Now, this may seem a little vulgar. But I beg your patience. I’m here to talk up the pleasures of burping.
As the father of a new baby, it’s a proud moment when I bash a burp out of her, especially a good dry one; there are no marks for puking the baby.
But I’m here to talk here about the pleasure of the adult burp.
You see, food that “repeats” is my kind of food; garlic or jiucai (韭菜) may only be a one-dimensional reminder of a good meal well had, but that’s good enough for me. These pungent herbs are the gifts that keep on giving.
Such celebrations are rare. Even Roald Dahl scorns eructation, privileging instead the whizz-popper. I was hoping that other great phenomenologist, James Joyce, could back me up here. And perhaps he would, but he also seems more fascinated with the mature gaseous emission. Our baby makes those with no need for help.
It’s encouraging to see that The Huffington Post lists China among those places where audible belching is the thing to do. But this is just internet misinformation, just fact-book urban myth. There needed to be a country where this social norms is different, so let it be a country too far away for anyone to check.
- Apocalypse Tea; Should I Drive After Drinking This?
- Perfect Median; China’s Take on Earl Grey
- Sugar-Free Bottled Tea; China’s Wu Tang Clan
We don’t really hear it in polite company, do we? Burpers in China don’t especially relish their burps. Nor do companions in China return smiling glances to the burper. Unless it’s a baby, of course.
In fact, burping does not need to be audible or active. It can be a very personal, grown-up pleasure. Silent burps are something I speculate that we all enjoy, whether or not we write provocative prose about it. And it doesn’t need to be just garlic or onions that return for an encore; most satisfying foods have a satisfying afterlife. And some teas repeat this trick, too.
Red teas are possibly the best. But among greens, none is as good, in my opinion, as Nanjing Rain Flower (雨花茶). It is my highest form of praise to say that our local tea makes good burps.
Umami is a phenomenon of the tongue, and the umami in Rain Flower plays on the tongue just as well in vapour form as in liquid…
- Which Tea Brand Best Compliments Your Private Jet?
- Long Time, Long Jing No See
- Happy Lemon; Drink it Like a Russian
Is that right, or is it all about the nose…
Or is it just an array of tongue-bound tannins blowing in the oesophagal breeze?
I really don’t know.
What I can say is that green teas which are steamed achieve this feat better than those greens which are pan-fired. Steamed greens are often the ones which sellers in China describe as having good “kougan” (口感; mouthfeel), usually at the expense of “aromatic” (香) qualities.
Can I again speculate that a silent burp is actually an intrinsic part of this kougan, and also of the “huigan” (回甘; aftertaste)? I don’t think that would be unrealistic.
I wrote last year of a Sichuan green especially good for filling up the mouth (and throat). Your taste may vary, but I have described that as my biggest priority in a green. Nanjing Rain Flower has it in spades.
Our local tea, with its spindly, hairy, dark green leaves, is a classic, fully worthy of its high price.
A burp is good. It is dry, not reflux. It is completion. It is a reminder that everything is going well down there. It is the sensation of feeling at home.
