劉秋萍和她的茶宴館

上海有家茶宴館名聞遐邇，它是我國茶壇上的一株嘉木芳葩，而親手栽種和呵護這株嘉木芳葩的園丁，便是當年在西雙版納插隊的上海知青劉秋萍。

茶樹王國出芳葩

當年劉秋萍初中畢業，就被卷進上山下山的洪流之中，直奔遙遠的大西南邊陲，在西雙版納的一處農場插隊落戶，度過了漫長的十年歲月。對于一個稚氣未脫的上海女娃來說，她所親歷的十年，是個珠汗淋漓、手胼足胝的十年。在黯淡青春、塵封理性的十年里，她攀險崖、穿林莽，在長滿雜草的土地上跌打滾爬，苦撐苦熬。當時唯一能夠對她有所慰藉的，便是西雙版納之茶。每每在不堪勞頓之后，她總要沏上一碗釅釅的大葉茶，涼一會便一口氣將它喝干。那時候似乎并無任何奢望，只要有這茶作伴便覺足矣。久而久之，這西雙版納之茶竟成了她朝夕廝守的知音。她仿佛從釅釅的茗汁中呷出人生百味；茶，苦在其中，亦甘在其中，雋味無已矣。至于在西雙版納少數民族中風靡的吃茶用茶禮俗，諸如以茶為媒、以茶做菜、以茶賀禮、以茶辟邪、以茶奠祭、以茶傳書等等，劉秋萍同樣終身難忘。那十年間，她算是得到了一次西雙版納民間茶俗文化的大洗禮!

茶宴香溢海內外

劉秋萍十年插隊的經歷，在其日后的人生之路上成了一筆寶貴財富，這是她始料未及的。返滬之后，她在籌辦茶宴的那些日子里，她漸漸發覺：原來西雙版納的民間茶俗文化，竟是一座取之不盡、用之不竭的寶庫。她決意在民間茶俗文化基礎上，開辦一家茶宴館。當時她是上海天天旺酒家的新任總經理，天天旺酒家的生意雖然很好，但她覺得沒有什么特色，若要這酒家長年紅火，能不能將茶融入茶館?能不能把豐富多彩的民間茶文化也融入菜肴呢?

每念及此，她眼前就會過電影似的閃現出西雙版納茶俗文化的一幕幕，尤其是西雙版納民間那些風味奇特的茶菜，更讓她難于忘懷!她想，既然歷來就有茶菜的先例，難道我們就不能一試身手么?于是她跟同仁和廚師們一起共同探討和設計茶菜，設計從幾種開始到十幾種，再到幾十種，直至設計出了一百余種之多，這批茶菜上市之后，頓時轟動了上海茶壇和飲食行業，她終于辦起了上海第一家茶宴館。

劉秋萍創辦起上海第一家茶宴館后，慕名而來的中外顧客絡繹不絕，每天堂前堂后座無虛席。一天有位外國領事館官員聞訊前來就座，陪同他來的還有一位翻譯。席間才試品兩三道茶菜，這位官員便贊美不已，興之所至，連忙撥打手機告訴他那位遠在美國的太太，他說在中國好幾年了，今天終于發現一個絕妙的地方，這里專供美味的茶肴，OK!等你下次再來上海的時候一定帶你到這兒饜享一番。說罷，翻譯把他的這番話轉述給了這里的主人，還微笑著解釋說：“這位先生平素沉默寡言，不輕易動情，今天非常開心，所以才會有這番動情的表現。”的確，美的東西是沒有國界的，劉秋萍想：如今的茶不再是生活中單純的消閑之物、慰藉之物，茶的文章可以無限地做大!她說：“我與茶有著不解之緣，使我感到欣慰的是，如今在茶宴館這個小小舞臺上，我和顧明鐘共同探討設計的茶宴受到了中外茶客、美食家、文人墨客的青睞，真正讓人高興!”說到此，劉秋萍想起了顧客吃茶宴的另一件趣事：

