A for a king
An ancient brew is being revived in Vietnam.
RECIPES from the Nguyen Dynasty ( 1802- 1945) in Hue, Vietnam, provide us with an idea of the type of tea and wine consumed by the royals in the former imperial capital city.
The recipes are now enjoying a revival and renewed interest.
Tea served to kings was not just tea. For royal family members it was a treat, with various herbal ingredients added.
“Thuong vien ngu tra”, for example, was a royal tea prepared by the monarchic agency specialising ialising in teas, Thuong Tra Vien. IIt is made from 11 ingredients: jasm mine flowers, longan, goji berries, dry y tangerine peel, licorice root, jujub be, pagoda tree leaves, daisy flower rs, lotus plumule, dry senna seedd and, of course, the key ingredie ent, tea.
All are also used as in ngredients for herbal medicine. Wh hile jasmine and lotus plumule are usedu to lower body temperatur re, goji berry and jujube are sa aid to alleviate stress and pain n. It is used to treat ulcers, among other things. Liquorice root is said too boost the immune syste em.
Longan is an herbal remedy for stomach ache and insomnia. The pagoda tree leaves serve to counter bacteria and lower cholesterol levels. Tangerine peel is also beneficial for lowering cholesterol as well as fighting cancer.
According to herbal physician Phan Tan To, the mixture of those 11 ingredients creates a harmonious whole because the herbs do not counter each others’ effects.
This kind of tea has a number of benefits, including internal heat reduction, liver coolant, lowering blood pressure and curing insomnia nia, he says.says
Dishes served to kings were always nutritious, while tea and wine included herbal ingredients and were served like medicine. All are safe for one’s health. Grand tea: “Tea recipes were prepared by Thuong Tra Vien, then submitted to Thai Y Vien, which gathered the country’s leading herbal physicians together as a medical teaam in the royal palace to carefully check the benefits and side effects ofo every substance in the tea.”
To says the recipes werre documented, signed, and sealed by at least two royalr herbal physicians. HHe found these recipes in the dynasty’s royaal records and, in 2013, workedw with the Hue MonumentsM Conservation Centre tto revive some of the recipes. The centre is a governmental organisation that manages almost all of the Nguyen Dynasty’s legacy available in Hue.
Ingredients for the emperors’ tea recipes are available today, making the brews as good as they were in the service of kings, says To.
Some of the preparations were quite elaborate; preparation of “Tinh Tam lien hoa ngu tra” (royal lotus tea), for instance, took a week of steeping in the natural fragrance of lotus flowers before it was served to the emperor.
Tinh Tam was a pond created inside the royal citadel for the royal family’s recreation. The lotus that grew in the pond was considered to have the nicest fragrance of all lotus species.
Tea leaves were placed in the middle of each lotus flower in the early morning so that the petals could aromatise the tea. After the tea leaves had absorbed sufficient fragrance, they were dried in a mixture of lotus stamens before being brewed.
Today’s version cannot be as pure since lotus varieties have changed and the environment is different.
But To says today’s version has the same benefits, which are to reduce cholesterol levels, prevent cancer and boost the immune system. He adds that the tea leaves used in this process are grown on organic farms in northern Thai Nguyen Province and harvested selectively. – Viet Nam News/Asia News Network