Jakarta (ANTARA) –
In the Mangga Dua area, North Jakarta, there is a shop that pampers the taste buds of tea lovers with a variety of teas from several countries with single origin characteristics.
Siangming Tea House, which has been operating since 1995, consistently provides the original taste of tea without any mixtures, which makes tea lovers more familiar with various teas and their brewing techniques.
He said that since the past 30 years, he has consistently provided education to tea lovers about how to get to know the culture of drinking tea because not many people know about the various original teas without mixtures and the characteristics of the Chinese Tea Ceremony in Indonesia.
This is also a strong background held by Siangming Tea House because according to him, culture is closely related to tradition and the culture of drinking tea needs to be taught to the public and young people so they can appreciate tradition more.
Every visitor who comes can choose tea that suits their preferences and is taught how to brew it correctly using the Tea Ceremony technique so that the desired tea taste can be achieved.
“That’s a priority because drinking tea is not just a drink and we need to know how to choose tea leaves and what suits them for each person, tastes are different. “So there we will teach you how to choose tea, what kind of tea leaves and the equipment to use,” said Suwarni.
Many customers who come home from work or often work overtime usually choose the white tea variant, but if they are the type of customer who is looking for culinary delights, they often order the black tea variant.
“And here the one advantage is that we always give them premium tea which is hard to get elsewhere. “Because here we want everyone to live healthily,” said the woman who won the title of tea expert from Kyoto, Japan, Junkyoju and the title of tea expert from China, Soujun.
The customers who come range from children aged eight years to those aged 70 years, and many have become regular customers since Siangming Tea House has been operating.
One customer, Ryan Putra, said he was interested in learning more about tea at Siangming Tea House because he felt that tea has a complex culture and has a community that can share with each other even outside of discussing tea.
From studying tea, he also slowly became a tea collector because according to him, teas have different tastes, which made him interested in tea.
“There is a strong historical and cultural content in tea, there are ceremonies and I am interested in exploring it because I am looking for my identity, I want to understand the cultural content better and why the culture is like this,” he said.
He also invited young people who are still unfamiliar with tea culture to try to understand it more deeply and learn that tea has a cycle that is not simple so it would be a shame not to learn it, especially as Indonesia is also a country with large tea production.
Another 70-year-old Siangming Tea House customer, Hardi Singgih Ongko, said that tea has become his daily life and he likes learning about tea at Siangming Tea House. He also collects black tea because according to him the longer it is stored, the better the quality.
“We collect black tea, the properties of each one are different, but black tea can be stored like wine, the longer the better, the better it is, occasionally buy red tea or white tea, but you can’t store it for years, black tea can last for 50 years. ,” he said
During his time with tea, Hardi felt that his body was healthier and he enjoyed life more by hanging out with a community of tea lovers. He also said that tea is a healthy drink and needs to be passed on to other generations so that they love tea more.
He also gave a few tips for storing tea, namely at room temperature or around 25-30, avoid humidity so it doesn’t get moldy and avoid things that have a strong smell, and store it in an airtight place.
The “best seller” variant from Siangming Tea House is Pu Erl with prices for one cup starting from 25 thousand rupiah to 125 thousand rupiah for one set. This shop is open from 11 am to 19:30 WIB. Apart from tea, there are also various other menus available here to enjoy, such as beef noodles which are the customer’s choice, radish noodles, fried meatballs, elbows and puddings starting from 15-50 thousand rupiah.
