Deang Suan Tea Processing Craftsmanship
01 · Historical Records
As early as the 4th century CE, caravans carried the tea of the De'ang people along the Ancient Tea Horse Road and other trade routes to Central Asia, West Asia and East Asia.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The craft of making De'ang sour tea is a traditional handicraft found mainly in Mangshi, Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province. Mangshi lies in the south-west of Yunnan on a low-latitude plateau in a southern subtropical monsoon climate, with an average annual temperature of 19.6 degrees Celsius, a clear division between the dry and wet seasons, no severe cold in winter and no extreme heat in summer, long hours of sunshine and abundant rainfall. It is suited to tea growing and provides quality raw material for the De'ang sour tea-making craft. De'ang sour tea comes in two kinds, culinary tea and drinking tea. Culinary tea is the wet tea once fermentation is complete, cooked with various ingredients in different ways into different dishes; it is a traditional De'ang food. Drinking tea is made from the wet tea by sun-drying and a series of further finishing processes, and can be brewed directly; its liquor is golden and translucent with a sweet aftertaste. De'ang sour tea uses fresh leaves of the Yunnan large-leaf tea tree as its raw material and is made through process steps such as de-enzyming, rolling, anaerobic fermentation, pounding (or crushing), shaping and drying. Culinary tea is generally fermented for about 2 months, while drinking tea must be fermented for 4 to 9 months. Sour tea fermentation is entirely different from the aerobic fermentation of other teas: it is anaerobic fermentation. Through this distinctive fermentation process the tea leaves produce a rich variety of probiotics, especially high-quality lactic acid bacteria, which can effectively improve gastrointestinal function. As early as the pre-Qin period, the ancestors of the De'ang people already had the habit of growing, making, drinking and eating tea, and the De'ang are therefore known by such honorifics as 'the ancient tea farmers' and 'children of tea'. The De'ang creation epic Dagudalen Gelai Biao recounts how the deity in charge of plants, Hunshang Bijie, became the ancestor of the De'ang people, how the tea seed was brought to the human world, and how the De'ang learned the whole process of growing and using tea. The craft of making De'ang sour tea has permeated every corner of De'ang social life and has given rise to rich and varied tea customs; it plays an important role in the marriage life of the De'ang people, in friendships, in receiving and seeing off guests, and in religious sacrifices.
Archival Records of Process Steps
De'ang sour tea uses fresh leaves of the Yunnan large-leaf tea tree as its raw material and is made through process steps such as de-enzyming, rolling, anaerobic fermentation, pounding (or crushing), shaping and drying.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
In Dehong Prefecture, Yunnan, the De'ang sour tea-making craft is most concentrated in the Mangshi area. Villages traditionally define their leaf-picking areas by the village deity and the woodlands, and the De'ang regard tea trees as living things. The two broad categories of method are kept apart: wet tea mixed directly with ingredients and cooked as a dish is culinary tea, ready after about two months of anaerobic fermentation; tea that is sun-dried and further finished so that it can be brewed directly is drinking tea, whose fermentation must run to four to nine months.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
At present the craft of making De'ang sour tea is passed on mainly by oral instruction and personal example between master and apprentice, and is transmitted through production practice. De'ang sour tea is now sold as far as Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen and to overseas markets, and it has contributed to promoting rural revitalisation and cultural exchange with other countries.
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)
This static English edition is rendered at the edge for search engines, AI crawlers and readers without JavaScript; it mirrors the bilingual dossier. 阅读中文版，或返回 英文名录。