Zhejiang News Client | reporter Xu Yawen trainee reporter Ren Mingzhu
Outside the courtyard wind Josezi smiled, Mingqian Longjing daughter red.
In Zhejiang, it seems that there is no better way to appreciate the fresh taste of spring than sipping a sip of Longjing tea.
On March 24, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of Zhejiang Province released the relevant situation of Longjing tea brand management. Whether you are a tea guest or not, Longjing tea exists more or less in life memory. So, how much do you know about the past and present lives of Longjing tea?
The historical "rice circle" of Longjing tea:
Lu Yu, who loved tea very much in the Tang Dynasty, was the first person to record the tea production in the West Lake in writing. In his view, West Lake tea is comparable to the West Lake landscape.
Bai Juyi, who had been a magistrate in Hangzhou, loved tea, and now in the Taoguang Temple in Hangzhou, there is still a cooking well where he once made tea.
In the Qing Dynasty, Longjing tea ushered in its highlight moment. Six times south to Qianlong in Hangzhou, every time can not help but punch in the West Lake tea area, not only personally in Longjing tea harvesting to seal eighteen royal trees, but also to Tianzhu to see tea farmers picking tea roasting.
Longjing ≠ West Lake Longjing
The Longjing tea production area involves 4 cities in Hangzhou, Shaoxing, Jinhua and Taizhou, covering 18 counties.
There are also 18 counties (cities, districts) with Longjing tea geographical indications, including Xihu District (West Lake Scenic Area), Xiaoshan District, Binjiang District, Yuhang District, Fuyang District, Lin'an District, Tonglu County, Jiande City, Chun'an County, Keqiao District, Shangyu District, Yuecheng District, Xinchang County, Shengzhou City, Zhuji City, Pan'an County, Dongyang City, and Tiantai County.
In order to reflect the historical origin and facilitate management, the scope of Longjing tea geographical indications is divided into three production areas: Hangzhou Xihu District (West Lake Scenic Area) is Longjing Tea West Lake Production Area, the remaining 8 counties (cities, districts) under Hangzhou City are Longjing Tea Qiantang Production Area, and Shaoxing City and Pan'an County, Dongyang City and Tiantai County are Longjing Tea Yuezhou Production Area.
Among them, the most important is the "Lion Dragon Cloud Tiger Plum", that is, The Longjing Tea produced by Shifeng Mountain, Longjing Mountain, Yunqi, Tiger Run and Meijiawu. The king of the struggle, but also to the Lion Peak Longjing as the most, the color is tender yellow, the fragrance is high and lasting, known as the "top of the Longjing".
West Lake Longjing leading breed: "Longjing 43" and group species
The group species is the earliest variety of Longjing tea, and Hangzhou tea customers call it "Old Tea Peng", which is the "indigenous" player of Longjing. The Qianlong Emperor's imperial seal "Eighteen Imperial Tea Trees" is a group species; "Longjing 43" is a variety selected from the Longjing group species, which can be said to be the "son" of the group species.
From the appearance point of view, "Longjing 43" is more symmetrical and beautiful than the group species;
From the perspective of germination time, "Longjing 43" germinates earlier, and the group species are about 5-10 days later;
In terms of aroma, "Longjing 43" has a full aroma and few impurities, and the group species is light and elegant, with a floral and fruity aroma, and a thicker taste.
Hand-fried PK machine stir-frying
In terms of appearance and color, hand-processed tea has higher integrity, while machine-processed tea has more luster and smoothness.
From the aroma point of view, the handmade tea taste is more mellow and thick;
Judging from the soup color, with the same brewing method, the handmade tea is slightly darker than the mechanical tea soup.
Of course, whether hand-fried is good or machine-fried, different technologies cannot be generalized. Longjing tea is also facing problems such as rising labor costs, mechanization and standardized production is also a market demand, Zhejiang Province Longjing tea mechanism has been fully popularized, and in order to inherit traditional skills, all localities will organize tea king competitions every year.
How to choose tea:
Longjing tea is divided into special grade, first grade... Five levels and six levels, what is the difference?
According to experts, taking the special Grade Longjing tea as an example, there are more buds, more delicate, and the color is relatively tender and green. The grade of the color difference is lower. You can also look at the whole broken, high uniformity, less broken tea, and better natural quality.
When smelling the aroma, there is green gas, smoke scorched, the quality is inferior.
True and false "Longjing":
This year, the use of longjing tea trademark is more standardized, buy Longjing tea please look for two signs: a red geographical indication, one is a green Longjing tea certification trademark, one is indispensable.
It is understood that at present, 178 enterprises have been approved to use the new version of the geographical indication. It is understood that it takes a certain amount of time to apply for a trademark, and the merchant packaging also needs to be updated accordingly, and there may be some old packaging flowing into the market.
Diao Xuegang, secretary general of the Zhejiang Tea Industry Association, introduced that the current market demand is strong, and the price of Longjing tea in various places has risen slightly. He expects that this year's Longjing tea production and sales situation may become the best year in recent years.