Tujia oil tea soup is a soup-style snack similar to tea. It features a wonderful combination of fragrance, crispness, smoothness and freshness. Tasty and refreshing, it quenches thirst and lifts spirits, and is a much-loved traditional food of the Tujia people. As local proverbs go: "You feel uneasy without a bowl of oil tea soup" and "Three big bowls at every meal keep you energetic all day long". Serving oil tea soup to guests is also a time-honored etiquette. Whenever distinguished visitors arrive, locals will treat them to a steaming bowl of this aromatic soup.

Legend has it that the drink was invented by Tujia cowherds playing house in the tea mountains. They roasted tea seeds in earthen jars to extract tea oil, fried tea leaves in the oil, mixed in mountain spring water and added roasted corn kernels they carried with them. They enjoyed the food so much that drinking oil tea soup gradually became a long-standing custom.

Cooking method: Deep-fry an appropriate amount of tea leaves in cooking oil until they turn wax yellow. Add water, ginger, scallions, garlic, pepper and other natural seasonings. Once the water boils, pour the soup into bowls and top with pre-roasted or fried ingredients such as puffed rice, popcorn, fried tofu, walnut kernels, peanuts and soybeans. The quality of tea leaves and frying heat are critical to its flavor, while seasonings and toppings can be adjusted to personal taste.

As a representative of Tujia food culture in Enshi, oil tea soup is a treasure of Chinese tea culture with a long history. It remains popular across the prefecture, especially in Xianfeng and Laifeng counties. In 1992, the Tujia Oil Tea Soup Art Troupe from Laifeng County attended the First China Tea Culture Festival in Hangzhou, winning high praise with the line: "Famous tea from Laifeng spreads far and wide, and Tujia oil tea perfumes the whole nation". A South Korean delegation also hailed it as a masterpiece of Chinese tea culture.

Later, relevant authorities standardized it into a formal tea ceremony known as Four Courses of Tea: white crane tea, popped grain tea, oil tea soup and egg tea, together with themed performances. At the China Selenium-rich Tea Culture Festival hosted by the China Tea Association in 2005, the elegant Four Courses of Tea show carried forward this essence of Tujia tea culture.