Roasting tea brings warmth for winter in Zhenyuan

Roasting tea by the fire pit is a traditional tea custom of Lahu ethnic minorities living in Zhenyuan Yi Hani and Lahu autonomous county, southwest Yunnan’s Pu’er city. Nowadays, the locals still preserve this traditional way of drinking tea.

Everyone sits around the fire pit or oven, puts the tea in a special earthen pot and stir-bakes gently, so that tea leaves are heated evenly. When the color of the tea leaves turns yellow and gives off the burnt tea flavor, they’ll pour boiling water into the teapot. At the sound of cracking, the fragrant roasting tea is finished.

When the villagers in the Zhangpen village of Zhedong Town have some gatherings, small pots cannot meet the needs of large crowds. So they specially invented a large roaster, where more tea is baked at the same time.

The man who rolled the headed roaster slowly seemed to enjoy it very much. The tea time became a chitchatting occasion and a cup of tea adds a lot of warmth to winter in the Lahu ethnic area.

Source: Zhenyuan Publish; Trans-editing by Mo Yingyi