Picture/pixabay
It has been a few days since work resumed, but the streets are still not busy. There are not many shops open, and those that remain open have very few customers. The office has a Nordic style - everyone is spaced at least one or two meters apart.
In the past month, many things that we have long been accustomed to have disappeared from life, such as hot pot and milk tea.
Especially milk tea, this is the life-sustaining water of many people. One month of it is missing in life, and it feels like this month is also missing this year.
Milk tea, how has this ancient and modern drink conquered our lives? What to do when there is no milk tea?
directory
1 | How does milk and tea become CP?
The earliest milk tea may be butter tea
2 | When was modern milk tea born?
British dilemma, pour milk or tea first?
3 | Milk tea and milk tea, we are different
Pearl milk tea, stocking milk tea , Mongolian milk tea , butter tea
4 | How to make a cup of pearl milk tea at home?
Starting from kneading rice balls and boiling pearls
01 Across mountains, rivers and seas, how do milk and tea meet?
Milk tea, as the name suggests, is a combination of milk and tea. Both milk and tea are drinks with a long history. Who is such a genius that made tea and milk the CP?
This starts with the spread of tea and milk.
Picture/pixabay
Tea originated in China. By the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, tea had been widely cultivated in the south, and tea drinking also formed in the Jiangnan region.
In the Tang Dynasty, due to the huge influence of Tang culture, the custom of drinking tea began to spread to the north, and the nomadic people on the frontier also began to come into contact with tea.
During the Song and Yuan Dynasties, the ethnic minorities who went south quickly accepted tea as a drink and developed the trend of drinking tea. By the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, tea had been exported to Europe in large quantities.
Unlike tea, which spreads from south to north, milk spreads in the opposite direction.
Picture/Pexels
Humanity’s use of animal milk predates the invention of writing, probably more than 10,000 years ago, but it was not until the mid-19th century that milk became a popular food.
In Chinese history, milk has always been the food of nomadic people on the frontier. The Han people in farming areas rarely eat it. At most, they eat processed dairy products, such as cheese.
Until the 1960s, Mr. Liang Shiqiu said with emotion when he visited the Carnation Dairy Farm in Seattle, the United States: "We Chinese are famous for not liking to drink milk... It is true that the general Han people do not have the habit of drinking milk." The Chinese people are really big The success of large-scale development actually happened after the reform and opening up.
Milk and tea first collided, most likely in the border areas of China where people were accustomed to drinking milk and were influenced by tea culture. Some scholars believe that Tibetan butter tea is the earliest milk tea.
butter tea. Picture/China Tibet Network
In the Yuan Dynasty, during the cultural exchanges between Mongolia and Tibet, they were influenced by the Tibetans using butter in tea, and gradually formed the habit of drinking milk tea, and Mongolian milk tea was born.
02When was modern milk tea born?
Whether it is Tibetan butter tea or Mongolian milk tea, the salty taste is far from the milk tea we are familiar with every day. So when did sugar replace salt and, together with milk and tea, become a delicacy sweeping the world?
The birthplace of modern milk tea is not in China, but in Europe.
As early as the Song and Yuan Dynasties, China had been selling tea to Europe through the Maritime Silk Road. However, due to the scarcity of tea, tea was only a luxury product that could only be enjoyed by European aristocrats.
The Portuguese were the first to make great voyages, and the first European royal family to form a tea-drinking culture was also the Portuguese royal family.
Perhaps the nobles were not used to the bitter taste of tea, so they added another luxury product to the tea - sugar. Tea drinking became popular and came across the English Channel to England.
Sugar once meant wealth. Picture/photoAC
It was the British who turned tea drinking in Europe into an aristocratic culture.In the 17th century, King Charles II of England came to the throne, and his wife Catherine came from the Portuguese royal family. When Catherine came to England, she brought several boatloads of tea and sugar. She also drank tea with sugar every day, so she was also called the "Queen of Tea." What went up worked first, and the trend of drinking tea soon spread among the British aristocracy.
