Babao Cha (Eight Treasures Teas) containing chysanthemum flowers, rose buds, jasmine flowers, osmanthus flowers, goji berries, dried longan fruit, ginger slices, dried Chinese red dates and deep steamed sencha green tea.

Each of my annual Chinese New Year pilgrimages to Singapore brings me something new or evokes an old memory. What most struck me this time, was the prevalence of Babao Cha “Eight Treasures Tea”: it’s definitely in fashion back home!

The very auspicious name aside, recipes for this sweet “tea” are as varied as all the teas in China! However, the main ‘culprits’ are goji berries, Chinese black or red dates, ginseng, candied winter melon, dried longan and some dried flowers, typically chrysanthemum. Regional variations can include peanuts, honeysuckle flowers, rose, walnuts, liquorice, rock sugar, almonds, naseberry and luohan fruit etc. In many tea houses in China, customers will nurse a gaiwan (lidded cup) of Babao Cha for the whole day in the company of friends.

Some Babao Cha has no “tea” in it and if tea is used, one typically chooses a lighter tea but I have tasted one made with vintage pu erh tea! I prefer a slightly more astringent green tea for my Babao Cha, as it will enhance sweetness of the fruits.

When I was there in the last 2 weeks, Singapore was suffering from a heatwave with daily temperatures of 34°C and above. The sudden thunderstorm in the late afternoon as it gets too hot doesn’t help as the humidity makes it rather uncomfortable. So my mom brewed lots of different teas every day and Babao Cha was one of them. She knows that I am trying to lose a bit of weight and struggling to cope with the heat after the freezing London weather, so she used more of the dried flowers and fewer of the sweeter ingredients.

Now, Babao Cha dates back to the Qing Dynasty where Empress Dowager Cixi ordered her imperial doctors to create a drink involving natural ingredients to retain her youthfulness and allow her to maintain a level head. Her doctors came up with a tea using ginseng slices, sultanas, dried longans, Chinese dates, goji, luohan fruit, chrysanthemum, rock sugar and jasmine green tea. This drink was presented to Empress Dowager Cixi as one that strengthens the Yin element in one’s body, nourishes the kidneys and invigorates the mind, brightens the eyes and if drank throughout the year, can also ensure longevity and an ever youthful appearance. Empress Dowager Cixi was of course delighted with this tea and promptly named it Royal Babao Cha “Eight Treasure Tea” .

Babao Cha is indeed a wonderful infusion. Each of the ingredients has its own yin-yang attributes and when portioned correctly can indeed adjust the yin-yang imbalance in one’s body. Goji berries help to restore good eyesight and can nourish worn out tissues. Luohan fruit is flavoured for its yin or cooling properties. Chrysanthemum also has a cooling and soothing anti-inflammatory effect. Chinese red dates help to build up strength and vitality. Ginger is a heating (yang) and stimulating food that combats ailments relating to internal and external coldness. Ginseng is known to reinforce vigour and help blood circulation. Dried longan fruit is taken for its warming and heat-inducing properties.

Thus, one can enjoy this wonderful infusion the whole year round by adjusting the ingredients to the seasons and to one’s body constitution.

Babao Cha (Eight Treasures Tea) Recipe
- Goji berries
- Chinese red dates
- Chrysanthemum flowers
- Rose buds
- Jasmine flowers
- Osmanthus flowers
- Dried longan
- Ginger slices
- Deep steamed sencha green tea

Brew the sencha and pour the sencha through a strainer into the other ingredients. Add more sencha brew for multiple infusions.

If you are not using tea, simply infuse in boiling water and continue to add hot water for multiple infusions.

**Some ingredients give up their flavours faster than others so enjoy the gradual change in the taste profiles of this tea over time.

Warmly,

Pei
~~ Serene and fragrant TEA entices with promise of rapture in STORE ~~
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Deep Fried Sweet Potato Balls filled with Red Bean Paste - a delicious street food best enjoyed with a strong oolong tea like teanamu’s Wuyi Shuixian.

It is that time of the year again when I am packing my bags to get ready to go to Singapore in time for the Chinese New Year.

As I look at the year that has gone past (again!), I am grateful for the opportunity to meet so many lovely tea friends and I look forward to meeting more friends at the tea open houses and other events that I will be hosting.

All these nostalgic emotions and the cold weather are make me hungry. As I sit here thinking about all the Chinese New Year goodies that I will be indulging myself in Singapore, one particular street food pops into my mind and that is Jian Dui (translated as a deep fried ball).

Jian Dui is a sweet potato ball filled with red bean paste that has been coated with sesame seeds and deep fried. While many might recognise this as a Cantonese snack, it is also very popular amongst ethnic Hainanese like myself. In Hainan where my grandparents came from, this street food is also affectionately known “treasure bag” and is a must have item in many celebratory occasions.

