Lingering Taste of Famous Teas
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| The name of Longjing tea comes from the well beside West lake. | China has l6 Provinces that produce tea, including Taiwan. From boiling tea as
soup, to making it into tea cakes, and to make tea with full leaves, Chinese people
have passed a long period in their study and usage of tea. Either by accident or on purpose, they continually discovered and modified new methods of making tea, thus
deriving different kinds of tea. Because of the different producing methods, people
generally categorize Chinese tea into six major types-green tea, black tea, oolong tea, white tea, yellow tea and dark tea. Besides, there are processed sorts such as jasmine tea, compressed tea,etc. Each type has its representative "celebrity tea," and each "celebrity tea" has its irreplaceable appearance and scent, some even have beautiful legends. The so-called famous teas renowned for their top quality in color, fragrance as well taste are mostly the combining result of excellent natural condition, top class breed of tea trees, refined picking methods, and exquisite processing technique.
Green Tea
Green tea is the oldest type of tea in China. It is also the tea with the largest output in China. Many Provinces and cities are renowned for their production of green tea, the most eminent ones being Zhejiang, Jiangxi and Anhui. Green tea leaves haven't been fermented, so they largely retain the original flavor of tea, which is simple, elegant and lasting. On first sip, green tea tastes a little thin. But on appreciating it, you will find its fragrance flowing in your mouth and reluctant to leave. To make green tea, we mainly use the
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| The tea garden at Longjing Village. | methods of steaming green, frying green and sunning green, respectively using steaming, frying and sunning to get rid of the moisture in fresh tea 1eaves and bring out their fragrance. The water shouldn¡¯t be too hot when making green tea, favorably 80¡æ. First soak the leaves in a little warm water, then fill the cup full. 0nly put on the lid for one or two minutes, otherwise the taste would be affected, Or you can first prepare a glass of warm water and then put leaves into it.
Longing tea mainly comes from five districts near the West Lake. They used to be classified into five types because of their different producing areas-lion, dragon, cloud, tiger and plum. Now they are combined into three-lion, plum and dragon, of which the most precious are the leaves from the l8 tea trees that had been conferred by Emperor Qianlong. In an auction held in China in 2005, the trigger price for l00 grams of such royal leaves was 80,000 RMB, and the knock-down price was l45,600 RMB per l00 grams, much more valuable than gold.
When they sink and float in the water, their white hairs can be observed vividly, like snow flying in the wind. Pilochun not only gives people pleasure in smell and taste, but gives visual enjoyment as well. Sweet Dew of Mengding(meaning the top of Mount Mengshan)Sichuan Province is where tea culture is in its height. Many well-known teas stem there, and Sweet Dew of Mengding is one of them. Mount Mengshan lies across Mingshan county and Ya'an county of Sichuan Province. Its five peaks huddle together like a lotus. The mid-peak which is the highest, has a piece of flat ground on its top, and Sweet Dew of Mengding originates here. As the legend goes, an eminent monk called Ganlu (meaning sweet dew)in Western Han, for the welfare of all, planted tea trees on the mount top with his own hands. That's how Sweet Dew of Mengding got its name.
Black tea
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| New Longjing tea. | Black tea is a kind of ferme
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| "Sunning green" for making Longjing tea. | nted tea, originating from green tea after it is mixed, kneaded, fermented, dried, and otherwise processed. The water of green tea is freshly green while that of black tea is orange red. But this difference is only skin-deep. What is more important is that black tea doesn't undergo the processes of steaming green or frying green, but is fermented, during which time
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| Tea soup made from new Longjing tea. | the tea leaves go through chemical reactions-tea phenol reduced over 90%and tea yellow element and red element being produced. If these two elements are in a right proportion, the water's color will be red and bright. While green tea retains the thin and freshening flavor of the leaves, the fermented black tea gives a stronger and thicker flavor. Black tea first appeared in Qing Dynasty, much younger than green tea. But it occupied an important position in China's foreign trade at the end of Qing Dynasty, with the largest amount of all kinds of tea that were exported to Europe and America.
Oolong tea
Oolong tea is also called green tea. It uses green tea's finishing technique as well
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| Famous tea needs famous spring to match wity.Here is Huqiu Spring of Suzhou. | as black tea's fermenting skill, so it is a semi-fermented tea between green tea and black tea. For the same reason, it keeps both green tea's and black tea's characteristics-the freshening and clearing flavor of green tea and the thick and luscious fragrance of black tea. The appearance of oolong tea also combines the features of green tea and black tea-verdant leaves with crimson edges. The leaves are in the shape of long cables,
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| The gate to Mount Mengshan. | bigger and fatter than green tea or black tea after being cooked. These leaves taste strong and thick, so they can be cooked many times. Chinese oolong tea mainly comes from Fujian, Guangdong, Taiwan, etc. Fujian has been the hometown of tea since early time. Most tribute tea came from Fujian in Song Dynasty. including the famous Dragon & Phoenix Cake. Therefore, many people believe that Dragon & Phoenix Cake is the predecessor of oolong tea.