In the 18th century, the quantity of tea imported into Britain skyrocketed, the price dropped, and many middle class people could afford it. But problems ensued. The quality of porcelain produced in Britain was poor, and it was easy to burst when hot tea was poured into it. So people who couldn't afford the porcelain imported from China tried their best and found that if cold milk was poured in first, the porcelain would not be damaged.
But the nobles still insisted on drinking strong tea without milk to show off the high quality of their porcelain from China.
Picture/pixabay
At the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century, the price of tea had dropped to the point that even ordinary people could afford it. At this time, tea also became the national drink of Britain.
In 1793, the British delegation visited the Qing Dynasty. Emperor Qianlong ordered ten boxes of tea to be prepared for them. In addition, he also presented two cows as a gift.
More and more people drink tea, but not everyone is like the nobles who drink tea with snacks. Many people are affected by the caffeine in strong tea and will feel uncomfortable after drinking it.
Until they discovered that adding milk or butter and other dairy products to strong tea, the discomfort symptoms would disappear and the tea would taste smoother. Adding milk to tea became more and more popular. The prototype of modern milk tea was born.
Picture/Getty Images
But a new question has arisen. Should the tea be poured first and then the milk, or the milk first and then the tea? The British have been arguing about this for more than 100 years.
03 Milk tea and milk tea: We are different, different...
From the 18th to the 20th century, Europeans’ habit of drinking milk tea also affected many colonial countries and regions with the expansion of colonialism.
Due to differences in regional culture and products, there are many variations of milk tea. In addition to the traditional milk tea existing in some places, there are countless types of milk tea around the world: British milk tea , Taiwanese milk tea , Hong Kong style milk tea , Mongolian milk tea, Indian milk tea, Malaysian milk tea, Arabic sweet and spicy milk tea, Japanese brown rice green milk tea...
In China, the most common ones we drink are Taiwanese milk tea and Hong Kong-style milk tea. In addition, Mongolian milk tea and Tibetan butter tea sometimes appear on our tables as regional specialty foods.
Taiwanese milk tea
This is the milk tea we drink the most now, bar none.
Most of the big-name, unknown, familiar, and unfamiliar milk tea shops on the streets and shopping malls are Taiwanese milk tea or its variants. There are many types of milk tea on the menu of
milk tea shop, but the one that captures the most hearts is pearl milk tea.
Picture/match.net.tw
In the early 1980s, bubble black tea became popular in Taiwan, and bubble tea shops of all sizes were dotted on the streets. Pearl milk tea began to appear on the menus of tea shops in the mid-to-late 1980s.
Regarding the origin of pearl milk tea, two companies claim to be the inventors, one is Chun Shui Tang in Taichung and the other is Hanlin Tea House in Tainan.
In order to argue about who is the inventor of bubble milk tea, Chun Shui Tang and Hanlin Teahouse sued each other to the Taiwanese court, but to no avail. Neither store has the patent or trademark rights for bubble milk tea.
A long queue at a milk tea shop in Japan. Picture / Internet
Perhaps because of this, shops large and small in Taiwan can make and sell bubble milk tea without any obstacles, and it has also become one of the representative food cultures in Taiwan.
Since the late 1990s, Taiwanese milk tea, including pearl milk tea, has rapidly affected Hong Kong, mainland China, and even Southeast Asia. Since 2018, pearl milk tea has also become a craze in Japan. Not only do you have to queue up to buy a cup of milk tea, the Japanese also magically put pearls in pizza, ramen, toast, beer...
Pearl Ramen.Picture/facebook
Speaking of pearls in milk tea, there are fake news saying that they are plastic, and some alarmists say that they are extremely harmful to the human body. In fact, how can it be so powerful? The raw material is tapioca starch. Cassava is native to Brazil and is the fifth largest crop in tropical areas of my country after rice, sweet potato, sugar cane and corn.
