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Warm-hearted elders serve cool free tea in summertime
By Nie Xin |
July 24, 2009, Friday
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THERE'S nothing like a cup of cool tea on a hot day in Hangzhou, one of China's famous "furnaces," and for many years tea has been offered free to pedestrians.
To let people know where to find free cool tea, a map of tea carts and stalls has been drawn up by media. Most of them are run by warm-hearted senior citizens.
Tong Tianyou, 76, stands at the Line 56 bus stop on Huangcheng Road N., holding a big pot of cool tea and serving passengers waiting for the bus and people walking by.
Every July and August, Tong is busy serving tea from 8am to 4:30pm and he usually serves out 400 cups of tea every day.
This is his fifth summer at the bus stop.
He has earned a reputation for generosity as well as good tea - a special formula - and sometimes he gets people from other places who just want to try his cha (tea).
"The tea I make is Hangzhou's favorite," he says. "I make it with a big tea bag, the way they did in old tea houses."
Demand is high, he says, so he can't boil water, make tea and cool it on the spot.
He makes it a day in advance and makes four big wooden barrels.
"In those extremely hot days last year, I had to make eight barrels of tea a day," says Tong.
He fills a tea bag with 500-gram green tea, 500-gram black tea and 250-gram chrysanthemum tea. Then he steeps it in boiling water in a wooden barrel.
"When the tea cools, it's ready to drink and the delicate cool taste is very good in hot weather," says Tong.
Tong's wife helps out, so do five young volunteers in red caps. The youngest is a five-year-old kid Ma Chengxuan who goes to the stall at 4pm every day with his parents.
It's a way for him to learn about helping others and he has been doing this for two years.
"I am coming to help Grandpa Tong," says Ma proudly.
Another warm-hearted elder offering cool tea is Zhou A'zhen who lives in the Muchangxiang Neighborhood and serves tea at her residential area for passersby. This summer she has been doing it for half a month.
The 74-year-old tea mistress has a slight problem with her legs, so she's unable to carry and set up her stall up far from home.
"If somebody can help me set up at Wangjiang Gate (a tourist attraction), I could help more people," she says.
On Nanshan Road, a group of elders gather every Saturday to serve free cooling tea for eight hours during July and August. They all live in nearby Jingsi Neighborhood.
In addition, north of Wushan Hill, there's yet another free tea stall near famous Hu Qing Yu Tang, an age-old traditional Chinese medicine store.
To let people know where to find free cool tea, a map of tea carts and stalls has been drawn up by media. Most of them are run by warm-hearted senior citizens.
Tong Tianyou, 76, stands at the Line 56 bus stop on Huangcheng Road N., holding a big pot of cool tea and serving passengers waiting for the bus and people walking by.
Every July and August, Tong is busy serving tea from 8am to 4:30pm and he usually serves out 400 cups of tea every day.
This is his fifth summer at the bus stop.
He has earned a reputation for generosity as well as good tea - a special formula - and sometimes he gets people from other places who just want to try his cha (tea).
"The tea I make is Hangzhou's favorite," he says. "I make it with a big tea bag, the way they did in old tea houses."
Demand is high, he says, so he can't boil water, make tea and cool it on the spot.
He makes it a day in advance and makes four big wooden barrels.
"In those extremely hot days last year, I had to make eight barrels of tea a day," says Tong.
He fills a tea bag with 500-gram green tea, 500-gram black tea and 250-gram chrysanthemum tea. Then he steeps it in boiling water in a wooden barrel.
"When the tea cools, it's ready to drink and the delicate cool taste is very good in hot weather," says Tong.
Tong's wife helps out, so do five young volunteers in red caps. The youngest is a five-year-old kid Ma Chengxuan who goes to the stall at 4pm every day with his parents.
It's a way for him to learn about helping others and he has been doing this for two years.
"I am coming to help Grandpa Tong," says Ma proudly.
Another warm-hearted elder offering cool tea is Zhou A'zhen who lives in the Muchangxiang Neighborhood and serves tea at her residential area for passersby. This summer she has been doing it for half a month.
The 74-year-old tea mistress has a slight problem with her legs, so she's unable to carry and set up her stall up far from home.
"If somebody can help me set up at Wangjiang Gate (a tourist attraction), I could help more people," she says.
On Nanshan Road, a group of elders gather every Saturday to serve free cooling tea for eight hours during July and August. They all live in nearby Jingsi Neighborhood.
In addition, north of Wushan Hill, there's yet another free tea stall near famous Hu Qing Yu Tang, an age-old traditional Chinese medicine store.
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