Tasting the fuel Chen Huan-tang, a tea dealer, once remembers as a child hearing his parents and grandparents talking about a rich family who were very particular about what fuel they used to heat the water for tea. To boil the tea water, they used the same vegetable oil they used for cooking and lighting lamps. The purpose was to better regulate the flame and to make a good-tasting pot of tea.
茶商陳煥堂說，他曾聽家中父祖輩談起，說過去有錢人家燒茶水用的燃料非常講究，以點燈、燒菜用的菜籽油來燒水，「燈芯沾菜油」，目的在取火候密實，以便燒出一壺好茶。