那是一個暮春的下午，一位白發蒼蒼的老者走出轎車。由司機攙扶著走進天天旺茶宴館，服務員小姐一見之下隨即迎上前去問候，一番歡迎之后得知，老者原來是受這里的總經理之邀請他吃飯。接著便見劉秋萍走上前來接待。然而讓她驚異的是，劉秋萍并不認識這位老者，再說這天下午她也沒有邀請任何嘉賓呀!也許是這位老者記錯店號或者弄錯門牌倒也說不定的。不過此時此刻，劉秋萍并未流露出來任何訝異的神色，只當是有這么回事，她和藹可親地扶老者落座，親手沏上剛剛上市的新茶，陪著老者啜茗款談，娓娓不已。

不過后來讓劉秋萍萬萬沒有想到的是，眼前這位老者竟是上海的著名散文作家、詩人杜宣。當年“天天旺酒家”招牌這幾個大字還是他題書的呢，但他卻從未來過這里。

劉秋萍新任總經理后，本來早想拜見這位老作家，不意今朝有此邂逅的機會，這使她喜出望外!誰知正當劉秋萍借此聆教于杜老之時，那位真正的東家、即鄰街火鍋城的老板幾經周折終于急匆匆找到天天旺酒家，盛邀杜宣老人去赴宴。他說：“啊呀!所有赴宴的嘉賓全到齊了，就等你老一個呀!”說著他顧不上劉秋萍的再三挽留，即刻把杜宣老人請走了。

杜老當晚返家，不免仍惦念著天天旺茶宴館款待的那盞清馥之茶，當即濡墨走筆寫下賀詩一首：

昔日文君曾賣酒，

此間茶比酒名揚；

清泉注入玻璃盞，

碧玉成湯留舌香。

此后，杜宣便成了天天旺茶宴館的常客，并不時邀文壇友人來此品茶品菜，他稱許這里的茶宴有獨特的文化品位和審美特色。

茶宴盛會賀壽星

劉秋萍創辦的茶宴館，而今已然從天天旺酒家搬遷出來，另開于一處嶄新的店堂，門樓一側外壁上突顯的五字大字，特別引人矚目：秋萍茶宴館。

眼下南京到上海非常方便，今年初夏，我受上海茶葉學會的盛情邀請，來到秋萍茶宴館作客。當我和其他應邀來上海參加吳覺農紀念館揭幕典禮的一批專家學者一起來到秋萍茶宴館之時，劉秋萍早在大門口迎候我們，跟大家一一握手，并親自挽著已屆九十五高齡的當今我國茶壇泰斗張天福教授就席，她說：“您老人家從大老遠的福州來到上海，很不容易啊!您的光臨給了我們莫大的鼓舞，我們非常感激您老人家!”說罷，她吩咐禮儀小姐在此招待，她則抽身再去張羅各項事宜。只見她里里外外奔忙，沒有片刻停留的工夫。

這天餐廳內外的氛圍似乎不太尋常，不但掛燈結彩，還在餐桌中央的大盤子內特設了一尊老壽星雕像。到這時我才知道，原來今晚秋萍茶宴館要給張天福教授祝壽，慶賀他九十五歲生日。

張天福教授在我國茶界從事茶事茶藝已七十余載，為振興中華茶事作出卓越貢獻，耄耋之年依然壯心不已，屢屢應邀出席海峽兩岸舉辦的中國茶事盛會，被譽為我國茶壇的審評大師。恰逢張老生日到來，來自全國各地的茶界同仁今晚假座秋萍茶宴館，專設盛宴為這位茶壇泰斗祝壽。

晚宴尚未開始，大家彼此促膝茗話。恰巧我坐在張老一側，見他老人家耳不聾，眼不花，背不駝，而且有著驚人的記憶力，真叫人驚嘆!

茶宴館有條特殊規矩：祝賀不敬酒，一律以茶代之。故晚宴主持人宣布宴會開始，大家起立，一齊舉起茶盞，祝賀當今茶壇泰斗張天福教授九十五歲華誕，祝福他老人家健康長壽!

席上有一只茶肴名叫“童子敬觀音”。那是把童子雞浸在鐵觀音茶汁里24小時制成的，并取其“浸”的諧音而名之，故稱“童子敬觀音”，設計佳，名稱美，加之其味鮮而不膩、香而不艷，可謂恰到好處，此菜頗受張老欣賞。

尤其引起大家驚異的則是“太極碧螺春”這道茶肴。它將雞茸、魚茸、干貝茸投進高湯，再用少許蛋清和生粉烹成鮮羹，最后在盛進湯盆時，則用湯勺將之澆繪成碧綠和潔白兩色相間的太極圖案，真乃奇絕、妙絕、美絕!

