Dream Back to Childhood (3) Gongcheng Camellia oleifera

When I talked about the taste of childhood last time, I felt it necessary to talk about Gongcheng Camellia oleifera in particular. As a native of Gongcheng Lianhua, we all grew up drinking Camellia oleifera.

Gongcheng is a Yao autonomous county with simple folk customs and warm and hospitable Yao people. The most famous thing here is probably the Camellia oleifera. Camellia oleifera is a must-have breakfast for every Gongcheng person. The sky is dawning and people start a new day. No matter how busy they are, Gongcheng people will never waste time preparing a pot of oil tea. If you don’t drink oil tea in the morning, you will probably be listless, yawning constantly, and not able to taste your food that day. Camellia oleifera is the best gift Gongcheng people give themselves to welcome the new day.

In the 1980s, Lianhua Township was still full of mud-walled and blue-tiled houses like my grandmother's. When the morning light came on, mist gently enveloped this quiet countryside, waiting for the sun to lift the sleeping veil and wake it up. earth. Green smoke gradually appeared on the green tiles of the house, and the familiar sound of "Duk, Du, Du" beating the camellia came from every house. Then, the aroma of the camellia filled the entire countryside.

The tools for making camellia oleifera are a 3-piece set, a camellia oleifera pot, a camellia oleifera hammer, and a camellia oleifera separator (filter). The pot is very special. It is made of pig iron and is 2 times thicker than ordinary pots. The pot is only about 25 centimeters round and weighs about 5 pounds. The bottom is also round. There is a duckbill-shaped filter on the left edge of the pot, which is convenient for pouring oil tea. The pot has a long handle. The front half of the long handle is made integrally with the iron pot, and the back half is embedded with a wooden handle, so that the pot has better load-bearing capacity and is less hot to the touch. The Camellia Camellia Hammer is a 7-shaped wooden hammer, usually made of old tea tree branches. The camellia separator is a fine filter spoon made of bamboo. The spoon is shaped like a water drop, and the small end of the water drop extends out to form the handle of the spoon.

The main raw materials of camellia oleifera are tea leaves, garlic and ginger. The tea leaves must be green tea picked during the Qingming Festival of Grain Rain. No special preparation is required, just pick the new leaves and fry them in an iron pan, then dry them in the sun. Put the tea pot on the stove, put in a little oil, put in the washed tea leaves, ginger, garlic, green onions, and a few raw peanuts to increase the whiteness of the soup, then beat it with a camellia hammer over low heat until The bottom of the pot is slightly burnt, and these ingredients are basically battered. Add boiling water over high heat, wait for the water to continue boiling for one minute, add salt, and the first pot of oil tea is ready. The bowls are arranged on the table. The person making the camellia picks up the hot tea pot with one hand and the camellia separator with the other hand, and filters the camellia through the separator into each bowl. Use a hammer to squeeze out the tea leaves and other broken residues, then put them into the pot to prepare the second pot. People who make oil tea can generally control the rhythm very well. When everyone's bowls of oil tea are almost finished, the next pot is basically ready. Everyone gathered their bowls together again and filled them up one by one. When drinking oil tea, you usually boil 4 or 5 pots repeatedly. "One pot is bitter, two pots are astringent, and three and four pots are good for good oil tea." Generally, the third pot is the best, and the first pot still has a strong bitter taste of tea. , the astringency is stronger in the second pot, the third and fourth pots taste the best, and the taste becomes lighter after the fifth pot. Camellia oleifera is earthy and translucent in color, with a strong tea aroma. It is slightly spicy in the mouth, with the spiciness of garlic and ginger. Each pot has different levels of tea flavor, from bitter to astringent, and finally sweet. A warm cup is refreshing. It drives away the cold and makes people feel refreshed. Tea sage Lu Yu mentioned in the "Tea Classic" that ginger slices are suitable for any tea, and oil tea makes the combination of tea and ginger sublime on the taste buds. In ancient times, the Lingnan area was a land of southern barbarians. In order to resist the hot and humid climate, the ancestors of the Yaoxiang people used the delicious tea of ??refreshing tea and ginger to warm the stomach and dispel the cold. It is wisdom and a kind of positivity. attitude towards life.

A cup of camellia oleifera alone is not enough to satisfy your hunger. Camellia oleifera is the main tea, and there are various forms of staple food eaten with it. Working people don't have enough time. Beat the oil tea, break an egg into the oil tea, mix it with a bowl of rice, or boil a bowl of rice noodles and add some vegetables. This is the simplest and most delicious breakfast. When you have enough time, prepare fried rice, crispy fruits, and fried peanuts. These are soaked in oil tea and drank together. Then stir-fry a plate of rice noodles, soak the cakes in water, fry various rice cakes, or various pastries and snacks. Tea can relieve tiredness. These staple foods are paired with oil tea to add a bit of flavor. During the New Year and festivals, I go to the pork stall early in the morning and cut a few taels of lean meat and liver. When I come back, I make a pot of oil tea and use the oil tea to make the pork liver and lean meat hot pot. It is even more delicious.

Times have passed, and my hometown has also undergone rapid changes in the wheel of the times. However, the custom of drinking camellia has been passed down from generation to generation. This tapping sound comes in the morning day after day, like Through hundreds of years of history, it has never stopped or changed.

It is also like a harmonious note, beating in the heart of every wanderer. The Yao family carefully prepares this pot of oil tea every morning. At that moment, they feel that all the disturbances outside the world have nothing to do with them, and life is only about this tea.

Don’t be distracted by your heart, don’t be trapped by emotions, don’t be afraid of the future, and don’t dwell on the past. This way, you’ll be fine!