Shucheng County is located in the central part of Anhui Province, the eastern foothills of Dabie Mountain, the west coast of Chaohu Lake, and the Jianghuai River. The natural overview slopes from southwest to northeast, with mountains, hills and polders. Its southwest is the Manyan part of the Maoling branch of Dabie Mountain, the mountain is high, the forest is green, the highest point of Wanfoshan main peak Laofo Peak (pig head tip) is 1539 meters above sea level; the eastern part is an alluvial plain, as open as a stone, and the lowest point is 7 meters above sea level. The total area of the county is 2100 square kilometers, of which 52% is mountainous and 20% hilly. The county is located at latitude 31°27\'-31°48'N and longitude 116°49'-117°01'E, which belongs to the subtropical temperate monsoon climate zone. The average annual temperature is 16.2 °C, the extreme minimum temperature is -16.3 °C, the maximum temperature is 41.5 °C, and the accumulated temperature of ≥ 10 °C is 5072.4 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1075 mm, the minimum year is 700 mm, and the maximum year is nearly 1500 mm. The annual sunshine hours are 1968.9 hours, the average frost-free period of the year is 223 days, the average first frost period is November 11, the final frost period is March 30, and the latest is April 16, and the PH value is between 5.5 and 6.5. Such a natural environment is suitable for the growth of tea plants.
Shucheng County has a long history of tea cultivation, and the tea produced has a long reputation, which is recorded in the literature and appreciated by literati and inkers. According to the New Book of Tang and Geography, "The 17 states listed in Tugong with tea have ... Luzhou "Shucheng County belonged to Luzhou at that time, which indicates that Shucheng tea had been listed as a tribute during the Tang Dynasty. The "Jianyan Miscellaneous Records" once recorded that "Luzhou, there is Shucheng Wang Tong Tea Farm", which means that Shucheng has grown tea on a certain scale. The History of Song and the Chronicle of Food and Goods and Shen Kuo's Mengxi Pen Talk also have accounts of Shucheng tea leaves. Li Gonglin, a great painter of the Northern Song Dynasty, returned to his hometown of Shucheng in his later years, and he vividly described the scene of peasant women bringing tea to the ground in the poem "Four Hours of Music in Spring and Autumn Villa". In the "Shucheng Li Family Tree", it is also recorded that after Li Gonglin lived in seclusion in Shucheng, he successively entertained his old friends Su Dongpo and Huang Tingjian with "shanshui boiled mountain tea" in the old mansion in the east of the city and the Longmian Villa. In Qing Jiaqing's "Shucheng County Chronicle of Food and Goods", it is clearly recorded: "Tea comes out of the Thin Garden of God, Maotanchang". In the same county chronicle "Yiwen Zhi", there are endless poems about tea, and there are many listings. Among them, such as Ren Wei's "Shiding cooking tea aftertaste forever, copper bottle storage water fell late". Zhang Yingyuan's "Long Shu is quiet, and the top sees the smoke." There are paths all based on bamboo, and no furrows are planted with tea. Guo Weiqi's "Breeze with Wine, Drizzle Sipping New Tea." "Ande Long sleeps and talks about the Beidou Oblique" ("Spring and Autumn Mountain Villa"),Bao Gong's "Stone Fire Burns wind buds, and cloud kitchen boils snow buds" ("Tang Quan"),Ren Zhiyou", "Cooking Tea to Draw Mountain Springs, Dinner into Vegetables" ("Su JiuJing Temple") "Shangren is good at storing orchid bud pieces, and still waiting for flowers to bloom and break their faces" ("Shuangsong'an Tanmei") and so on. Tea planting, tea boiling, tea drinking and other production and life practices have been promoted to cultural elements, publicized tea production, promoted the process of tea commercialization, "Shucheng Orchid Tea" brand came into being, with distinctive characteristics of Shucheng tea culture gradually formed, tea production has a breakthrough development. According to relevant records, at the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, every year during the tea season, tea merchants from Shandong and Jiangsu came to Shucheng to buy "orchid tea", according to the old time system, each kilogram of moziyuan orchid tea can be exchanged for silver dollars and a half or four buckets and five liters of rice, tea prices are optimistic, production has been very strong. After years of war, tea production was destroyed, but due to market demand, it was quickly restored. At the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, Admiral Xu Haidong once came to Shucheng to buy white mulberry garden orchid tea, and the Soviet experts stationed in western Anhui pointed out that they wanted to drink Shucheng orchid tea by name. Duan Jiaxiang, a tea expert at the Department of Agriculture of Shandong Province, commented on the small orchids in Shucheng: "Drink all over the Shenzhou tea and love the small orchids alone." Xia Tao, vice president of Anhui Agricultural University and chairman of the Provincial Tea Society, commented on Shucheng orchid tea: "Shucheng orchid grows in the dense orchid bush of the forest, with rich vegetation, so that Shucheng orchid tea forms a unique orchid fragrance and high quality." Shucheng people also regard orchid tea as a good product for entertaining VIPs and giving away relatives and friends. The shu tea people used locally produced orchid tea to entertain Chairman Mao Zedong, a great man of a generation who came here to inspect, and Premier Wen Jiabao, who was respected and respected.
