Fenggang Health Oil Tea

Fenggang Health Oil Tea

　　Fenggang Health Oil Tea is a specialty of Fenggang County in Zunyi City, Guizhou Province. The oil tea is a delicious dish cherished by the locals, consumed daily without ever tiring of its flavor — its aroma wafts through the villages, refreshing the heart and soul.

　　Tracing its origins, Fenggang Health Oil Tea inherits the tea-brewing customs of the Tang and Song dynasties, boasting a unique style. The Tujia people of Fenggang still maintain the tradition that “a day without drinking oil tea makes work feel uneasy,” making oil tea a dietary custom passed down through generations.

　　The ingredients for Fenggang Health Oil Tea include: peanuts, walnut kernels, soybeans, sesame seeds, oil residue, tea leaves, and rapeseed oil.

　　The basic preparation method for Fenggang Health Oil Tea is as follows: First, stir-fry or deep-fry the above ingredients, then grind them into granules or powder using a mortar. Separately, deep-fry buckwheat crisps, rice puffs, and yellow dumplings as tea snacks. Second, make the tea cake: lightly fry the tea leaves in rapeseed oil until yellow, add an appropriate amount of water and bring to a boil, then add prepared soybeans, peanuts, walnut kernels, and other ingredients. Slowly press the mixture with a long-handled wooden spatula in an iron pot until it becomes a paste-like tea cake. Third, cook the oil tea: sauté the rapeseed oil in the pot, add the prepared tea cake, then pour in water and bring to a boil. Add an appropriate amount of salt, ground Sichuan pepper, and pork lard residue, and sprinkle with roasted sesame seeds — the fragrant oil tea is now ready.

　　The characteristics of Fenggang Health Oil Tea are as follows: First, judging from the ingredients, Tujia oil tea is a purely natural green food. All the ingredients are plant fruits, seeds, or leaves, which are nutritious and delicious. Second, the oil used is organic rapeseed oil, beneficial to human health. Third, the key to making Tujia oil tea lies in preparing the tea cake well, mastering the heat, and pressing just right — historically referred to as “pressing the oil tea.” Fourth, drinking oil tea, which we call “aromatic tea soothing the soul,” is more than just a casual beverage — it’s a type of food. The people of Fenggang praise it as “energy soup.” Fifth, enjoying oil tea is a lifestyle delight — inhale the tea aroma, savor the flavors, and taste the delicious snacks. The crispy tea snacks are refreshing, the fragrant oil tea delights the heart, providing both sustenance and a lifted spirit. It is an indispensable part of life for the Tujia people of Fenggang.