Green Tea Processing Craftsmanship

Ⅷ-148Traditional CraftsmanshipWuyuan, JiangxiBatch 4 (2014)Extension ItemFeatured

01 · Historical Records

Wuyuan green tea was recorded in the "Classic of Tea" in the Tang dynasty, called a supreme product in the Song dynasty, presented as tribute in the Ming and Qing dynasties, and is renowned at home and abroad. Around 760 CE, the tea ancestor Lu Yu, discussing tea-producing regions, said "Shezhou tea grows in the valleys of Wuyuan," indicating that Wuyuan was already a major tea-producing area of Shezhou at the time. In the early Jianyan years of the Southern Song dynasty, the "History: Treatise on Food and Goods" recorded that Wuyuan's "Xieyuan" tea was listed among the nation's famous teas. In the Ming dynasty, pan-fired tea replaced steamed tea; Shen Zhou, in his "Afterword to the Separate Treatise on Jie Tea," recorded: "The Longjing of Wulin and the Songluo of Xin'an became widely famous."

02 · Core Techniques & Process

The Wuyuan green tea making craft is a traditional tea-making process that uses one bud with two leaves picked after the Qingming festival as raw material and is refined through multiple process steps such as fixation, shaping and rolling, and staged drying; it is mainly distributed in Wuyuan County, Jiangxi Province. Wuyuan green tea is characterized by high aroma, emerald color, green liquor and leaves, and a strong, infusable taste, and is said to have "first infusion aromatic, second strong, third no loss of flavor, fourth still mellow." The Wuyuan green tea making craft is intricate and mainly uses handwork; its specific process includes picking, leaf spreading, fixation, rolling, loosening, base baking, shaping (initial drying), and final baking (aroma lifting). Each year picking begins around the spring equinox; for bud tea the standard is a single bud or a bud with one just-unfolding leaf, and for leaf tea it is a bud with one leaf or a bud with two leaves. The picked fresh leaves are not kept overnight; during fixation, leaf tea uses a higher wok temperature than bud tea, with high-lifting and high-throwing movements and larger amplitude. During rolling, leaf tea can be rolled right after fixation without cooling—the so-called "hot rolling of old tea"—mainly using single-hand rolling. During base baking, it should not lose too much water; the feel should be loose and crisp, otherwise shaping becomes difficult. Stir-frying the base is the process step of initial drying and shaping. The wok temperature should only give a slight burning sensation when tested by hand. Thereafter a "low-temperature long-simmering" (changxia) is needed, combining two woks of the shaped tea to fry again. The characteristic of the Wuyuan green tea making craft lies in adopting, on the basis of the historical Songluo tea method, the processes of high-temperature fixation, small-basket rolling, and low-temperature long-simmering drying, which give the green tea tight and even strips, a green and moist color, a clear liquor, a fragrant aroma, and a fresh and brisk taste. Thus it can be seen that Wuyuan has enjoyed the reputation of "millennium tea hometown" since ancient times; its green tea making craft has a long history and is transmitted mainly through families and groups. To this day the Wuyuan green tea making craft remains the main handicraft by which many mountain tea farmers in Wuyuan make a living, closely reflecting the local folk cultural character.

Documented Process Records

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

It is not only a representative of local characteristic culture but also a witness to the development and exchange of Chinese tea culture, embodies the concept of harmonious coexistence between man and nature, and possesses distinct historical, economic, and socio-cultural value.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

Fang Genmin (per official inheritor archival records): Male, Han ethnicity, born in November 1972, a native of Wuyuan County, Jiangxi Province. Representative inheritor of the fifth national-level batch of the intangible cultural heritage item "Green Tea Making Craft (Wuyuan Green Tea Making Craft)." A Wuyuan green tea making technician. As a youth he learned the Dafang tea making craft from his father Fang Zhoucheng; after years of practice he merged the traditional Wuyuan handmade tea craft, created his own tea-making process, and in 2000 founded the "Yayu" tea brand. He strictly controls the tea-making process; all steps are done by hand, with attention to heat and technique, producing tea that is beautiful in shape, high in aroma, jade-green in liquor, and mellow in taste, and he has introduced anion nitrogen-preservation technology into the finished-product packaging. Born into a tea-making family, he is the 36th-generation inheritor of Wuyuan Dafang tea. The "Yayu" green tea he makes has won awards many times. Since 2010 he has taught the craft to Fang Zhen, Fang Wei, and others, and has trained over a hundred tea-making talents.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

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

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗

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