Scented Tea Processing Craftsmanship

01 · Historical Records

Wuyutai was founded in 1887 and is a long-established Beijing tea brand famous for scenting. Its three rules—self-picking, self-scenting, and self-blending—have never changed: the tea base, flower source, and blending are all kept in its own hands, never entrusted to others. The transmission of the scenting craft follows a master-apprentice line—Sun Danwei studied under Zhang Wenyu, inherited the Wu family's secret blending formula, and took over the entire set of processes: tea-base making, flower-source selection, fresh-flower care, magnolia underlaying, scenting and blending, flower-turning for cooling, flower-stripping, baking, and uniform-pile boxing.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

Scented tea, also known as "smoked flower tea," "scented flower tea," and "fragrant slices," belongs to the category of reprocessed teas. Among these, jasmine tea is made by scenting green tea repeatedly with fresh jasmine blossoms; the tea draws in the flower's fragrance while the flower enhances the tea's flavor, and the tea taste and floral aroma are skillfully blended, creating the distinctive quality of jasmine tea, which is regarded as the finest among scented teas. Founded in 1887, Wuyutai is a well-known established tea brand in China that has consistently upheld its exclusive scenting craft of self-picking, self-scenting, and self-blending, which mainly comprises nine process steps: tea-base making, flower-source selection, fresh-flower care, magnolia underlaying, scenting and blending, flower-turning for cooling, flower-stripping, baking, and uniform-pile boxing. It uses only spring-tea bases, adheres to the "three-no-picking principle" for jasmine, appropriately increases the proportion of Anhui tea bases in blending, and applies exclusive techniques such as "low-temperature slow baking," ultimately forming the characteristics of Wuyutai jasmine tea as having "a fresh and lasting aroma, a mellow and sweet aftertaste, a clear and bright liquor, and good infusibility." Because jasmine tea has high raw-material costs, a complex processing craft, a long cycle, and faces competition from other tea types, its market share has been declining year by year. In terms of public perception, ordinary people also harbor great misconceptions about jasmine tea, believing it to be low-quality tea; facing market competition, many traditional varieties of jasmine tea are even sold at a loss at low prices within enterprises.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

Wuyutai's jasmine tea scenting takes place in Beijing's Dongcheng District; the tea leaves come from Fujian and Zhejiang, but the fresh jasmine must be picked and scented on the same day—scenting relies on the blossoms still being full of life, for their aroma dissipates after a single night. Thus half of the old brand's skill lies in blending: on one hand adjusting the ratio of Anhui tea bases by season, and on the other using low-temperature slow baking to retain the floral aroma, compensating through craftsmanship for the distance between origin and processing. In recent years jasmine tea's market share has declined year by year and it is often regarded as a low-grade tea, which is inconsistent with its raw-material costs and processing cycle.

Other submitting regions for the same item: Scented Tea Processing Craftsmanship · Scented Tea Processing Craftsmanship.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

Coupled with the harsh working environment and the difficulty of the techniques, young people are unwilling to inherit and learn the jasmine tea scenting craft, and the transmission of this traditional skill faces a grave situation. Sun Danwei (per official inheritor archival records): Female, Han ethnicity, born in September 1957, a native of Beijing. Representative inheritor of the fourth national-level batch of the intangible cultural heritage item "Scented Tea Making Craft (Wuyutai Jasmine Tea Making Craft)." A national senior tea evaluator. In 1997 she became manager of Beijing Wuyutai Tea Company. She studied under Zhang Wenyu, inherited the Wu family's secret blending formula, mastered Wuyutai's unique flower-tea making craft, and is familiar with the complete process of tea-base making, flower-source selection, fresh-flower care, magnolia underlaying, scenting and blending, flower-turning for cooling, flower-stripping, baking, and uniform-pile boxing. She emphasizes raw-material quality and actively develops new types of scented tea and tea products, having dozens of self-blended scented tea varieties. She established the Wuyutai International Tea Culture Creative industry-academia-research platform to showcase the history of tea culture. A deputy to the 14th Beijing Municipal People's Congress and a recipient of the Capital Labor Medal. She has trained two inheritors, Guo Ling and Sun Qian.

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

1. Scented Tea Processing Craftsmanship (Dongcheng, Beijing) · China ICH Official Project Archive
2. Sun Danwei · National Representative Bearer Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