Scented Tea Processing Craftsmanship
01 · Historical Records
Scented tea (huacha) originated in the Song dynasty, began to take shape in the Ming dynasty, and reached maturity in the Qing dynasty. During the Qing dynasty, many tea houses in Beijing were renowned for selling jasmine tea. At the end of the Qing dynasty, Zhang Changyi founded the Zhang Yiyuan tea house, which has been passed down through generations and specializes in producing and selling jasmine tea. During the Republican era, Zhang Yiyuan became widely celebrated throughout Beijing. After the 1956 public-private joint operation (joint state-private ownership), Zhang Yiyuan gradually lost its original distinctive focus on selling scented tea.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Scented tea is made by placing green tea together with jasmine blossoms and scenting it repeatedly. This is a tea variety unique to our country, in which the tea takes its name from the flower and the flower is enhanced by the tea. Regular patrons of bathhouses and opera houses almost all asked specifically for Zhang Yiyuan; famous Peking opera performers such as Qiu Shengrong, Ma Lianliang, and Tan Fuying were also longtime customers of Zhang Yiyuan. In 1992, Zhang Yiyuan's traditional jasmine tea craftsmanship was restored. In making its jasmine tea, Zhang Yiyuan uses Fujian baked green tea—spring tea as the base—whose initial processing mainly includes withering, fixation (kill-green), rolling, and baking. This scented tea, beloved by Beijing residents, has a distinctive flavor, is inexpensive yet fine, embodies the profound cultural heritage of old Beijing, and enjoys a broad market. However, the Zhang Yiyuan jasmine tea craft is fairly complex and the manual labor is quite arduous, so fewer and fewer people are willing to learn it; the inheritance and development of the scented-tea scenting craft has become an urgent problem to be addressed.
Documented Process Records
In making its jasmine tea, Zhang Yiyuan uses Fujian baked green tea—spring tea as the base—whose initial processing mainly includes withering, fixation (kill-green), rolling, and baking.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Zhang Yiyuan's jasmine tea was one of the Beijing tea houses of the Qing dynasty that made its name through scenting. Peking opera stars Qiu Shengrong, Ma Lianliang, and Tan Fuying were among its regular customers. After the 1956 public-private joint operation, its signature focus on scented tea was lost for a time, and it was not until 1992 that the old craft was restored. The core of the craft is scenting: the tea base uses spring tea from Fujian baked green tea, with initial processing following withering, fixation, rolling, and baking; during scenting, the amount of flowers added, their degree of openness, and the pile temperature and moisture are all carefully observed. After Wang Xiulan joined Zhang Yiyuan in 1992, she restored the layered-scenting method for jasmine tea.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Scented Tea Processing Craftsmanship · Scented Tea Processing Craftsmanship.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Wang Xiulan (per official inheritor archival records): Female, Han ethnicity, born in September 1954, a native of Beijing. Representative inheritor of the third national-level batch of the intangible cultural heritage item "Scented Tea Making Craft (Zhang Yiyuan Jasmine Tea Making Craft)." A jasmine tea-making technician at Zhang Yiyuan and a national first-grade tea evaluator. She began learning scented tea processing techniques at the Zhengxingde tea house in 1972, and started working at Beijing Zhang Yiyuan Tea Co., Ltd. in 1992. She restored the layered-scenting method for jasmine tea and made unique contributions to process improvements such as enhancing jasmine tea's aroma. She established 27 tea production bases in China and founded a tea research institute, increasing the variety of Zhang Yiyuan jasmine teas from about ten to more than twenty. In 1993 she formulated the "Zhang Yiyuan Jasmine Tea Enterprise Standard" and related standards, and has repeatedly participated in the formulation and revision of national tea standards. In the past she organized two training sessions each year on a regular basis to broadly teach the scented tea making craft. Currently she has five apprentices year-round, imparting and spreading the project's techniques.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Wang Xiulan 03-1417
- Sun Danwei 04-1903
- Chen Chengzhong 05-2841
- Fu Tianlong
- Wang Dexing
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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