Do You Know the Origin of Jasmine Tea?
The Question: A Curiosity About Jasmine Tea’s Birth
Many people enjoy jasmine tea for its fresh fragrance, but few know its origin.
Legend has it that it was created by Chen Guqiu, a Beijing tea merchant in ancient times.
One winter, Chen invited a tea-tasting master to explore teas favored by northerners, preparing a delicate teapot and a classic teapot to brew different tea samples for the master’s evaluation.
The Story: A Kindness and a Mystery Tea
During their tasting, Chen remembered a pack of tea given by a southern girl and fetched it to brew.
He used a small teapot to steep the tea, and when he lifted the lid of the teapot, a strong fragrance filled the air, with a vision of a girl holding jasmine flowers appearing in the steam.
The Wonder: The Vision and the Revelation
Puzzled, Chen asked the master, who explained it was a rare "Grateful Immortal Tea".
Chen then told the master about his kindness to a poor girl three years earlier, who had died a year before.
They brewed the tea again with a clean teapot, and the vision reappeared; Chen realized the tea fairy was hinting that jasmine could be added to tea, holding the teapot thoughtfully as he pondered the revelation.
The Creation: The Birth of Jasmine Tea
In the following year, Chen Guqiu tried adding jasmine flowers to tea, using a delicate teapot to blend their fragrances and a traditional teapot to perfect the brewing process.
The result was the fragrant jasmine tea, which soon became popular among northerners, marking the birth of this new tea category.
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