Green tea making techniques (Taiping Houkui)

Name of China's national intangible cultural heritage: green tea making techniques (Taiping Houkui)

Applicant: Huangshan District, Huangshan City, Anhui Province

Project No.: 931

Project No.: VIII - 148

Time of publication: 2008 (second batch)

Category: traditional art

Region: Anhui Province

Type: new item

Applicant: Huangshan District, Huangshan City, Anhui Province

Protection unit: Huangshan Tea Association

Introduction to green tea production technology (Taiping Houkui)

Applicant: Huangshan District, Huangshan City, Anhui Province

Tea production technology has a long history in China. More than 3000 years ago, tea for drinking appeared in the sacrificial rites of the Western Zhou Dynasty. Tea is called "tea" in ancient times, and its name can be seen in the book of songs. During the Three Kingdoms period and the Western Jin Dynasty, tea drinking in the south of the Yangtze River became a custom. Tea was very popular in Tang Dynasty. Xuanzong changed "tea" into "tea" in "Kaiyuan characters", and later Lu Yu's "tea classic" appeared. Before the Song Dynasty, most of the tea was pressed tea, that is, the tea was steamed, mashed and made into lumps. When drinking, the tea was boiled with water, and sometimes dried fruits such as melon seeds and pine nuts were put into the tea. In the Qing Dynasty, it was changed to boiling water brewing. Green tea is a kind of tea which is killed by high temperature without oxidation and fermentation, also known as "non fermented tea". The production process mainly includes picking fresh leaves, killing green, rolling, drying and other steps. Top grade green tea is made from tender sprouts. It is usually picked before Qingming or Guyu. The finished tea is commonly known as "Mingqian" or "Yuqian". In the Tang Dynasty, it was popular to pick small sprouts of tea, which were sharp as a spear and had small leaves shaped like a flag. Because they were called "spear", their name has been used to this day. It can be divided into steamed green tea and roasted green tea. In ancient China, high-temperature steam was used to kill the green, which was called "steaming green"; in modern times, it was used to fry the green in an iron pot instead of "frying green". The tea leaves are softened and rolled tightly into a stick shape by rubbing with fingers, which is called "rolling". Rolling is beneficial to the extraction of tea juice during the brewing of finished products, and reduces the volume of tea, which is convenient for storage and transportation. At present, green tea is mainly produced in Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Anhui, Fujian, Sichuan and other places. Among them, Hangzhou West Lake Longjing and Jinhua Wuzhou Juyan in Zhejiang, Huangshan Maofeng, Taiping Houkui and Lu'an Guapian in Anhui, and Suzhou Dongshan Biluo (original "Luo") spring in Jiangsu are the most famous.

Huangshan District, Huangshan City, Anhui Province, has a mild climate, abundant rainfall and more than 200 foggy days every year, which is very suitable for tea growth. The total area of tea garden in the region is more than 3400 hectares, with an annual output of more than 1000 tons of tea, of which famous tea accounts for more than 80%.

Huangshan District has a long history of tea production, as early as 1000 years ago in the Tang Dynasty Tianbao years, there are records of tea production here. At that time, it was called Taiping County, so the tea produced here was called "Taiping tea". Most of the residents in Taiping County are engaged in tea production. The local people regard "building tea booths for the benefit of pedestrians" as an act of doing good deeds and accumulating virtue, which has been practiced for a long time.

Taiping Houkui tea was created in 1900, the 26th year of Guangxu in Qing Dynasty. At that time, Taiping tea was very popular in the Yangtze River area. Some tea merchants asked tea farmers to pick out the neat buds and leaves in the sharp tea separately, and sold them at a high price to obtain heavy profits. Wang Kui Cheng, a tea farmer who lives in Hougang, was inspired to think that it's better to pick and refine the fresh leaves than to select them after they are finished. So he specially picked one bud and two leaves in the high mountain tea garden and made them elaborately. Therefore, the quality of tea produced in Houkeng and Hougang of Taiping County is the first of the top teas, and the originator of tea making technology is also called "kuicheng", so it is named "Taiping Houkui".

Taiping Houkui has a long-standing reputation at home and abroad for its excellent quality. In 1912, it won the quality award at the agricultural and industrial exhibition, and in 1915, it won the gold award at the Panama Pacific International Exposition. In 1955, it was rated as one of the top ten famous teas in China. After 2004, it won many awards at the tea fairs at home and abroad and became a national gift tea.

Chinese PinYin : Lv Cha Zhi Zuo Ji Yi Tai Ping Hou Kui