There is a free herbal tea stall in this small town in the suburbs of Shanghai, dedicated to the Jinshan District for twelve years
A sunshade umbrella, a small square table, a purple clay jar... In the scorching summer, in Zhujing Town, Jinshan District, Shanghai, a small stall with a "free tea" flag appeared again on the street side of Luoxing Road. Amidst the scorching heat of noon, people came and went in front of the small stall. Sometimes sanitation workers came to refill cups with empty pots, and sometimes curious passersby took a cup to taste.
A nearby neighbor told reporters, "This tea stall has been set up since the Xiaoli family moved in. It has been more than ten years, and every year after the Dragon Boat Festival, the stall will be set up. The herbal tea is very delicious, and how much you drink is free... Over the years, more and more people have come to drink tea, and I haven't seen them charge any money. It's really difficult to get it."
Start cooking at 4am and add water more than 20 times a day
The "Xiao Li family" referred to by the neighbors is the owner of a small shop behind the tea stall, Li Bin's family. At noon, as you walked into the store, you could see a very large electric rice cooker emitting hot air, and the whole store was filled with the fragrance of herbal tea.
At this moment, Li Bin is filling the empty large mineral water bottles one by one with water again. "These days are hot, and there are more people passing by to refill the water than usual. This pot basically has no rest, so I need to fill it up quickly before going to work, so that my mother and wife can add water in the afternoon," he said. Originally, this small shop was mainly taken care of by Li Bin's wife and mother. Taking advantage of the lunch break, Li Bin had to prepare for the afternoon in advance.
I have to add water to the purple sand tank more than 20 times every day
"This tea stall was originally my idea, but I didn't expect the 'business' to be so good. Fortunately, my family is very supportive and has persisted year by year." Li Bin said, "This small tea stall has been open for 12 years, and has changed its appearance and location halfway through. However, every summer, the whole family secretly arranges to set up a stall for the sake of' convenience with others'.".
Li Bin and his mother, Grandma Shen, tidy up and air dry Tuoli grass
Since 2011, from July to September every year, from 5am to 8pm, the small free tea stall has never missed an appointment. "At around 4am every day, we need to start preparing. It takes 45 pounds of water to fill this large tank, and just boiling it takes more than an hour." Li Bin said that after entering the summer heat, we need to add water at least 20 times a day.
The cup of tea in my memory, there are still people in need
Li Bin said that when I was a child, from the countryside to the town to go to the market, convenient tea stalls could be seen everywhere. Colorful glass cups were covered with small dishes, and when I was hot and thirsty, I would buy a cup for only 2 cents. It was particularly affordable and unforgettable. Now, things are getting better, and such tea stalls have long disappeared because most people can't use them anymore. But occasionally, Li Bin, who helps to look at the store, found that there is still a "small portion" of people in need of convenient tea stalls in summer.
These "small groups" of people are sanitation workers, couriers, and elderly people who come from the village to pick up goods in the town. "Just like the couriers who are responsible for delivery in this area, they stay outdoors for most of the day and have already finished drinking the little water they bring when they go out. They are always reluctant to buy water.". So, Li Bin tried to stick a piece of paper at the door, telling everyone that they could come in and pour water and rest for free if needed. However, several times, he found that someone had looked at the paper, hesitated for a moment, turned around and left, or came to pour water once, and felt embarrassed to enter the door again that day.
The grandma who goes from the village to the town to pick tea always comes and pours a cup of herbal tea every time she passes by
In order to dispel people's concerns, Li Bin decided to simply set up a public welfare tea stall outside the door. He and his family were responsible for providing supplies from the rear, and those in need would pick it up on their own. Unexpectedly, this intimate sense of distance quickly brought people closer together. Nowadays, many people wave their hands to the store or probe in to say thank you after pouring water. Li Bin said, "What everyone needs is the driving force for us to persevere."
"At 5 o'clock in the morning, there was already a long queue of cups waiting for water on the table." Li Bin's mother, Grandma Shen, had become acquainted with many neighbors for many years. Every day, many residents who exercise in the morning are accustomed to putting their cups on the tea stand first. When they return, they can enjoy the first cup of morning tea that Grandma Shen has prepared for everyone.
Going in both directions, taking over the baton for goodwill
To explain why this cup of herbal tea is so popular, we have to start with the raw materials.
Li Bin introduced that the raw materials for the herbal tea he cooks every day are actually very simple, which is well-known to local residents as "Tuolicao", also known as Xianhecao. It not only has the effect of clearing heat and detoxifying, but also relieves fatigue in the body. For over a decade, in order to improve the taste and effect, Li Bin not only used a purple clay jar that was much more expensive than ordinary stainless steel barrels to store it, but also conducted multiple formula adjustments - from Xianhecao to Xianhecao with rock sugar, and now the widely acclaimed Xianhecao with cassia seeds.
The detached grass harvested from the countryside needs to be dried for a period of time
Li Bin also talked about a past story. "Seven or eight years ago, an old man came to fetch water two pots a day. After chatting, he found that he was originally a diabetes patient. We were worried about the old man's eating problems, so we changed the formula overnight and stopped adding rock sugar." Such details also fully reflect the kindness and thoughtfulness behind a cup of herbal tea.
In fact, seemingly simple medicinal herbs are scarce on the market. As a compatibility medicine of Wushen San, Xianhecao is not sold separately in traditional Chinese medicine stores. For this reason, Li Bin has to return to his hometown every year to collect. Every time he drives back to his hometown, as long as he sees it on the road, he looks like he sees a baby. However, with the increasing demand for herbal tea, the amount of crane grass collected by Li Bin's family alone is far from enough.
But what's heartwarming is that when the villagers heard about the public welfare tea stall, they spontaneously collected crane grass for Li Bin, not only helping to harvest it, but also drying and tying it. Every year around the Dragon Boat Festival, when everyone knows that I'm going to set up a stall, they will call me proactively and ask me to pick it up when I have time. More and more people are willing to "take over" for doing good deeds, which moved Li Bin very much.
There are many examples of such a "two-way rush". "In recent years, umbrellas and small tables have been replaced several times, and now they are all sponsored by friends." Li Bin also took out several paper cups with different designs. "The daily usage of disposable cups is about 100, and we bought them ourselves in earlier years. Now you see, the styles of cups that appear every day are different because many of them are spontaneously brought by residents. They said, 'If you don't charge for tea, we can't always let you suffer losses.'"
"We are all ordinary people, maybe we can't help with big things, but we can help with small things," Li Bin said. His family also does things casually, and as long as someone still likes to drink this cup of herbal tea, they will keep it on display.
