"And try new tea with new fire, and poetry and wine will take advantage of the years." ——Su Dongpo
Throughout ancient and modern times, almost all Chinese literati loved to taste tea. Modern scholars include Guo Moruo, Wang Zengqi, Lao She, etc., among which the foodie Wang Zengqi left a famous saying: "Tea leaves in Taici can only boil tea eggs", which shows that his use and research on tea is very thorough.
"I'm really an outsider to tea. The tea is drunk, and it is drunk very diligently, changing the leaves three times a day. Green tea, green tea, flower tea, black tea, tuo tea, oolong tea, but there is a convenient drink. Most of the tea leaves are sent by others, and after drinking a tube, open another tube. After drinking biluochun, you can drink crab claw daffodils the next day. But no matter what kind of tea, it must be better. If you have too many tea leaves, you have to keep boiled tea eggs."
In ancient times, there were more people who loved to drink tea, and the well-known ones were Lu Yu, Lu Tong, Pi Rixiu, Pu Songling, Su Dongpo, etc. Among them, the Style of Su Dongpo in the Northern Song Dynasty was the most special.
Speaking of Su Shi, in addition to knowing that he is a great literary hero, I also know that he is a foodie, what Dongpo meat, sheep scorpion, Lingnan lychee and so on. However, Su Shi is a person who understands tea very well, and has the name of "tea fighting master".
Cai Xiang recorded a story of him fighting tea with Su Shi in the "Tea Record".
There is one thing worth mentioning here, I believe all tea friends know that the existence of water determines the soul of a tea. Therefore, the ancients paid the most attention to the quality of water when drinking tea. Cai Xiang and Su Shi's tea fight this time is the victory and defeat seen on the water.
At that time, Cai Xiang used the famous water "Huishan Spring" recorded by Lu Yu in the "Tea Classic" to boil tea and compete with Su Shi for "tea art", but failed. Because Su Shi was more exquisite, he went to the roof to collect the dew on the bamboo shoots.
Su Shi has been familiar with the tea ceremony all his life. He can taste tea, cook tea, grow tea, and have a lot of research on tea history and tea skills. But in his life tea history, there is a tea that is very special, this tea is the famous tea of southern Anhui, called Yongxi Huoqing.
Yongxi Huoqing is produced in Yongxi Bending Mountain, Jing County, Anhui Province, because it is fried with fierce fire during working hours, so it is named "Huoqing". Fire green tea is shaped like flat water bead tea, rolled like a snail, green as a bead, silver bright dense, falling disc sound, no matter the water in the cup cold water warm, once put into the tea grain, it will immediately sink into the bottom of the cup, some people call it "cold water sinking". Huoqing tea is only unique in shape, and it has a mellow taste and pleasant aroma.
Yongxi Fire Green Tea
Su Shi's fate with Yongxi Huoqing began in 1074 AD.
At that time, Su Shi changed from Hangzhou To Mizhou Taishou, passing through southern Anhui and was warmly entertained by Mei Zeng. This was the first time Su Shi had seen a curly shaped tuft of tea leaves, Yongxi Huoqing Tea. After arriving in Mizhou, Su Shi was obsessed with Yongxi Huoqing, and asked Mei Zeng to send him a courier to send Yongxi Huoqing tea.
In 1075 AD, Su Shi and his friends were drinking tea in Chaorantai, and at this time, a noun that has been passed down to this day was born here.
"Wangjiang Nan , Transcendental Works"
Spring is not old, and the wind is fine and the willows are oblique. Try to look up at the transcendental stage, half a trench spring water a city flower. Smoke and rain darken a thousand homes.
After the cold food, the wine woke up but consulted. Hugh thinks of his homeland and tries new tea with a new fire. Poetry and wine take advantage of the years.
In the mid-autumn of 1076 AD, Su Shi and his friends drank tea at the TranscendentAle, and another ancient song was born here.
"Water Tune Song Head: When is the Bright Moon"
Mid-Autumn Festival, drinking and getting drunk, writing this article, and conceiving a son.
