The ecological construction mode of tea garden covers tea varieties, cultivation, soil, biology, plant protection, fertilizer and other fields. Adhering to the human-centered rational ecological ethics, we strive to revive the tea industry.
Yunnan is a world-renowned tea producing region. As early as the Tang Dynasty, Nanzhao Guoyinshengfu, which was recorded to be rich in tea, is still a well-known tea distribution center after a thousand years, and in 2007, it was directly renamed Pu'er under the name of tea. Yunnan is dotted with a considerable number of wild ancient tea tree communities and artificially cultivated ancient tea gardens, which form a complete sequence to record the discovery and domestication history of tea plants from wild to artificial cultivation. For a long time, Yunnan has been known as the origin of tea along with Southeast Asia, The Indian state of Assam, and South China. With the progress of science and technology, the use of modern scientific and technological means such as plant classification system, chromosome determination, tea plant esterase isoenzyme research, etc., has gradually calmed down the controversy left over from history, and the thesis that Yunnan is the only place of origin of tea in the world has been widely accepted by the academic community.
Although there are a large number of wild, cultivated and transitional ancient tea trees distributed in the living areas of the Brown, Deang, Hani, Yi and other ethnic groups in southern Yunnan, and the local people have lived on tea for generations and have a deep accumulation of tea culture, there are not many direct records of tea drinking customs in Yunnan in early literature. The Tang Dynasty Fan Qi's "Book of Barbarians" mentions: "Tea comes out of the mountains of Yinsheng City, scattered and harvested without harvesting, and Mengshe Man drinks it with pepper, ginger, and gui and cooking." Li Shi's "Chronicle of Continuing History" of the Southern Song Dynasty also records: "Tea comes out of the silver mountains, and when it is picked, it is cooked and drunk with peppers and ginger." According to the Tea Classic, "where tea is picked, between February, March and April", and the main tea mountains in southern Yunnan can also pick tea even in winter, so there will be a record of "picking without time". Although the custom of drinking with seasonings seems to be somewhat peculiar today, it is similar to that of the Tang Dynasty of the same era, and the tea of the Li servants in Heqing County has almost completely preserved this ancient tea tasting habit.
Regarding tea drinking, the most common sight seen in the countryside of Yunnan is that everyone sits around the fire and drinks roasted tea. The old man grabbed a handful of coarse tea and put it into the washed and dried roasted tea pot, and then put the tea pot directly on the corner of the fire pond to heat it. Wenshan and other places often pull out a few pieces of charcoal burning in the fire pond, and burn another campfire for roasting tea. The teapot will gradually transfer heat to the tea leaves, and the roaster estimates the time, and from time to time picks up the teapot and gently shakes it a few times, and the tea leaves inside are immediately turned. While the host is talking, while observing the heat, while intermittently repeating the action of shaking the tea pot, so the roasted tea in many places is called "hundred shaky tea", which means that it needs to be shaken on the fire about a hundred times.
In the initial stage, because the wall of the roasted tea pot is very thick, the heat is difficult to conduct to the tea leaves for a while, each flip will have an interval of more than one minute, as the temperature in the tea pot gradually increases, the frequency of flipping is getting faster and faster, and the tea leaves are gradually carrying a faint pyrotechnic smell. To prevent burning, the teapot is completely removed from the source of the fire, and the tea roaster holds it in his hand, and the wrist shakes almost without stopping. The tea leaves are more fluffy after roasting, and it is said that the taste is easier to induce. Some tea art performances often claim that the roasted tea leaves will show the characteristics of the so-called "yellow leaves", "stem bubbles" and "toad backs", but this is basically derived from the "hot tea" article in the "Tea Classic" to be discussed below.
Although the understanding of optimal heat is obviously different in different regions and even different individuals, swelling, yellowing and bubble spots are indeed general generalizations in folk. When the tea leaves are roasted, the boiled water is injected into the roasted tea pot, because the temperature of the tank is very high at this time, and the water injection often makes a soft sound of "boo", so the roasted tea is often called "thunder tea". After cooling down slightly, the owner will also decide whether to add some more boiling water depending on the situation, and sometimes put it on the fire and continue simmering for two or three minutes.
Subsequently, they began to divide tea with the guests attentively. Usually there is only a small cup per person, and the old people hold it in their hands and drink slowly, while talking about the world and talking about some homely shorts. Of course, more moments will be relatively oblivious, each immersed in the world of tea. Drinking roasted tea is a very time-consuming, and it can be said to be the best portrayal of the traditional slow-paced life in the countryside of Yunnan. Roasted tea is generally limited to three flushes, and will be re-roasted if necessary after drinking, of course, there are cases where it is discarded after brewing once. In addition to the clear air of grass and trees, its most respected feature is the strong tea aroma at the entrance and the incomparable sweetness of other tea drinks. Roasted tea is also believed to have the miraculous effect of clearing the throat and refreshing the throat. The experience of the old people is that the roasted tea does not hurt the stomach, and the body is warmer after drinking. Many people will be full of red after drinking roasted tea, and they feel more energetic.
Among the middle-aged and elderly people of many ethnic groups, roasted tea with local snacks such as rice dumplings and baked potatoes is often more popular than liquor. Especially in winter, some mountain residents spend their days around fires and roasted tea. However, due to the extremely high concentration of tea juice, drinking it without dilution is often exciting, and many people will recall the plot of being "drunk" by roasted tea when they were children, and to this day many adults also warn young people who want to taste the taste of roasted tea and foreign visitors who have never experienced it because they will be "drunk".
Generally speaking, tea drinking in the countryside is not exquisite, and the small pottery cup is sometimes used as a teacup even a vessel made of bamboo and wood. When roasting tea, the temperature of the tea and the tea pot is very high, and some families will wrap a cloth strip or hemp rope around the handle of the tea pot for heat insulation, but most people use old cloth pads on their hands. There are often iron hooks hanging above the fire pits, and boiling water is boiled in the kettle hanging above. The whole baking and tasting process is full of casualness, but also exudes a sense of quaintness.
Although the steps of roasting tea are basically the same everywhere, there are still some differences in detail between different ethnic groups. Although not absolute, but many people in northwest Yunnan are more accustomed to using fire tongs to clamp the roasting tea pot baking, some ethnic groups in southern Yunnan prefer to use hand-cut bamboo chopsticks into the roasted tea pot to gently stir, some exquisite Hui families will also put a piece of barbed wire on the brazier, not only clean and sanitary, but also better control of the fire. Residents of high-altitude areas sometimes add ginger slices when drinking roasted tea. In terms of the taste of the tea alone, you can also find the differences between different regions under the careful tasting, and the taste of the roasted tea charred paste made by many Yi people is obvious, but in more places, the faint caramel aroma will be covered by the rich fragrance of the tea leaves.
(Angen team excerpted from Zhang Haichao et al.: Yunnan ethnic minorities traditional roasting tea customs discussion)
The Angen team, more than 20 agricultural experts in various fields, provide mature soil restoration integration programs, ecological remediation integration solutions, pesticide residue solutions and ecological agriculture socialization services.