Cooking with Tea 14th July
Culinary & Tea Walking Tour 25th July & 29th August
The Hutong Tea Lounge-Tea Tasting 17th , 24th July & 14th, 28th August
The earliest records of Pu’Er tea date back to the Tang Dynasty ( 618AD-906AD ) when it was the favorite tea of the nobleman of this time. Pu’er again has become one of the fastest selling tea products on the market. With the likes of Victoria Beckham swearing her oath on the holy pu’er biscuit as the most useful weight loss aid, sales worldwide since 2004 have quintuppled. Thats 5 times the global sales output.
The secret of making Pu’er tea has been closely guarded in China for centuries. The tea leaves are collected from growers of a special broad-leaf tea tree, which are said to be related to ancient prehistoric tea trees. The leaves go through two types of fermentation, which gives this tea its unique characteristics; a mild, but distinctively earthy flavour.
Because of these qualities, we have come up with our own blend to bring people to wanting learn more about the teas available to them in China and in your local market. We have infused a small carefully catered cache of manadarin peel, cardamon pod, clove, cinamon, nutmeg and black pepper with a fermented pu’er tea brick to give a very soft and warming spirit to this tea.
We look fwd. to sharing this recipe with all our visitors for this month.
Availability: Tea City – Maliandao, Yunnan tea farms and www.tea-journeys.com
Price: 180RMB/jin just for shou pu’er tea
Come to the Hutong’s exclusive Cooking with Tea class and learn a side of tea that you never imagined possible! Join resident chef Joel as he combines his expertise with Chinese teas and the Hutong’s wonderfully diverse kitchen to produce Chinese food that inspires, yet can be replicated in your home. Here you will begin with brief discussion on the tea leaves alone and gradually bridge them with the dishes that will be cooked, drawing out all the flavours that these wonderful leaves can contribute to everyday cooking.
Cooked Pu’er tea lines the stomach and helps aid in the digestion of heavier winter foods. Pu’er tea right up until 20 years ago was still regarded as a Chinese national state secret. The process in making this tea involves both oxidaization and fermentation.
Cooked Pu’er Tea is perfectly suited as a winter beverage as its warming more robust flavour characteristics act to help prick the circulation and warm the body at the same time.
We have chosen to blend this tea with some other specialty exotic flavours. Dates, Osmanthus flower, goji berry, licorice root, haw fruit and natural rock sugar giving a slightly sweet taste to the earthy qualities. The tea brings great all round winter benefits to the body.
The Hutong will be serving this winter 8 Treasure Blend at your next visit to The Hutong. We look forward to sharing the experience with you.
In this tea training course participants are introduced to 6 teas processed in different styles from varying Chinese regions. They learn to taste, brew and select various teas. While tasting delicious teas they are taught the history and mythology that is infused in each cup of Chinese tea.
Cost: ¥160; ¥ 150 for members