生日蛋糕是最后一個祝壽節目。其時只見劉秋萍挽著張老走到碩大的生日蛋糕前，眾人齊聲祝福他老人家福如東海，壽比南山!簇擁在周圍的與會嘉賓們此時又一齊擊掌高唱《祝你生日快樂》。旋律悠悠，情韻釅釅，歌聲響徹餐廳內外，人們無不為之動情，為之陶醉!

A Woman’s Signature Tea Banquet Restaurant

By Kai Ya

Liu Qiuping is a Shanghai woman， who spent ten years of her life in Xishuangbanna， Yunnan Province during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). Upon her graduation from junior high school， she was sent to Yunnan where she worked as a farmer. She solaced the tough hardships in the rural area in a big bowl of tea after a day’s work. Xishuangbanna is home to giant tea trees. Aborigines there today still worship these trees as their totem. She did not realize that her life there was literally a ten-year education in the ethnic tea traditions.

Her experience has turned out to be a godsend that helps her make a career and a reputation in the restaurant industry in her hometown. When she took over the Daily Prosperity Restaurant as its new general manager， it was just another ordinary restaurant in the downtown Shanghai. Though the facility enjoyed a relatively brisk business， she thought something should be done to keep customers happy. She hit upon the idea of making special tea food she had enjoyed in Yunnan.So she worked with chefs in an effort to create a menu of tea specials. As experiments translated her inspirations into realities， the list grew from several dishes to a dozen， then from a dozen to more than a hundred. When all the tea dishes were offered at the restaurant， it was a blockbuster in Shanghai’s dine and wine industry. Even the city’s tea professionals were deeply impressed. With her unique menu inspired by her past experience， Liu successfully turned the restaurant into a unique one.

Customers flocked to the restaurant.One day， a foreign diplomat and his interpreter came. After only two courses were served， he became so overwhelmed with excitement that he whipped out his mobile phone and called his wife in USA. He promised her to give her a treat at the restaurant during her next visit to Shanghai. The interpreter said to Liu Qiuping， 襎he diplomat is a rather reserved man and he must be very pleased with the tea food today.?

Liu has many other amusing anecdotes to tell about her tea banquets and customers. One day in a late spring， a gray-haired old man arrived in a chauffeured car. He hobbled into the restaurant， helped by the driver. The old man said he came to dinner at the invitation of the general manager of the restaurant. Liu was surprised. She didn誸 know the man and she hadn誸 invited any guest to dinner that evening. But she asked the man to sit down and made for him a cup of tea. It turned out that he was a celebrated poet and prose writer named Du Xuan. The Daily Prosperity Restaurant in calligraphy was inscribed by the very poet. Liu had known about the man and his inscription for the restaurant and had long since wanted to visit the poet. Just as they were chatting， the real host， manager of a nearby hot pot restaurant， rushed in. The poet was to be a guest at the banquet at the hot pot restaurant. The host said that all the guests had arrived. So the poet and the host hurried away. Deeply impressed by the cup of tea at the Daily Prosperity， the poet wrote a poem about it right after he went home that evening. He became a regular of the restaurant and often entertained his friends there.

Now Liu Qiuping has quit the Daily Prosperity and opened her own restaurant. The new restaurant is named Qiuping Tea Banquet Restaurant. Again， her past experience with ethnic tea food plays a major part in her new business. It not only enjoys brisk business but also becomes a preferred meeting place for tea professionals.

In the early summer of 2005， tea professionals came to Shanghai from all over the county to attend the unveiling ceremony for the Wu Juenong Memorial. Wu was a scholar of tea studies in the country.

After the ceremony， scholars and experts met at Liu’s restaurant to celebrate the 95th birthday of Professor Zhang Tianfu， a leading scholar of tea studies in the country. All enjoyed the banquet of tea food and the huge birthday cake over the ringing melody.

(Translated by David)