The popularity of Taiwanese milk tea is partly due to the rich variety of teas and ingredients, which can be combined into countless combinations. On the other hand, it breaks the restrictions of region and time, and can be used wherever shopping, watching movies, working, studying... You can put a cup next to it.
Hong Kong-style milk tea
Because of TVB’s TV series, many people knew about Hong Kong’s milk tea and tea restaurants in the 1990s. To this day, milk tea is still the main signature drink in Hong Kong-style restaurants in the mainland.
Picture/Hong Kong Tourism Board
Hong Kong people drink milk tea, mainly due to the influence of the British. In the mid-19th century, after the British colonized Hong Kong, they also brought the habit of drinking afternoon tea there.
The collision of Chinese and Western cultures gave birth to the tea restaurant with Hong Kong characteristics, and milk tea is one of the symbols of the tea restaurant. However, there is a big difference between Hong Kong-style milk tea and British-style milk tea in tea restaurants.
British-style milk tea generally uses only one kind of tea as the tea base, while Hong Kong-style milk tea uses at least three or four kinds, and as many as seven or eight kinds of tea to make a strong tea. Each tea blending recipe is different. , also creates different milk tea flavors.
tea restaurant. Picture/openrice
In addition, British-style milk tea uses milk, while Hong Kong-style milk tea mostly uses evaporated milk. The so-called evaporated milk actually means that part of the water in milk has evaporated. Usually, the water content of evaporated milk is less than half that of milk, so it is truly "thick milk". Because evaporated milk lasts longer, it is also cheaper than fresh milk.
Strong tea is paired with strong milk, and then sugar is added to create the rich and smooth taste of Hong Kong-style milk tea. It has a strong taste and high calories, can quickly replenish physical strength, and is not expensive. It is a favorite of manual workers such as dock workers.
The most famous Hong Kong-style milk tea is stockings milk tea, which actually has nothing to do with stockings.
In the making of Hong Kong-style milk tea, there is a step called " teh tarik ": put the blended tea into the tea bag of teh tarik, then put it into a teapot, and repeatedly and quickly brew it with boiling water in another teapot. Pour the tea to quickly simmer (this is making tea), then immerse the tea bag into the pot, simmer it in the pot for a few minutes (this is baking tea), then pour the tea into another teapot, and pour it back and forth repeatedly. Pour it several times (this is tea-bumping), and finally pour it into the cup with evaporated milk.
Picture/Internet
The tea bag is usually made of cotton gauze. The cotton gauze has been soaked in strong tea. The color is very close to that of stockings, so some diners jokingly call it "silk stocking milk tea". Another signature of
tea restaurant is Yuanyang Milk Tea . Coffee is added to the milk tea to make them become one. Yuanyang milk tea is also an epitome of the integration of culture and eating habits.
Mongolian milk tea
In the Yuan Dynasty, there were records of Mongolians adding milk to tea, but the current Mongolian milk tea was only established in the Ming and Qing Dynasties.
Mongolian milk tea raw materials use tea brick . Because the quality of tea was a problem from Jiangnan to Saibei, merchants simply steamed the tea and pressed it into tea bricks.
Picture/Internet
When making milk tea, boil tea bricks to make tea soup, filter out the tea leaves, and then add fresh milk to cook it. In winter, when there is less fresh milk, butter and other dairy products will be used instead.
You need to add a little salt when drinking Mongolian milk tea, and the ingredients are extremely rich: fried rice, milk skin, butter residue, cream, butter, sheep tail oil...
Tibetan butter tea
The Tibetan word for butter tea is "Chasuma". Meaning stirred tea. Some scholars believe that butter tea should have originated in the Tang Dynasty.
Ghee is a layer of fat that condenses on the surface after boiling and stirring milk or goat's milk.
