea Culture Festival held in the famous tea town of Hangzhou, tea ceremony artists from more than twenty countries each displayed their specialties in a splendid and varied showcase, yet Tujia oil tea soup stood out uniquely at this tea culture festival, captivating the tea ceremony artists and tea-tasting experts. Tang Hongxiang, a Tujia cadre from Laifeng County, led the 'China Western Hubei Autonomous Prefecture Laifeng County Tujia Oil Tea Soup Tea Art Troupe' to Hangzhou to participate in the 'First China International Tea Culture Festival,' receiving more than 200 guests from over ten countries and regions to taste and drink it, and was highly praised by everyone, who called it a masterpiece of Chinese tea culture. The festival organizing committee, the National Tourism Administration, and the Zhejiang Provincial People's Government awarded Comrade Tang Hongxiang the honorable title of 'Chinese Tea Ceremony Art Performer.'
Originally the festival stipulated that each delegation could perform only once, but oil tea soup was exceptionally brewed six times in succession. After drinking the oil tea soup, more than two hundred foreign guests repeatedly exclaimed: this is a rare beverage and delicacy, the taste is wonderful! Some foreign guests said enviously: the Tujia people are blessed, their ancestors left behind such a fine tea culture.
To this day throughout the prefecture, Tujia oil tea soup is especially prevalent in places like Xianfeng and Laifeng. In 1992, the 'Laifeng County Tujia Oil Tea Soup Tea Art Troupe' participated in the First China Tea Culture Festival held in Hangzhou, earning the praise: 'Laifeng famous tea spreads a thousand li, Tujia oil tea fragrance reaches the nine provinces.' The South Korean delegation praised Tujia oil tea soup as 'a masterpiece of Chinese tea culture.' Later, relevant departments refined and organized Tujia oil tea soup into the 'Four Courses of Tea' (namely White Crane Tea, Pao'er Tea, Oil Tea Soup, and Egg Tea) and oil tea ceremony performances and other forms, making it a standardized ceremonial tea ceremony. At the 2005 China Selenium-Rich Tea Culture Festival hosted by the China Tea Association, the elegant and outstanding 'Four Courses of Tea' tea ceremony and tea art performance became a beautiful scenery, allowing oil tea soup, the essence of Tujia tea culture, to be carried forward and glorified.
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