The decade from 1994 to 2004 is known as the "era of revival" of Yiwu. During this decade, a large number of Yiwu teas that became famous in the world emerged, including 96 Zhen Chun Ya, 98 Shun Shi Xing, 99 Yi Chang, 99 Green Trees and so on.
Among them, 96 True Chunya was customized by Taiwanese tea person Lu Lizhen, who was the pioneer of the era of Yiwu tea revival and one of the benchmark teas of Yiwu in the 90s. In this issue, the flagship store "Collection Pu'er" will analyze the birth of 96 Zhen Chun Ya in detail with you.
▲ 96 Zhen Chun Ya number
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The main frameworks are as follows:
1. Taiwanese tea people promote the revival of Yiwu tea
2.96 The production and birth of the Zhen Chun Ya
3.96 The historical significance of the Zhen Chun Ya
Here's what's in the text.
First, Taiwanese tea people search for roots and easy weapons, and start the revival of Pu'er tea
In the 1980s, a boom in Pu'er tea emerged in Taiwan. At that time, Taiwan's Pu'er tea market was more popular number-grade tea, and its internal ticket was generally marked with "Yiwu Zhengshan", and some Taiwanese tea people began to have the idea of searching for roots and easy weapons after experiencing the wonderful taste of number-level tea.
In August 1994, the 3rd International Symposium on Tea Culture in China was held in Kunming. After the meeting, more than 20 people from the Taiwan Chinese Tea Art United Promotion Association, headed by Lu Lizhen and Chen Huaiyuan, came to Yiwu and began the journey of pu'er tea roots.
▲ In 1994, Taiwanese tea people in Yiwu
Historically, Yiwu was an important producer of Pu'er tea. In the nearly 100 years from the Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China, Yiwu became the trading and distribution center of Pu'er tea, with merchants and tea estates. The century-old antique teas that have survived in the world, such as Song Ping, Fu Yuanchang, Tongqing, etc., are basically from Yiwu.
With the yearning for the origin of Pu'er tea, Lü Lizhen and his party came to Yiwu, and the local leaders responsible for the reception were very surprised, because Yiwu at that time was no longer prosperous in the early years, and there was no longer a scene of tea houses and tea numbers, nor did it produce Pu'er tea, it was completely a remote and backward town, and the locals felt that Yiwu had nothing.
▲ The old tea house site of Yiwu in 1999
The Yiwu Township Government invited Zhang Yi, the former township mayor who was writing the "Yiwu Township Chronicle", to receive and introduce zhang Yi, who had a good understanding of the traditional craft of Yiwu Pu'er tea, and he took Lu Lizhen and his party to visit the old tea house and the ancient tea garden.
The wild species of large tea trees in the Yiwu Tea Mountains excited them. However, on the old street of Yiwu, the old sites of various old tea houses such as Tongqing, Song Ping, and Fu Yuanchang were either burned down or renovated, and the old houses of the old sites that remained were also unmanaged and desolate.
Yi Wu, which was once an important town of tribute tea, has now fallen like this, which has brought a great impact to Lü Lizhen. He was determined to find the traditional tea-making techniques of Yiwu and revive Yiwu tea again.
Second, the restoration of the traditional production techniques of Pu'er tea, the birth of the 96 Zhen Chun Ya
Because of his appointment as the mayor of Yiwu Township, Zhang Yi has been examining, researching and protecting the traditional craftsmanship of Pu'er tea in Yunnan since 1984.
He not only actively collected the traditional tools for making Pu'er tea, but also consulted the older generation of tea makers such as Zhang Guanshou and Gao Dingguang to learn each tea making process; in addition, Zhang Yi also went deep into the ancient tea mountains and villages to conduct field investigations, and obtained many precious oral records.
▲Mr. Zhang Yi
Based on Zhang Yi's sufficient understanding of the historical inheritance of Yiwu tea, Lü Lizhen selected Zhang Yi to cooperate and decided to make a batch of traditional Yunnan Qizi cakes, requiring Yiwuye to enlarge the tree tea as raw material and use the ancient tea making method recorded in the book to suppress it.
In 1995, they began producing the Zhen Chun Ya. But Zhang Yi is only a researcher after all, and has not really made any Pu'er tea, so he has visited Tang Qingyang, the old director of Menghai Tea Factory, many times, and learned ancient french tea techniques from Yiwu folk masters.
Zhang Yi (left) and Lü Lizhen (right)
Later, he also invited Mr. Li Guanshou, a teacher who had suppressed the "Song Ping", as a guide, and found the old stone mill to restore the ancient french tea process from kneading and pressing.
