Tea Soup

Tea Soup

　　   Tea Soup is a traditional Beijing snack. It has a sweet, mellow flavor, a golden apricot hue, and a delicate taste that rewards savoring. The Qing Dynasty’s *Jiemen Zhuzhi Ci* (Bamboo Branch Lyrics of the Capital) from the Jiaqing era noted: “A bowl of sweet porridge in the morning, then tea soup followed by flour tea.” Old Beijingers favored “Juyuanzhai” outside Qianmen and “Tea Soup Li” at Tianqiao.

　　 　     In December 1997, the Tea Soup Li eatery at Beijing’s Tianqiao, made the dish and was awarded the first “National Famous Chinese Snack” title by the China Cuisine Association.

　　 　     In the past, street vendors in Beijing would whip up various flavors of tea soup on the spot using large brass kettles. Sweet and delicious, it appealed to all ages, served as a casual snack or even breakfast. “Tea Soup Li” near the old Tianqiao area was especially renowned.

　　 　     Tea Soup is a sweet dish, similar to lotus root starch, also made from millet flour. It is prepared by pouring boiling water over it. But it requires a special technique to prepare—only seasoned vendors can do it well. First, the ingredients are mixed in a bowl with sugar and osmanthus syrup. Then, a tall, heavy brass kettle is filled with boiling water. The vendor holds the bowl in one hand and steadies the kettle with the other, squatting slightly with feet apart to maintain balance.

　　 　     The left hand holds the bowl right at the spout. As the water pours out, the vendor adjusts the distance between the bowl and spout to control the water flow, ensuring the right thickness without spillage or splashing the syrup—this is one of the techniques.

　　 　     The right hand must have precise control to pour the water directly into the bowl the moment it leaves the spout. It must be done in one go to properly cook the tea soup; otherwise, dripping water will leave it undercooked and inedible, resulting in a loss.

　　 　     At the same time, care must be taken not to get scalded by the fierce water stream, which could also shatter the bowl—a double loss. This is the second technique. So, making tea soup without mastering these skills is impossible.

　　 　     Watch how the vendor stands with feet apart, arms poised left and right for balance, performing fluid, well-controlled movements—effortless yet requiring great skill. Veterans can pour from a distance of one to two feet between bowl and spout, filling the bowl completely without spillage, stopping the pour precisely, cooking the tea soup in one go with the perfect consistency—never needing to re-pour or replace a failed bowl. The tea soup has a rich, comforting taste, sweet with an earthy grainy undertone that feels warmly familiar.

　　　  Ingredients: 500g broomcorn millet, 200g brown sugar, 100g white sugar, 10g osmanthus syrup, and appropriate amounts of golden cake cubes and green plum cubes.

　　　　  Preparation Method:

　　　　  1. Rinse the broomcorn millet, soak it in cold water for 2–3 hours, grind it into powder, then sift it through a fine sieve to make broomcorn millet flour.

　　　　  2. Boil water in the tea soup kettle.

　　　　  3. Take a small bowl, mix 50g boiling water with 10g cold water, then stir in 1/10th of the broomcorn millet flour to make a paste. Hold the bowl of paste close to the kettle spout, grip the kettle handle with your right hand, and tilt the kettle to pour the boiling water through the spout into the bowl. Quickly pull the bowl away from the spout to increase water pressure and ensure even mixing, then move it closer again until the paste turns into golden apricot-colored tea soup.

　　　　  4. Once poured, sprinkle 20g brown sugar, 10g white sugar, and 1g osmanthus syrup on top. You can also add golden cake cubes, green plum cubes, etc. This recipe yields 10 servings.

　　　　  Characteristics: This dish has a delicate texture and sweet aroma. A traditional Beijing snack with Hui (Muslim) flavors, it won’t spill even if the bowl is turned upside down—hence the name “Upside-Down Bowl Tea Soup.”

　　　　  Tea Soup has two distinctive features: first, its unique cooking method—pouring boiling water over the mixture to cook it; second, its special tool—a large 60cm-tall, 50cm-diameter brass kettle with a long spout. The kettle’s sides hold water while the center is hollow like a furnace, where coal is burned to boil the water, which is then used to cook the tea soup.