Green Tea Processing Craftsmanship

Ⅷ-148Traditional CraftsmanshipJinhua, ZhejiangBatch 2 (2008)Newly Added ItemFeatured

01 · Historical Records

Tea culture flourished greatly in the Tang dynasty. Emperor Xuanzong changed the character "tu" to "cha" in the Kaiyuan Wenzi Yinyi, and afterwards Lu Yu's Classic of Tea (Cha Jing) also appeared. Before the Song dynasty, the tea consumed was mostly compressed tea—the leaves were steamed, pounded, and formed into lumps or cakes, then boiled in water for drinking, sometimes with dried fruits such as melon seeds and pine nuts added. In the Qing dynasty this changed to brewing with boiling water, a practice that continues to this day. In the Tang dynasty it was already popular to pluck the tiny newly sprouted tea buds; these tender buds were sharp like spears, with small leaves shaped like banners growing beside them, and so they were called "banner-spear" (qiqiang), a name that has endured to the present. Wuzhou Juyan tea production began in the Tang, prospered in the Song, and flourished in the Ming and Qing. During the Tang and Five Dynasties it was one of the ten great teas, and in the Ming and Qing periods it became a tribute offered to the imperial court. This tea has high medicinal value, recorded in the Tang-era Supplement to the Materia Medica (Bencao Shiyi), the Song-era Ode to Tea (Cha Fu), and the Ming Li Shizhen's Compendium of Materia Medica (Bencao Gangmu).

02 · Core Techniques & Process

China's tea-making craft has a long history. More than three thousand years ago, tea used as an accompaniment to drinking already appeared in the ritual ceremonies of the Western Zhou dynasty. In ancient times tea was called "tu," a name that appears in the Book of Songs (Shijing). By the Three Kingdoms and Western Jin periods, tea drinking had become a common custom in the Jiangnan region. Green tea is a type of tea that is fixed (kill-green) at high temperature without oxidation or fermentation, also known as "non-fermented tea." Its production process mainly includes plucking fresh leaves, fixation (kill-green), rolling, and drying. Top-grade green tea is made from the delicate young buds that first emerge, generally plucked before the Qingming or Grain Rain solar terms; the finished tea is commonly called "pre-Qingming" or "pre-Grain Rain." Fixation uses high-temperature processes such as steaming or pan-firing to enhance the green tea's bright color and clear fragrance, and can be divided into steaming fixation and pan-firing fixation. In ancient China, high-temperature steam was used for fixation, called "steam fixation"; in modern times this changed to pan-firing in an iron wok, giving rise to "pan-fired fixation." Fixation makes the leaves soft, and gently rolling them between the fingers twists them into tight, slender strips—this is called "rolling." Rolling helps the brewed tea release its infusion and also reduces the leaves' volume, making storage and transport easier. Wuzhou Juyan tea mostly grows in rock crevices or on hillside slopes, generally plucked during the period from Qingming to Grain Rain when the tea shows one bud with one leaf or one bud with two leaves just unfolding; making 1,000 grams of dried tea requires plucking about 60,000 buds and leaves. Juyan tea leaves are fine, tight, and slightly flat, with a faint down; their color shows a silvery green luster and their fragrance is lasting; when brewed, the liquor is a bright tender green and the infused leaves are tender, even, and uniform; on the palate it is fresh, mellow, sweet, and pleasingly clean. The Wuzhou Juyan making technique mainly consists of seven process steps: selecting and spreading the leaves, initial firing, rolling, second firing, shaping, baking, and refined selection and storage. In pan-firing, baking is primary, combining firing and baking, forming a distinctive craft. Wuzhou Juyan tea has a strong taste and a sweet nature, and is rich in nutrients, containing tea tannin, protein, and many other substances beneficial to the human body, with especially high levels of tea polyphenols, caffeine, and amino acids. At the same time, many tea-making technicians are advanced in age, and young people mostly are unwilling to learn this traditional craft.

Documented Process Steps

The Wuzhou Juyan making technique mainly consists of seven process steps: selecting and spreading the leaves, initial firing, rolling, second firing, shaping, baking, and refined selection and storage.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

Wuzhou Juyan is produced in the area atop the Shuanglong Cave on the northern mountains of Jinhua City, Zhejiang Province, named "Wuzhou" because Jinhua was called "Wuzhou" during the Sui and Tang periods.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

Green tea is currently mainly produced in Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Anhui, Fujian, Sichuan, and other places, among which the most famous are West Lake Longjing of Hangzhou and Wuzhou Juyan of Jinhua in Zhejiang; Huangshan Maofeng, Taiping Houkui, and Lu'an Guapian in Anhui; and Dongshan Biluochun of Suzhou in Jiangsu. At present, Wuzhou Juyan faces a shortage of raw materials, with tea-garden area under 100 mu; its surroundings are a national-level scenic area, making it difficult to expand the planting area. Now only six technicians remain who can make Juyan tea; the Wuzhou Juyan tea-making craft faces a situation of having no successors and urgently needs rescue and protection.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

Green Tea Processing Craftsmanship (Jinhua, Zhejiang) · China ICH Official Project Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗

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