However, because the tea farmers did not pick according to the standards that year, mixing the big tree tea with the small tree tea, the first batch of tea jing was rejected, and only a small part of the tea cake was made to be brought to Taiwan for exhibition and sales. Due to the rough workmanship and poor craftsmanship of this batch of tea, it belongs to experimental tea and has not survived.
In 1996, after receiving a bud of three-leaf tea that met the standards, the first batch of "Zhen Chun Ya" that Zhang Yi tried to make was finally successful, and Lu Lizhen officially placed an order, the quantity of 3 tons, which was the first batch of large tree material Pu'er tea with a certain scale in Yiwu area.
▲ Lu Lizhen holds the original barrel of the 96 Zhen Chun Ya number
In his later book "Records of the Six Ancient Tea Mountains", Zhang Yi detailed the selection and process of the 96 Zhen Chun Ya. "This batch of tea was made together in 1996 and 1997, pressed in 1997, and pulled away in October 1998... At that time, the selection of materials was a little bit of the triad, and Manluo (Manxiu, the sinkhole line, excluding Hemp Black) received a little on this side, and the materials selected were all the materials of big tree tea. ”
"At that time, the kneading twist was higher than now, and now some people do not understand, the tea must be kneaded well, because the surface of this tea has a layer of wax, it must destroy its organizational structure, after the soup, the water leaching is rich." Now some tea is kneaded lightly, without destroying its organizational structure, and the taste is thin after opening the soup, so it must be kneaded well. ”
▲Yiwu wild tea forest data map
From this, it can be seen that the selection of the 96 Zhen Chun Ya number is the real Yi Wu Ye put tea material, and the processing process is also the closest to the ancient method at that time, hand kneading, stone molding cake, and wrapped with rhubarb bamboo leaf shell, basically restoring the production style of grade tea.
3. The historical significance of 96 Zhen Chun Ya: the pioneer of the revival of Yiwu tea
Due to the traditional stone mold pressing, the 96 true pure elegant tea cake is pressed thick and loose, which is conducive to the internal tea quality conversion, and the activity is quite ideal.
The leaves of Yi Wuye tea are three-dimensional and complete, the stripes are thick, the tea surface is red and oily, and the tea buds turn golden yellow. The dry tea aroma is refreshing, charming and cheerful, without a hint of defilement and sullen smell.
▲ 96 Zhen Chun Ya pie noodle data map
Tea soup orange red translucent, the first brew begins, astringent to open, the soup feeling is thick and smooth, the layers are rich; after the fifth and sixth bubbles, the astringency and thickness, sweetness dance hand in hand, in the multi-level balance, the tea soup is thick and powerful, the throat rhyme is full, and the mountain atmosphere is obvious.
What I feel deeply is its aroma, which is quiet, cheerful, plum sweet, soft Yiwu honey sweet fragrance, slowly penetrating into the mouth, making people heartwarming.
▲ 96 Zhen Chun Ya tea soup and leaf bottom data map
In 2005, in the tea fighting event "Huashan On Tea" organized by Taiwan's "Pu'er Jug Art" magazine, 96 Zhen Chun Ya repelled 96 Purple Dayi, 96 Orange Seal, 96 Provincial Company Green Cake, etc. with its excellent tea quality, and won the championship in one fell swoop, which was called the new "Song Ping" by the industry, and has since become famous.
96 Zhen Chun Ya is the first batch of Yiwu ancient tree tea made by the ancient tea making method after 1949, and it is also the first classic tea of the first reproduction grade tea process. After it, more and more people went to Yiwu, and the ancient French tea technique was gradually studied and protected, thus opening the road to the revival of Yiwu tea.
▲96 Zhen Chun Ya original tube data map
It can be said that 96 Zhen Chun Ya is a milestone that carries on from the top to the bottom, as the pioneer of the Yiwu revival era, its emergence has set a benchmark taste for the later Yiwu mid-term tea, which can be described as indispensable!
Disclaimer: The article is originally organized by the public account "Collection Pu'er", please indicate the source when reprinting!
Resources:
- DENG Shihai,GENG Jianxing. Kunming: Yunnan Science and Technology Press, 2005
- Luo Hongbo, "From Chaos to Clarity, History of Pu'er Tea from 1993 to 2008"[M], Kunming: Yunnan People's Publishing House, 2021
- Editorial Board of "Huashan On Tea: 1996 Famous Tea Competition"[J], Pu'er Jug Art, Tea Art, 2005(16)
- Zheng Xiangru, "The Story of Pu'er Zhen Chun Ya"[J], Pu'er Kettle Art, Tea Art, 2007(22)
- Bai Puzi and Zhang Jinghong, "From the Beginning of 96 Zhen Chunya and Zhang Yi's Paperless Yiwu in 99"
- Floating cloud review tea series