Wusa Roasted Tea: Yi tea culture with a history of more than 3,000 years

Spring Festival is coming, eating and drinking is indispensable, in addition to the traditional big fish and meat and other hard dishes, now people are beginning to pursue a more healthy diet, and a big choice in healthy drinks is tea. Therefore, the Beijing News reporter prepared a series of "Spring Festival tea talks" to tell everyone how to know and choose various teas. Today, I want to talk about Wusa roasted tea from Guizhou with a long history.

"There is Jiamu in the south, and good tea is produced in Qiandi." Bijie City, Guizhou Province, with high altitude, low latitude and little sunshine, not only has unique tea planting conditions, but also has a history of more than 3,000 years of Yi Wusa roasted tea culture.

Wusa, the ancient name of Weining Autonomous County in Bijie City, is located in the Wumeng Mountains on the western border of Guizhou, and is inhabited by a multi-ethnic population with a majority of Yi ethnic groups. Originating from the ancient Yelang era, Wusa roasted tea is a unique ethnic and folk tea culture here. Wusa roasted tea is regarded as the world's earliest tea ceremony, and the production process and tasting method can be called "the living fossil of tea culture".

"It is better to have no rice for three days than no tea for one day", which is a portrayal of the life of Weining people. The roasting method of Usa roasted tea is unique, and braziers, kettles, roasted tea pots, tea cups, and miscellaneous charcoal are the necessary tools. Among them, the roasted tea pot is specially made of plateau soil at an altitude of more than 2890 meters, which is resistant to high temperatures and can "maintain aroma and water leakage".

The steps of Usa roasted tea are divided into eight steps: utensils, baking cans, throwing tea, roasting tea, flushing, defoaming, hydration, and cupping, and the most special links are baking cans and roasted tea. The baking pot is to place the tea pot on the charcoal fire of the burning fire and slowly bake, pay attention to the fire work, and require the tea pot to be heated evenly as a whole. After the teapot is baked, put the tea leaves into it and shake the teapot continuously so that the tea leaves continue to tumble in the jar.

After the aroma of tea is roasted, while hot into the boiling water, the mouth of the tea pot will be flooded with a thick layer of white foam, the dust and foam in the tea will also rise, and then after defoaming, hydration, and cupping, you can taste it. When drinking Wusa roasted tea, accompanied by local specialty teas such as potatoes, buckwheat crisps, corn flowers, and soba noodles produced in Weining County, it is reasonably matched with the tea, complementing each other, making people's lips and teeth fragrant, and the aftertaste is endless.

Beijing News reporter Ouyang Xiaojuan Picture source Courtesy of the enterprise

Edited by Li Yan Proofreader Li Ming