Wuyi Rock Tea is one of the most representative oolong teas in China. Produced in the Wuyi Mountains in the "southeast of Xiujia" in northern Fujian, tea plants grow in rocks. Wuyi rock tea has the fragrance of green tea and the glycol of black tea, which is the best in Chinese oolong tea.
The morphological characteristics of Wuyi rock tea: tight knots, green and brown color, mellow taste, smooth and sweet, with a unique rock bone floral fragrance, that is, "rock rhyme". The leaf base is soft and shiny, with green leaf red trim, or red dots on the leaf margins.
1. Geographical features
Geographically, Wuyi Mountain belongs to the Danxia terrain. The reason why the surface of wuyi mountain is red is because of the oxidation of iron in the rock over time. Wuyishan rocks, mainly quartz porphyry, conglomerate, red sandstone, shale, tuff and other several. The top soil is an acidic red soil rich in humus. This kind of soil, as the ancients said, "the upper one produces rotten stone, the middle one grows gravel soil, and the lower one grows loess", which is very suitable for the growth of tea plants.
The vegetation in the Shogan area is very special. Because of the rocks, the soil layer is thin, and there are few tall trees, mostly dwarf trees and bushes, among which there are many osmanthus flowers and rhododendrons, while on the rock walls and streams, there are many wild orchids and calamus. This time, throughout the year, the air is always filled with a fresh floral fragrance, which has a certain impact on the aroma of rock tea.
2. Climate impacts
In addition to topsoil, latitude and longitude, altitude, and climate are also important factors. Wuyi Mountain Scenic Area is located at latitude 27 43 north, longitude 11801 east. The average altitude is more than 600 meters, and the highest three-yang peak is 729 meters. It belongs to the middle altitude area. In general, China's famous teas, especially oolong tea, are almost all produced at this altitude. The climate belongs to the central subtropical oceanic climate, with four distinct seasons, a long frost-free period, and an average annual temperature between 18-18 and 5. The rainfall is abundant, and the annual precipitation is about 2000 ml.
Another major feature of the small environment of the Zhengyan tea area is that because it is mostly in the canyon, the clouds and mist are easy to gather and difficult to disperse, so the air humidity is large, and the average annual humidity is about 80%. This small environment provides special growth conditions for tea plants. Therefore, even the same variety of tea plants, planted in different places, will produce some variations. This is also the reason why Wuyi Rock Tea "Rock Rock has tea, and tea has its own name"
3. Production process
The production process of Wuyi Rock Tea belongs to the production of oolong tea, which is different from the pursuit of fresh light fermentation light roasting fire of Taiwanese oolong tea, and the pursuit of deep fermentation and low roasting of Anxi oolong tea, which adopts the method of deep fermentation and heavy roasting.
Aoshang (withered)
Let the bitter water of the tea leaves go away, to achieve the purpose of highlighting the aroma and taste, usually people call this process withering or greening. In the process of making green, there are alternating processes such as water walking, shaking green, waiting for green, and fermentation, and many times complicated. The purpose of shaking green is to promote the friction of leaf edges, which can make the moisture disappear faster. Isoqing is the process of letting the water go away, under the action of temperature and humidity, it plays a fermentation role, promotes the transformation of phenolic substances of tea, and achieves the purpose of gas aroma and alcohol.
According to the transformation factors of tea green, it is necessary to decide the number of shakes, shake speed, how long to shake, how long to wait, etc., and also decide how to shake according to the weather and humidity. After making the green, the tea leaves are stacked together, and the purpose of this can further make the taste of the tea mellow, which is relatively short.
drying
The tea factory adopts the method of charcoal heating, which has one more kind of smoke than the oil and gas combustion methods used, and the smoke is found to be fragrant.
Drying technology seems simple, temperature control is the key, how much temperature it uses to roast the tea leaves to a few times dry needs to pay attention. Kneading by heat, it seems to be a type, in fact, the kneading process allows the remaining tea juice to be squeezed out, forming a "frost" on the surface of the tea leaves, which is also the main source of taste for smelling dry tea aroma.
Bake
Wuyi Rock Tea is a semi-fermented tea, and there is a special production process in the processing process - roasting. The traditional rock tea fire power is high, if you drink it immediately after baking, the fire gas will be dry, so it is generally necessary to store it for a period of time before drinking, so the taste will be more mellow. Moreover, the roasted tea can not only stabilize and improve the quality of the tea, but also store it for a long time.
4. Classification of varieties
The oolong tea produced in Wuyi Mountain is commonly known as Wuyi Rock Tea. Due to the different places of tea production, there are Zhengyan tea, half-rock tea, and Chau tea. Zhengyan tea refers to the tea produced in the center of Wuyi rock, its quality is high and mellow, and the rock rhyme is particularly prominent. Banyan tea refers to the tea produced on the edge of Wuyi Mountain, and its rock rhyme is slightly inferior to that of Zhengyan tea. Zhou tea refers to the tea produced on both sides of Wuyi Rock, and the quality is lower.
(1) Da Hong Pao
(2) Cinnamon
(3) Narcissus
(4) Shozan small seeds (black tea), etc
5. Value features
The main pharmacological functions of Wuyi rock tea: blind yisi, light body (weight loss), aging resistance (delay aging), refreshing the brain, stomach digestion, diuretic disinfection, expectorant asthma, thirst quenching, anti-radiation, anti-cancer and anti-cancer, anti-aging, lower blood lipids, lower blood pressure, lower cholesterol and so on.