Observing: high-quality Tie Guanyin leaves are curly, strong, and heavy with
its tip like dragonfly's head, body like a spire, and bottom like frog's leg. Good Tie Guanyin leaves are covered with a thin layer of hoar frost called "sand green." For Tie Guanyin leaves have to be wrapped up with white cloth after finished. They are kneaded and twisted in the cloth so the leaves will shrink. After baked and kneaded many times, the leaves are dried and lightly heated in slow fire. This sublimates the theine in the leaves, which gathers on the leave surface to form the hoar frost. Tie Guanyin also has to be assorted
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| The Qinmen Gongfu tea after fermenting and drying. | after being made. The common leaves are called crude tea while the good ones are called refined tea. The decisive difference between crude tea and refined tea is the existence of peduncle. Those without it are refined tea while those with it are crude tea.
Listening: Tie Guanyin is usually kneaded about 11 times when they are wrapped in the cloth, sometimes as many as 25 times, Therefore, the leaves are twisted, tight f heavy and massive. Dropped into the tea pot, those leaves that can make ringing sound are good while the common ones can only make husky sound.
Viewing: the water of Tie Guanyin is golden,
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| The tea-making workshop in Anxi Tea Factory, Quanzhou, Fujian Province. | thick and clear in color. The leaves
are fat and bright after cooked, with silk-like sheen on the surface. If the water takes on a dark color with a touch of red, that means the leaves are not very good.
Smelling: when cooked, top Tie Guanyin gives off fragrance like sweet-scented osmanthus, with a remote flavor chestnut. This is the biggest difference between Tie Guanyin and other oolong teas.
Tasting: Tie Guanyin is not for gulp, but should be sipped little by little. The
tongue moves slowly in the mouth to get thorough contact with tea. Then the water gradually flows
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| The tea garden in Wuyi Mountain, Fujian Province. | down the throat to let its deliciousness be fully absorbed.
Appreciating: the most special trait of Tie Guanyin is its Guanyin charm, which
refers to its unique taste as opposed to other teas. This charm includes the above five steps. It is a perfect combination of human feeling and tea ceremony and a comprehensive experience of senses and intelligence, possible to be understood by heart but not so probable to communicate with words.
Dark tea
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| Lijiang of Yunnan Province, an important town on the Tea-Horse Road. |
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| Xishuangbanna (Sipsongpanna) of Yunnan Province teems with Pu'er tea. | Green tea is precious for its freshness and tenderness. People usually pick the shoot tips or one. Shoot-one-piece leaves as material, because leaves become inferior or bad when they grow up. But this is not always the case. With oolong tea people choose one. shoot, three-or-four-piece leaves. Dark tea is even more special because with it. the rough old one-shoot-five-or-six-piece leaves are selected. But dark tea has its own indispensable characteristics and is also loved by lots of people.
Pu'er tea can be roughly divided into two groups. The first group is made through
simple sunning, usually known as "Raw Pu'er." The other kind is made with the
technique of "heating pile"(to sprinkle water over a pile of leaves and make them
ferment), usually known as "Ripe Pu'er." The greatest fascination of Pu'er tea is that the longer it is preserved, the better it tastes. Generally speaking, raw Pu'er tastes best after about ten years of preservation, while ripe Pu'er best exerts its fragrance after two or three years of preservation. This feature of Pu¡¯er is similar to that of wine. A bar of 3. gram Pu'er tea which has been preserved for over 60 years was once auctioned as high as more than l0,000 RMB. Pu'er tea is better to be preserved long, but long-year Pu'er costs too much, so many people choose to buy new Pu'er, preserve them, and drink them after many years. Some people even start doing business on Pu'er tea because of this. They purchase tons of Pu'er tea, preserve them, and wait for them to increase in value years later. This is almost the same as those Europeans who invest in grape wine.
Yellow tea
Like dark tea, yellow tea was also found by chance when making green tea.
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| Tight-Pressed tea with various shapes. | People discover that if leaves are not dried in time after being finished£¬kneaded and twisted, they will turn yellow in color, thus comes the name of yellow tea. At first, people took yellow tea as bad-quality green tea. Yet since people have different taste, many people prefer the savor of yellow tea, which makes yellow tea become one of the six major teas. Yellow tea belongs to fermented tea, and the fermenting process is called"annealing yellow."Junshan Silver Needle of Hunan and Mengdi Yellow Shoot of Sichuan are two representatives of yellow tea. Silver
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| The roll tea made by Xiaguan Tea Factory of Dali, Yunnan Province. | Needle leaves stand straight after being cooked and only subside to the bottom after times of floating and sinking. Being one of the ten top teas of China, Silver Needle leaves are like bamboo shoots breaking out of the soil or spears drawn out of the sheath, both beautiful and delicious.
White tea
White tea is slightly fermented, only involving adjustment and drying processes. "Three White" should be observed when picking white tea leaves."Three White" means the one shoot and two 1eaves should all be covered with white hairs. Leaves made this way are white all over, which gives rise to the name of white tea. In Tang and Song dynasties, people regarded white tea as very valuable, but at that time, white tea was just a rare kind of tea tree whose leaves were white, not the white tea we know today. White Hair Silver Needle and White Peony produced in Fujian are representatives of white tea. |