Picture/China Southern Airlines
The process of making butter tea is not easy. After the tea is boiled, add the ghee and salt, put it in a slender wooden barrel, and beat it vigorously with a stirring stick to make it become an emulsion.Another way is to put the butter and tea into a leather bag, tie the mouth of the bag tightly, and beat it hard with a wooden stick. Therefore, making butter tea is also called "making" butter tea.
The butter tea prepared by
is often eaten with Tibetan tsampa (fried highland barley noodles).
The intersection of farming civilization and nomadic civilization, and the collision of Eastern and Western cultures, whether it is Taiwanese milk tea, Hong Kong milk tea, Mongolian milk tea, or Tibetan butter tea, are all products of cultural exchanges. The drink milk tea has evolved into many different varieties and forms according to different regional products and culture.
Mr. Ji Xianlin once wrote in "The History of Sugar":
"Whatever we eat today, what gods we worship, and what living habits we have cannot be just our own, but are related to Related to people from some distant countries and different cultures that we don’t know. "
04How to make a cup of milk tea to relieve lovesickness at home?
Staying at home and not being able to go out, the most common things in the circle of friends are all kinds of check-ins: child care check-in, fitness check-in, cooking check-in, and even if you don’t drink milk tea, you have to check in...
In fact, it is not that difficult to drink milk tea, milk tea shop You can always do it yourself without opening the door. Moreover, everyone knows that milk tea is most criticized for its high sugar content. You can control sugar to the maximum extent by making it yourself.
If you want to make it, you have to make the whole set, starting with rolling the balls and boiling the pearls.
The raw materials are not complicated, tapioca (100 grams), brown sugar or black sugar (30 grams), water (70 grams).
The difference between brown sugar and brown sugar is that brown sugar has been boiled for a longer time and has not been refined or decolorized. The other differences are not big. However, because brown sugar boils for a longer time and more Maillard reactions occur, the coloring effect on pearls will be better. But in special times, when logistics is limited, brown sugar is chosen.
Put 30 grams of brown sugar and 70 grams of water into a pot and bring to a boil. The sugar should be completely melted.
Then pour the tapioca flour into the pot while it is hot and quickly stir it into a dough. Be sure to keep it hot, otherwise the tapioca flour will not form a ball.
Knead the dough until it is smooth, it will be a little hot.
Divide the kneaded dough into several portions, roll into thin strips, cut into small pieces, and then knead into pearls. Be careful to cut a little, knead a little, and cover the dough with plastic wrap or a damp cloth to prevent it from drying out.
Sprinkle dry powder on a plate, and roll the kneaded pearls in dry powder to prevent sticking.
After all the pearls are done, add 50 to 80 grams of brown sugar to 400 grams of water (adjust according to personal taste), put it in a pot and bring to a boil, add the pearls, and cook for 15 to 20 minutes. Stir occasionally to prevent sticking to the pot. When the time is up, turn off the heat and simmer for another 15 minutes.
Then it’s time to make milk tea. 500 grams of milk, 10-15 grams of black tea.
Pour the milk into the pot and heat it. When it is almost boiling, add the black tea and heat it over the lowest heat. The milk tea will soon become fragrant, turn off the heat and filter. When making milk tea, the product may be thicker due to evaporation of water. You can add some milk according to your personal taste.
Finally, pair the prepared pearls with milk tea to create a perfect cup of pearl milk tea.
- The End -
text | Wei Yiyi
cover image | Network
- References -
[1] Bubble black tea, Wikipedia
[2] Pearl milk tea, Wikipedia
[3] Stockings milk tea, Wikipedia
[4] Butter tea, Wikipedia
[5 "Genghis Khan never drank Mongolian milk tea", Phoenix Weekly
[6] "The first person to drink milk tea, did he add sugar or salt? ", fifteen words
[7] "How to choose among those fancy milks in the supermarket? ", Three Cooks
[8] "Brown sugar, brown sugar, brown sugar, which kind of sugar is the most "healthy"? 》,Chunyu Doctor
