Tea Distribution

In other lo ensure that the flavor of the tea is distributed evenly, first pour the tea into the fairness cup before distributing it in each tea appreciation cup. Pour the tea directly from the teapot in a sweeping arc motion to ensure the even distribution of the flavor-this is known as "General Guan touring the city walls " The residual essence of tea in the antique teapots should also be evenly distributed into each individual cup a drop at a time-this is known as “Han Xin inspecting the troops."

Tea Tips
General Guan touring the city walls, Han Xin inspecting the troops
General Guan and Han Xin are historical figures of different dynasties. One often hears the phrases 'General Guan touring the city walls and "Han Xin inspecting the troops" following consecutively. In the early days, people used the so-called "Chaoshan four treasures." namely, the Chaoshan stove (to light a fire in the mud stove), the )ade book (to boil water in a clay pot), the Mengchen teapot (to brew the tea) and the Ruochen cup(to drink the tea). The amount of tea leaves added was usually very large. The pot would usually be 70-80% full. Therefore, the tea brewed was very strong. To distribute the flavor evenly, the large tea cups were arranged either in a straight line or in the form of a pyramid and swept across the cups in a smooth motion while pouring the tea. This move was known as "General Guan touring the city walls." The last drops of tea have the strongest flavor. It is known as the essence of the tea and must be evenly distributed-one drop per cup. This was known as "Han Xin inspecting the troops".