Orchid tea, a traditional local tea, is mainly produced in the area east of Dabie Mountain, with the largest output in Shucheng County and the best quality in Shucheng. There are more than 10 famous tea mountains in the county, such as Baisang Garden, Palanquin Stone, Mozi Garden, Longmian Mountain, Loess Pass, Incense Burner Mountain, Wheat Ridge, Drum Percussion Village, Drip Rock, Hanshan Mountain, Dushan Mountain, Color Tree, Tianzi Village, Shiguan, and Yunwu Mountain. Among them, the orchid tea produced by the White Mulberry Garden and the Mill Garden is the most famous.
Regarding the traceability of orchid tea, Professor Chen Rafter, a famous tea expert in China, said in the "Anhui Tea Classic" (published by Anhui Science and Technology Publishing House): "Legend has it that before the Qing Dynasty, the local gentry paid great attention to orchid tea production." He also said in the "Selected Studies on Chinese Famous Teas" and "Tea Making Science" (published by Agricultural Publishing House): "Shucheng Orchid Tea was created in the Qing Dynasty together with Famous Teas such as Biluochun, Taiping Monkey Kui, Yongxi Huoqing, Liu'an Gua Tablets, and Tieguanyin, more than 360 years ago." Why is it called Orchid Tea? The Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Commodity Inspection once sent experts to the tea area east of Dabie Mountain to investigate, and recorded: first, it looks like an orchid; second, the orchid blooms during the tea picking season; third, it is born with orchids, and the tea leaves adsorb the orchid aroma. The tea area also circulates some stories about the name of orchid tea, such as the Xiaotian area, according to legend, there was a girl named Orchid in the ancient White Mulberry Garden, who was hard-working and hard-working, and her mind was skillful, she picked and fried tea leaves, shaped like orchid, and the aroma was like a hui, which was favored by tea merchants, competing for acquisition, and the supply was in short supply. The orchid girl worked day and night to teach her neighbors the skills, and eventually died of overwork and vomiting blood. Neighbors named the tea Orchid as a souvenir. Another example is the legend of a tea farmer surnamed Shen in mozi garden in the hepeng Longmian Mountain area, who has ancestral skills, and the tea leaves produced have a strong orchid fragrance, which is brewed in the cup and resembles an orchid, and the tea shop owner praises: "Shaped like an orchid, fragrant like an orchid, orchid tea also." Orchid tea spread as a result. Experts believe that the name of orchid tea is mainly derived from the character characteristics of the shape of buds and leaves that resemble an orchid, and the inner texture has the character characteristics of elegant orchid fragrance." As Professor Chen Rafters said, "The name of tea describes the color and fragrance of ... Anhui Shucheng Orchid". (Tea Making)
Shucheng's unique natural ecological environment and unique stir-frying process have created the formation of orchid tea quality characteristics, that is, the shape of the buds and leaves are connected, the natural stretch, the color is even, the milli-sharp is revealed, after the bubble, it looks like an orchid blooming, the aroma is long-lasting, the taste is mellow and sweet, the soup color is tender and green, and the leaf bottom is flowering. Shucheng orchid tea color and fragrance are excellent, winning among many famous teas, ranking first in the "Top Ten Brand Famous Teas" list and the national famous tea appraisal special prize.
Shucheng orchid tea has won the commanding heights of green tea brand with high quality and high taste, and has been welcomed by the majority of consumers. This is the effort of generations of people in the tea area, who learn from failures, summarize experience from successes, overcome difficulties, never be satisfied, and constantly create and improve the traditional skills of producing orchid tea. Completed a series of projects from planting to harvesting to tasting. The traditional production process of orchid famous tea, from fresh leaf picking - cool grading - pot stir-frying, making type - charcoal roasting cage initial baking - picking - foot baking - packaging, etc. to go through more than a dozen processes, and the whole series of manual operations. Each process is extremely demanding, and a little carelessness will affect the quality of the tea.
