S2: Ep 2: Tea Culture, Celebration & Commerce
Confucius Was a Foodie Season 1 & 2
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53m
The story of tea starts in China, where legend has it that tea was discovered through leaves accidentally falling into boiling water, and continues all the way to the traditional Chinese wedding tea ceremony and the political intrigues of the American Revolution.
Christine brings along celebrity chef Anna Olson as they climb to the mountain tea farms of
Taiwan and learn the ropes of tea wrangling. Then the chefs visit the home of the original bubble tea, where they get insider tricks and tips for creating the perfect concoction.
In Hong Kong, with tea expert Vivian Mak, Christine is taken through every step of the brewing process as well as through the streets to visit some of the oldest tea merchants in the city. And with Sarah Rose, author of For All the Tea in China: How England Stole the World’s Favorite Drink and Changed History, Christine learns of the early tea adventures of Robert Fortune and the part he played in the convoluted history of tea. Chef Christine and her guests and experts put together the story of tea; more than just a ceremony, it is an art and a science, a celebratory drink, and even a medicine!
Up Next in Confucius Was a Foodie Season 1 & 2
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S2: 3: Huaiyang - The Cuisine of Poets
Chef Cushing discovers that Huaiyang cuisine is historically connected to poets and scholars, and demands meticulous knife skills and elaborate presentations. The cuisine appears to be a personification of the teachings of Confucius. The creative presentation of skillfully combined ingredients ex...
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S2: Episode 4: The Origin of ‘Cuisine’
Is Chinese cuisine, with its Confucian structure, really the origin of the world’s great cuisines? Find out in this episode.
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S2: Episode 5: The Bitter Flavor
The bitter flavor is often found in Chinese cooking, but rarely used alone. It is said to clear "heat", strengthen the stomach, and promote salivation
