'Teh Poci' close to the heart of Tegal people

'Teh Poci' close to the heart of Tegal people

Bambang M, Contributor/Tegal, Central Java

Spending an evening in Tegal, Central Java, would not be complete
without sipping a cup of teh poci or tea served piping hot in an
earthenware pot locally known as poci.

Teh poci is the specialty of both the municipality and regency
of Tegal that has long been renowned as the "city of tea".

Home to a dozen tea factories, the region's image is very
noticeable once you enter the town. Billboards of different sizes
advertising tea products are in sight at almost every corner of
the city.

Even the signs of restaurants or other traditional eating-
places or warung as they are locally known also have the names of
tea companies on it as sponsors. A giant poci statue stands at
the city garden in front of the train station, assuring teh
poci's status as Tegal's icon.

To have a cup of poci tea here in Tegal is not difficult.
Almost every warung, restaurant and hotel serve it, not just in
the evening but also during the day. Many hotels often serve it
as a welcome drink. Locals as well feel proud if they can serve
their guests with poci tea and enjoy it with them.

"I always have poci tea in the morning," said Abu Zairi, a
notary public in Tegal, adding that almost every family in the
region always prepared a big pot of tea every day for the family
to drink.

It is quite apparent that poci tea has become an inseparable
lifestyle for most of the Tegal people. They even have a special
term of moci -- a relaxed moment of enjoying poci tea in a warung
or in lesehan-style kiosks along the city's sidewalks.

Lesehan is a way of enjoying meals or drinks while sitting on
the ground.

"We, local journalists, often spend an evening here with local
artists as we relax at one of the lesehan-style warung or food
stalls in the city square," Luluk, a local television journalist
in Tegal, said.

Tegal tea products are well known for its specific jasmine tea
fragrance. To turn it into a flavorsome poci tea, the tea is put
inside a poci and then suffused with extremely hot water to yield
a thick brew.

To serve the tea, restaurants or traditional warung usually
place the poci on an earthenware tray together with a small cup
and sugar in it. To enjoy it, just pour the tea from the poci
into the cup, stir it lightly, and sip it while hot. The flavor
of a poci tea usually lasts after several pours.

Locals believe that the longer a poci is used to brew tea, the
more tasty the tea is. A long-time used poci is noticeable for
its dark crust inside. A new poci usually needs specific
treatment before it is used to brew tea so as to create a crust
and thus get rid of its original clay smell, which is believed to
be capable of destroying the tea aroma.

"You can do so by filling it with tea and hot water, then bury
it in the ground for about a month," Slamet Riyadi, a resident of
Tegal who is also a senior journalist, said.

So far there has been no clear explanation regarding when
exactly such a tradition of tea drinking started in Tegal.
However, many believe that it was started as early as the 1930s,
following the establishment of a number of tea factories in the
region.

Data from the Tegal municipal development planning agency
(Bappeda) shows there are seven tea factories in the
municipality, one of which is a big-scale one.

Among them include tea company Perusahaan Teh Cap 'Dua Burung'
that produces tea products under the brand name of Tong Tjie, PT
Tunggul Naga with tea products using the brand names of Dua Tang
and Tjatoet and PT Gunung Slamat whose tea products use the brand
names of either Poci or Sosro.

What is no less impressing is that their presence in the
region is not just noticeable from their physical appearance but
also the fragrance they spread. It you happen to pass the town
and smell a strong fragrance at particular spots, it can be
assured that it comes from the tea factories.

It is therefore not an exaggeration to say that not just the
region's economy has enjoyed the lucrative tea business, but it
has made the town fragrant.