Fresh leaf picking: According to the principle of "early picking, tender picking, diligent picking", the tenderness, color and size of fresh leaves are consistent, and the raw materials of fresh leaves are kept fresh, clean, and do not carry tea fruits, old leaves and other debris. In the past, there was a saying in the tea area that "'Gu Yu' did not pick three days before, and 'Gu Yu' could not be picked thoroughly for three days". This requires flexible mastery, and seizing the opportunity is the key to fresh leaf picking.
Pot frying, do type: use special bamboo wire to complete the killing and making type in the two-mouth cross-continuous oblique pot tea stove, in accordance with the requirements of "high temperature killing, first high and then low, young leaves old killing, old leaves tender killing", skillfully master the technical essentials, the pot temperature is appropriate, too high easy to scorch the edge, too low to kill impenetrable, easy to produce red changes; the amount of leaves should be appropriate, the tea cooking gesture should be light, the wrist capacity should be rotated clockwise and stir-fried, so that the tea is not separated from the tea, the tea is not left from the pot, the pot is timely, and the cool is moderate.
Initial drying: Drying with charcoal fire and bamboo basket. Spread the leaves evenly, turn them over frequently and gently, and cool the leaves until 70% dry.
Re-baking: the first roasting of tea blanks, after half an hour of cooling, the use of charcoal fire baking cage to hit the foot, warm drying until the foot dry, tea aroma revealed, color is obvious, hand twisted tea leaves are finely minced, you can bake, the next day re-drying (called strong fire), you can package. According to the measurement, the special grade small orchid into tea is about 25,000 to 27,000 buds per kilogram.
In the mid-1980s, orchid tea successfully achieved mechanization, which not only reduced the labor intensity of tea making, but also improved the taste of tea. In April 2010, "Shucheng Small Orchid Tea Making Technique" was selected into the second batch of intangible cultural heritage list of Lu'an City, and in May of that year, it was selected into the third batch of intangible cultural heritage list of Anhui Province.
Drinking orchid tea is a very exquisite knowledge, is an integral part of tea culture, in the past folk have such a saying: "mountain spring water, peach tree firewood, crock pot boiling water, porcelain cup to make tea, add a lid", here the tea set and water quality has been put forward requirements. Shucheng orchid tea is thick and resistant to bubbles, "the head opens the nose, the second opens the fresh soup, the third opens the juice, the four opens the five open and the power", of which the tea brewing method is extremely exquisite kung fu, mainly including the preparation of the vessel, the soup, the appreciation of tea, the cup, the tea, the tea, the tea, Among them, tea sets, water selection, warm cups, water temperature, tea volume, brewing, and tea tasting are the most critical. The best tea set is a colorless transparent glass or porcelain saucer cup. You can see the tea slowly stretching in the cup, like an orchid first blooming, swimming, changing, after brewing the buds and leaves rushing to the water, the leisurely orchid unfolds, but slowly sinks, the best orchid in the cup can rise and fall three times, extremely wonderful. The quality of water directly affects the quality of tea soup. Lu Yu's "Tea Classic" cloud: "On the landscape, in the river, under the well". It is required that the water is sweet and clean, alive and new, and it is better to make tea with mountain springs. Before brewing, you should first warm the cup with hot water, the special orchid buds are delicate, and it is advisable to cool it to about 85-90 °C with boiling water at 100 °C. The more tender the tea leaves, the lower the water temperature. The water temperature is too high, it is easy to blanch the tea leaves, the tea soup turns yellow, the taste is bitter, and the fragrant substances are easy to volatilize and lose at high temperatures; if the water temperature is too low, the fragrance is low. Brew into a good cup of tea, the ratio of tea to water should be appropriate, the general ratio is 1:50, that is, 3 grams of tea per cup, inject 150 ml of water. After warming the cup, take the tea into the cup, first put the boiling water into the cup about a quarter, shake slightly, so that the tea leaves are slowly soaked, and later fill the water along the side of the cup to 2 cm along the rim of the cup, so that the tea leaves are fully infiltrated. After 5 minutes, the tea is fragrant and the tea soup is cool enough to be palatable, and you can drink it. If there is still one-third of the first tea soup left, it can be refilled. The color of the second bubble soup is thick, after drinking, the knowledge of the ben is sweet, the teeth and cheeks are fragrant, and the tea taste is timeless. Drink until three or four brews, the tea taste is still powerful.
In long-term practice, working people have cultivated the famous tea brand of "Orchid", and at the same time, added new content to tea culture. This is the contribution made by the sons and daughters of Long Shu to the material and spiritual life of mankind.