Jian Dui has many origins but most likely it can be traced all the way back to the Tang Dynasty where a buddhist poet from the early Tang dynasty Wang Fanzhi praising it in a poem! Apparently, Chinese people from that era liked to buy Jian Dui served on a stick while they did their new year shopping in busy crowded streets.

Now the trick to making perfect looking sesame balls is to make sure that the oil is not too hot. If the oil is too hot, the dough will swell up with air and may burst or burnt very easily. However, if the oil is not hot enough then the dough will become chewy.

I like to eat these Jian Dui accompanied by a darker Oolong tea like Wuyi Shuixian which is strong, full-bodied and has spectacular orchid-like fragrance and a delicious, natural sweetness reminiscent of dried longan fruits. The floral, sweet fruit and roasty profiles of this tea goes particularly well with these piping hot sesame, sweet potato and red bean paste. As I write this blog, my mind is wondering about the idea of making Jian Dui with some oolong tea and simply fry the balls without a filling.

“Jian Dui” Deep Fried Sweet Potato Balls filled with Red Bean Paste

Ingredients
150g glutinous rice flour
300g sweet potato
30g sugar
300g red bean paste
white sesame seeds
Peanut or sunflower oil

Method
- Peel the sweet potato and cut into chunks. Steam the potato chunks till soft and mash till fine.
- While the sweet potato mash is still hot, fold in the sifted glutinous rice flour and sugar. Leave to cool slightly and then knead into dough.
- Divide the dough and the red bean paste into 20 portions. Flatten a piece of dough and wrap it around the mung bean paste to form a ball.
- Brush all round with some water and coat with in sesame seeds.
- Fry the dough in oil at around 150°C still golden brown
- Serve hot with a good strong oolong tea!

** This will make about 20 ping pong sized sweet potato balls.

With my last blog post in the year of the Bull, I wish all of you a very happy and prosperous year of Tiger!

Warmly,

Pei
~~ Serene and fragrant TEA entices with promise of rapture in STORE ~~
come in for free tea tasting & tea pâtisserie at our tea open house . experience serenity through tea & meditation at our medTEAtation gatherings
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Chapter 5 of Lu Yu’s Classics of Tea talking about water sources and why some sources are better than others.

The recent heavy snowfalls across the UK have inspired me to think how nice it would be to use fresh snow to make some really excellent tea. However, London snow being way too polluted, my thoughts then turn to wondering where would be the ideal source of pure snow that I could get hold of now for brewing tea.

The choice of water for tea brewing is a crucial issue as it can definitely affect the taste of the tea. London water is unfortunately too hard for the best tea, so I typically use pure water from the local health food store. I have a simple formula for calculating the hardness of water in the brewing tips section of this site.

Tea Saint Lu Yu (733-804 AD) wrote the great tea classic “Cha Jing” and devoted a substantial part of the fifth chapter to the choice of water. He ranked water in the following order from most to least desirable for making tea: mountain spring water - river water - underground well water.

According to him mountain spring water undergoes filtration through many layers of the earth’s crust and is therefore very clear and pure. As it slowly flows down the mountain, it is oxygenated and energized. With the help of carbon dioxide, it slowly dissolves the minerals (sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium etc ) found naturally in rocks. Water from waterfalls is considered unclean as it is inevitably full of sediments.

When choosing river water, upper river sources are considered better and midstream water is considered more energized and therefore more suitable for brewing tea. Sidestream water is usually more stagnant and liable to contain sediments.

Although underground well water is his least favourite type, Lu Yu wrote that, if one were to use it, one should look for a popularly used deep well, as the water will be much fresher and not stagnant.

As for rainwater and snow, Lu Yu labelled them “Heavenly Spring” (天泉). Rainwater is historically deemed to be purer but can vary in quality depending on the season. In summer, because of the frequency of thunderstorms, rainwater may contains sand particles. Rain in clear autumn air has less impurities and is therefore as pure as it can get.

Snow, however, is truly highly regarded. Lu Yu ranked China’s 19 best water sources as coming from specific, named rivers, streams and wells, and then added generic “snow water” as no. 20 in this elite list which means that you don’t need to live near one of the other 19 sources in order to make excellent tea.

In Chapter 41 of the classic “The Dreams of Red Mansions”, the female protagonist, Lin Daiyu, collected snow from branches of the plum tree and then kept it in urns buried undergound for consumption throughout the year.

Classics aside, the choice of water is not so very complicated. One should choose a PH neutral source, with a hardness level less than 25 (formula for water hardness), not polluted with heavy metals, bacteria or fungi, and ideally crystal clear and odourless.

I’d be delighted to hear if you have any ideas about collecting and using the snow in your area!

Warmly,

Pei
pei@teanamu.com
~~ Serene and fragrant TEA entices with promise of rapture in STORE ~~