'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.