This article was published in the 2022 "Intangible Cultural Heritage" supplement of "Bashu Historical Records".
Black Tea Making Techniques (South Roadside Tea Making Techniques)
Level: National level
Category: Traditional Skills
Publication time: 2008 (second batch)
Black tea is the only variety of tea that can be stored for a long time, and its production is entirely done by hand. Black tea wins with high quality, strict production standards, excellence, requires accurate tea selection, dry tea, full tea, and tight tea, and the production process is interlocking and meticulous. Mainland black tea is most famous for its Anhua Qianliang Tea from Hunan Province, Yiyang Fuzhuan Tea from Sichuan Province and Ya'an South Roadside Tea from Sichuan Province.
Tea Horse Culture Exhibition Site (Source: Sichuan Daily Observation)
South Roadside Tea is produced in Ya'an City, Sichuan Province, also known as "Black Tea", "Border Tea", "South Tea", "Ya Tea", "Tibetan Tea" and so on.
The South Roadside Tea Department adopts natural drying, special pressing, packaging and other processes, and is made by manual operation, and its production technology has the characteristics of heavy fermentation, post-fermentation, multiple fermentation, non-enzymatic fermentation, and color change fermentation. Ya'an South Roadside Tea is mainly supplied to Tibet, Qinghai and Tibetan areas such as Ganzi and Aba in Sichuan, and enjoys a high reputation among the Tibetan people. This kind of black tea is of good quality, the soup color is brown and bright, the taste is mellow and long, you can add ghee, salt, walnut kernels, etc. and stir it into butter tea, which is an indispensable drink for Tibetan compatriots every day.
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Please indicate: "Source: Fang Zhi Sichuan"
Source: Sichuan Provincial Office of Local Chronicles
Contributed by: Editorial Department of Bashu Historical Records