How do you drink your green tea - straight up, with milk or as a matcha latte? Well, I invite you to expand your horizons, as I introduce you to a few ways that ancients took their daily dose of tea.
1. Thai tealeaf balls. This was an ancient recipe from Thailand, and was served with salt, oil, garlic, lard and dried fish. It must have been a flavorful explosion in the mouth!
2. Tibetan Tea Cream. Ancients from Tibet churned a mixture of tea, barley, salt and goat’s milk butter until it became creamy. Perhaps this creamy concoction was a predecessor to the green tea ice cream we have become familiar with.
3. Tocha. This was a tea-tasting game in Japan, in which players would try to guess where the tea came from. Prizes were given for successful guesses, and it was not unusual for Tocha sessions to get rowdy.
4. Tea Bath. Many people now use green tea to clear acne, relieve puffy eyes and reduce wrinkles. What better way to get all those beauty benefits than to soak in a bath full of tea goodness?
All this said, the ancients also drank tea the way we do, and they boasted of its medicinal properties. In fact, an ancient tea enthusiast even claimed that tea could strengthen friendships and discipline the body and mind.
There is more than one way to take your green tea. I haven’t even mentioned pork bone tea soup, tea eggs or dragon well tea shrimp. I guess that will have to wait for next time.