A clear, fragrant infusion of green tea leaves, served steaming hot and unsweetened, in a porcelain bowl. The welcome drink of medieval China, bitter and refreshing, which amazed the traveler from the West.

Why this dish? Having reached the ports of Yuan China, including the great Quanzhou (Zaytûn) which he admired, Ibn Battuta was one of the few Muslim travelers to describe the Chinese custom of drinking an infusion of leaves—tea, then unknown in his world.

Here, reader, is a strange thing I saw in the land of China that none of our people know. The people there boil water over leaves of a shrub, and draw from it a hot, clear, slightly bitter drink, which they offer to every guest who crosses their threshold. They put neither sugar nor honey in it and drink it in small sips from bowls of that porcelain so fine you would think it glass. I tasted it out of courtesy, and I noted this custom, for the traveler must report what his people have never seen.

How it was made : Under the Yuan, tea was already the quintessential social beverage of China, drunk as a leaf infusion. The Muslim world adopted it much later; in Ibn Battuta's time, it was an exotic curiosity reserved for travelers on the China routes.

The contemporary twist : Serve in the gong fu cha style with multiple short successive infusions, to take guests from Tangier to Zaytûn in a single tasting.

Sources : Ibn Battuta, Rihla (stay in the ports of China)

Ibn Battûta · Charactorium