When is the moon? Ask the wine to qingtian. I don't know what year it is in the heavenly palace. I want to go home by the wind, and I am afraid of Qionglou Yuyu, and the high places are cold. Dancing to find out the shadow, how it seems to be in the human world.
Turn zhu ge, low Qi household, no sleep. There should be no hatred, why should it be long to go to the other time? People have sorrows and joys, and the moon has clouds and sunshine, and this matter is difficult to complete. May people be long-lasting, and thousands of miles will be cherished together.
Well, what is the charm of Yongxi Fire Green Tea that makes Su Shi so addicted?
Yongxi Huoqing Tea is not famous in today's society, but its origin is not ordinary. It is produced in Jing County, Anhui Province, with high aroma and high taste and good quality. In 1979, Comrade Deng Xiaoping praised after tasting Yongxi Huoqing Tea: "This tea is very good... Drink this tea later. In 1988, he was also shortlisted for the "Top Ten Famous Teas in China".
Jing County is afraid
The growing environment of Yongxi Huoqing Tea is very good. Jing County is located in the mountainous area of southern Anhui, the soil is fertile, the climate is particularly good, are "mountain trails into the repair, deep forest shade of the sun" place, very suitable for the growth of tea plants.
The production area of Yongxi Huoqing is densely forested, cloudy and foggy, with an average relative humidity of 90%; the average annual temperature is 15.6 °C, the annual sunshine hours are 2114.8 hours, and the annual sunshine rate is 44%; the soil in the tea garden is sandy soil, pH value is 4.5-5.5, the soil layer is deep, the organic matter and nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium content in the soil are rich, and the soil is loose and fertile; the near-heavenly ecology gives the tea plant an excellent growth environment, so that the buds and leaves accumulate rich contained substances, which naturally creates the amazing quality characteristics of Yongxi Huoqing.
The production process of Yongxi Huoqing tea is extremely cumbersome, not counting the picking time, from killing, kneading, frying, spreading into old pots, screening, etc., the whole process takes about 20 hours. Among them, the process of breaking the old pot is the most important.
The peculiar and rounded appearance of Yongxi Huoqing Tea is gradually formed in the process of breaking the old pot, so this is also the key process of making Huoqing.
The starting temperature of the pot is about 80 ° C, and the amount of leaves thrown into each pot is about 6 kg. Stir-fry by hand, so that the tea leaves are turned and squeezed against each other to promote forming. About 30 minutes of frying, the temperature of the pot drops to about 60 ° C, continue to stir-fry for about 1 hour, some of the leaves are initially formed into clumps, three pots and two pots, and then fry for about 2 hours, two pots and a pot, then enter the final stage of shaping, the amount of leaves is more, which is conducive to the tea leaves squeezing each other into a circle. The temperature of the pot is then slowly reduced to 40-45 ° C, using two hands to stir-fry, alternating left and right rotation stir-fry, the action should be lighter and slower. About 6 hours of frying, until the particles are tightly knotted waist round, the surface is oily, the color is dark green, the moisture content is 5-6%, you can get out of the pot; half an hour before the pot can be appropriately increased to develop the aroma.
The characteristics of the old pot are: the amount of leaves, the low temperature of the pot, the slow stir-frying, the light action, the long time, are the most fried green tea, can be described as a veritable "low temperature long boil"; the use of rotary stir-frying techniques, the use of the power of flipping, turning, squeezing, pressing, to promote the tea into a tight waist circle.
Yongxi Huoqing tea, which has been carefully made through various processes, has typical characteristics: the shape is round, the tight knot is heavy, the color is dark green, and the oil is moist.
When brewing, the dry tea is put into the tea cup with a loud sound, poured into the boiling water, a grain of tea roll at the bottom of the cup like a bud first bloom, gradually stretched, like a flower of ephemerals, slowly open, and then erected in the cup, ornamental pole, not only Su Shi loves, people who have tasted Yongxi fire green tea, all love.
After all, who can refuse a cup of tea with good aroma, good taste and good appearance?
Author: Qingping