White tea, the process is simple, not fried or kneaded, just dried and dried, to the greatest extent to maintain the natural flavor in the tea leaves, so it stands out in Chinese tea and captures a large number of fans.
White tea is the tea that has only become popular in the 21st century, but the name "white tea" has appeared very early.
The earliest record of white tea can be found in the "Tea Classic" written by Lu Yu, a tea saint in the Tang Dynasty: "There are white tea mountains in the east three hundred miles of Yongjia County. ”
The Song Dynasty recorded "white tea" more abundantly. Song Huizong praised in the "Great View of Tea": "White tea is a kind of tea in itself, which is different from chang tea. Its strips are illustrative, and its leaves are thin. ”
Emperor Huizong of Song Zhao
Cai Xiangshiyun: "The Spirit Bud of the Beiyuan Is the essence of the world, and it is necessary to be cold and enter the spring." The old people favored the white of the clouds, and the good sentence was passed on to the jade law Qing. ”
These records are similar to the origin and tea form of today's white tea. But did white tea really originate so early? Is the "white tea" in the historical record really the same type of tea as modern white tea?
Is it white tea or steamed green tea?
White tea in the modern sense is based on the six major tea classification methods proposed by Professor Chen Rafter, an expert in tea science, "in the order of the oxidation degree of tea polyphenols and based on enzymology". It refers to micro-fermented tea made by processing fresh leaves of tea varieties with more buds and hairy leaves as raw materials, and processed by withering, sun-drying or drying.
Look at the "white tea" recorded in the ancient texts.
White tea of the Song Dynasty, "its leaves are thin", "the old people prefer cloudy white". It can be seen that the bud leaf morphology is more inclined to modern albino variation of white leaf tea, or refers to the bud leaves are covered with pekoe tree species.
How are these teas processed? There is also a passage in the "Treatise on Daguan Tea": "There are not many buds, especially difficult to steam, and once the soup is lost, it has become a common product." ”
This passage clearly explains that the "white tea" at that time was made by steaming and roasting, that is, the production method of steamed green tea.
Therefore, the "white tea" at that time was actually a dry tea made of albino tree species or fresh leaves of tea trees with more bud leaves as raw materials, and the preparation method of steamed green tea was said to have nothing to do with the withering process of modern white tea.
When did the natural drying method appear?
So when did the natural drying process of modern white tea appear?
In fact, the original preparation method of green tea in the early days is natural drying, using the sun to dry the moisture in the fresh leaves, and then collecting it, which is the original sunburn. Later, there was a way of steaming and drying, when there was no sun, you can use utensils such as koshiki to steam tea leaves, steam and dry, and then gradually developed into a complete set of steaming green methods.
In the Ming Dynasty, the process of frying green tea with iron utensils to dry appeared, and the roasting method was a landmark change in the history of green tea, but in fact, during this period, the process of modern white tea also formed a prototype.
According to the Ming Dynasty Tian Yiheng's "Boiling Spring Sketches":
"Bud tea is less natural than the author of the fire, the sun is the first... Raw sun tea is lost in Ouzhong, the flag gun is comfortable, clear and distinct, especially cute. ”
He believes that naturally dried tea is more advanced than fire-dried tea and tends to be closer to the state of nature. When this tea is brewed, the buds are stretched, verdant and distinct, and are deeply loved by people. This is also the earliest record of the modern white tea making method with a high degree of recognition.
Can tea become white tea when it is dried?
White tea has always been said to be simple in process, only need to wither and dry. So what kind of tea, can you get white tea by drying it?
Apparently not.
The first is the choice of tree species. Modern white tea requires tree species with more fur, white hazel and high amino acid content to be made.
Fuding large white tea
From the historical records, during the Song Dynasty, there were more tea trees in the Beiyuan Imperial Roasted Tea Mountain (in today's Jian'ou City), but at that time it was wild and rare.
During the Qing Dynasty, tea farmers in the Fuding area made white silver needles from the buds of local vegetable tea. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, it gradually cultivated excellent tea varieties such as Fuding Dabai, Fuding Dahao, Zhenghe Dabai, which laid the foundation for the modern white tea fragrance and honey charm.
Secondly, the process of white tea is simple, but the process is by no means simple.
The withering of white tea is not simply dehydration, but under certain external temperature and humidity conditions, with the gradual loss of moisture, it causes a series of changes in the internal components, thus forming the unique quality of white tea.
The withering of white tea is generally 48 to 72 hours, during which the substances in the tea are undergoing complex biochemical changes at any time, and in order to control this change, long-term production experience and modern equipment are required.
Therefore, white tea that seems to be made naturally is not so easy to obtain. Modern people can taste the aroma of fragrant, fresh sweet and refreshing white tea, thanks to the continuous innovation and development of tea making technology.
To be sure, even if you are the emperor, the "white tea" that Song Huizong can taste is far inferior to the cup in your hands.
"Nine Days Mountain Monastery, The East Hedge Chrysanthemum is also yellow. Laymen are more than drunk, who help the tea aroma.