Anji White Tea Making Technique
Anji white tea is produced in Xilong Township, Anji County, Zhejiang Province. It is a kind of roasted green tea. Since ancient times, white tea has been hard to find, and tea trees are difficult to grow. Wild tea is rare and precious. According to the "Daguan Tea Theory" by Zhao Ji of the Song Dynasty, "white tea is a kind of its own, different from ordinary tea. Its strips are spread out, its leaves are thin and shiny, and it grows occasionally between cliffs and forests. Although it is not caused by human power, there are only four or five families, and only one or two plants are alive, and only two or three crotches are produced." Anji white tea is characterized by white, lively, fragrant, fresh and clear. Its fresh leaves and dried tea are white with green veins, and the color is fresh. The tea soup is clear and bright, with a strong fresh taste and a high and lasting aroma. The manual frying process of Anji white tea is divided into seven processes: picking, spreading, killing and sorting, initial baking, cooling, re-baking, and collecting ash and drying. Each process has special requirements. Among them, fresh leaves can only be fresh leaves from the first twenty days of spring tea. One bud is picked with one or two true leaves, without milk leaves or fish leaves. Since the leaves are extremely thin and the stems are thick, the temperature requirements for the withering and straightening are very strict, otherwise the leaves will either burn or the stems will turn red. To ensure that the leaves are not burnt and the stems are not red, while keeping the leaves intact, in addition to the correct temperature, it is also necessary to maintain a strict humidity, which requires a very high level of hand feel and technique. Since the manual frying technique is difficult to master, the processing batch is small and the speed is slow, it is generally replaced by machine frying. Currently, only Chen Shoubin, Qian Yirong and a few others in Xilong Township, Anji County have mastered the manual frying technique of white tea. Xilong Township, Anji County has begun to train the manual frying technique of white tea to further inherit and promote this traditional handcraft. (No pictures yet, welcome to provide.) (No pictures yet, welcome to provide.)