Layou: Cold-dressed tea of Jinuo people

Editor's note:

Living in south Yunnan’s Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture for generations, the Jinuo ethnic group loves drinking tea. In their eyes, tea is not only a drink, but also a food. Among the Jinuo folks, the cold tea is called "Layou". In making the cold-dressed tea, the fresh-picked Pu’er tea leaves are mashed with salt and pepper and served as a side dish during a meal. Also, olive and white ginseng can be added to enrich the taste of the Jinuo cold tea.

Layou: Cold-dressed tea of Jinuo people

In the Jinuo township of Jinghong City, south Yunnan’s Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, the Jinuo ethnic group lived with tea for generations. Realizing the values of tea a long time ago, the Jinuo ancestors learned to domesticate tea and taste it, and they formed a unique tea culture. In their eyes, tea is not only a drink, but also a food.

The Jinuo cold-dressed tea is special in the ancient way to make it, and the tea is also a most defining heritage of the Jinuo culture. In the Jinuo language, the cold tea is called "Layou".

Qie Zi, a villager from Yanuo village, is quite experienced in making cold tea in the area. His cold-dressed tea is so popular that he has been visited by many for the tea-making skills.　

According to Qie Zi, there is no "secret recipe" for making the cold tea, but rather a long-term accumulation of life experience. When Qie was pounding the ingredients of tea leaves, garlic, wild anise, pepper, salt, lemon leaves and myrcia, they gave off a unique aroma. After the seasonings and tea leaves are crushed, water is added to finish the making of a Jinuo cold-dressed tea. 　　

"At first, making of the cold tea was simple. Later, more seasonings were added to the tea to meet the diverse needs of customers," said Qie Zi. Ingredients of the cold-dressed tea vary from season to season, and Qie’s specials include cold tea with stinky vegetables, olive cold tea, cold tea with sour ant egg, tea cold-dressed with white ginseng, and tea with dried meat. Salty and spicy, the cold teas are cool, refreshing and indelibly fragrant.

At present, most 140 families in Yanuo Village make a living by planting and making tea, and the village grows about 2,800 mu (186.6 ha) of ancient tea and 3,000 mu of ecological tea. With the help of two tea cooperatives in the village and rested on the growing tea industry, the villagers have enjoyed an increasingly prosperous life in recent years.

Qie Zi said his family has been planting and making tea for generations. Since his childhood, Qie has worked with tea. Now, Zi Bai, the son of Qie Zi, has taken over the tea business. Like his father, Zi Bai hopes his son Bai Jie will follow his step to become yet another cold tea maker of the new generation when he finishes schooling.

For generations, the Jinuo folks have coexisted with tea in the Jinuo mountains. For them, tea is not only a grace from Nature, but also the cultural soul of Jinuo people. The tea culture is now deeply rooted in their hearts.

Reporting by Liu Yun, Wang Shuo and Yang Jiajie (Xinhua Net); Trans-editing by Wang Shixue