Yellow tea has existed since ancient times, but the yellow tea recorded in history is not the same as the yellow tea referred today from the perspective of fermentation.
The famous Anhui Shouzhou Yellow Tea and Sichuan Mengding Yellow Buds of the Tang Dynasty were both named because the buds naturally yellowed.
Production of yellow tea
The basic process of green tea is to kill green, knead, dry, and make tea clear soup green leaves, so it is called green tea.
When the green tea stir-frying process is improperly mastered, such as the low temperature of the frying green, the steaming time is too long, or the time for the green is not cooled in time after the green, or the kneading is not dried and fried in time, and the accumulation is too long, it will make the leaves yellow, resulting in yellow leaf yellow soup, similar to the yellow tea that appeared later.
Therefore, the production of yellow tea may have evolved from the improper mastery of green tea making.
Xu Cishu of the Ming Dynasty also recorded the history of this evolution in the Tea Shu.
"Gu Pishan was not good at making the law, so he roasted the food and the fire, and before he could get out of the kettle, he was already scorched, and he could not use it." It is also made of bamboo giant stalks, stored by heat, although there are green branches and purple shoots, they will wilt and yellow, only for the next food, Xi Kan pindou. ”
China's historical tea is the result of successive generations of people using their wisdom, repeated attempts, trial and error, and innovation. In fact, this is the various experimental methods we are talking about now, the methods are different, there are infinite variables, so the beautiful "accident" was born.
Making yellow tea is accidentally covering the yellow in the process of making green tea.
Characteristics of yellow tea
Yellow tea is a lightly fermented tea, and the quality characteristic is "yellow soup yellow leaves", which is the result of the smouldering yellow during the tea making process.
Some are stuffy yellow before kneading, some are piled up after rubbing or spread for a long time, some are stuffy yellow after initial baking, and some are sullen when they are baked again.
Yellow tea can be divided into three categories according to the tenderness and size of the raw bud leaves, including yellow bud tea, yellow small tea and yellow tea.
Yellow bud tea
The raw materials are delicate and tender, and they are picked from a single bud or processed with one bud and one leaf.
It mainly includes the "Junshan Silver Needle" of Junshan In Yueyang Dongting Lake, Hunan, the "Mengding Yellow Bud" of Ya'an Mingshan County in Sichuan, and the "Huoshan Yellow Bud" of Huoshan Mountain in Anhui.
Yellow tea
Harvested young bud leaves and processed.
It mainly includes "Beigang Maojian" in Yueyang, Hunan, "Maojian in Ningxiang", "Yuan'an Deer Garden" in Yuan'an, Hubei, and "Pingyang Huangtang" in Pingyang, Wenzhou, Zhejiang.
Yellow tea
It is made by picking one bud, two or three leaves, or even one bud with four or five leaves.
It mainly includes "Huoshan Huangda Tea" in Huoshan, Anhui And "Guangdong Dayeqing" in Shaoguan, Zhaoqing, Zhanjiang and other places in Guangdong.
The development of yellow tea
The Qing Dynasty was the peak of yellow tea, and the yellow tea process developed in various places gradually matured.
At the same time, a large number of yellow teas have appeared, such as Mengding nectar, Mengding yellow buds, Junshan silver needles, etc., and the allusions and legends of Junshan silver needles have also been widely circulated.
During the Republic of China period, social unrest was unstable, and many yellow tea making techniques were also lost.
In addition, the taste of black tea is more popular with foreigners, in order to use black tea and green tea exports, the output of yellow tea is compressed, so the proportion of yellow tea in the market is not high.
Now, because yellow tea is similar to the green tea production process, it is similar to green tea in many performances, so everyone is somewhat unclear about which are yellow teas and which are green teas. There is no very deep impression of yellow tea, which naturally hinders the development and prosperity of yellow tea.
Looking at the tea leaves on the market, green tea accounts for a large part, and there are many people who drink green tea, so the competitiveness of yellow tea is much smaller.
In addition, the small production of yellow tea and insufficient publicity are also important reasons.
Yellow tea is rarely mentioned in our lives, almost the most "low-key" tea in the six major tea categories, but in fact, yellow tea has both the delicious taste of green tea and the mellowness of fermented tea, the taste is still good, interested tea friends can try Oh.
"Talk about simmering Yokoura red silk and making your own Mengshan purple shoot tea."