From fresh leaves to dry tea, everything is controlled by one hand.
This is the tradition of hand-stir-fried tea that has continued for hundreds of years. With the advent of machines, tea production has moved to the production line. In Zhejiang, the transformation of manual tea roasting, manual and mechanical combination, mechanization and intelligence has been completed.
But in the tea season, there are always old tea people who still choose to feel the freshness of tea with the palm of their hands. They use their own hand-fried tea to enjoy their own time memory.
With a pot, a bundle of firewood, a handful of fresh leaves, and a pair of hands, the tea can be fried. As the saying goes, "seven things to open the door": firewood, rice, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, tea. Although tea is fragrant and elegant, it cannot be separated from daily affairs.
For the convenience of frying, the iron pan is tilted to about 60 degrees, and the temperature of the pan is heated to more than 100 degrees Celsius with wood fire. The picked fresh leaves are spread and dried and then fried in the pan to finish.
After the fresh leaves are picked, they are first spread for the purpose of dissipating water, which is conducive to the transformation of effective ingredients, and then the greens are cut, twisted, and shaped.
Use wood to burn the fire, and when the temperature of the pot is 130-140 degrees Celsius, put the fresh leaves after the stall in the pot and stir constantly, and stir-fry the fresh leaves. This is preliminary.
The specific temperature for finishing depends on the freshness of the tea. This step tests the skill of the tea roaster and also determines the quality of the tea.
After putting the fresh leaves in the pot, stir-fry them with both hands for 2-3 times, and then stir-fry them. When the leaf temperature rises and produce a lot of water vapor, they are changed to stir-fry to release the moisture.
Because the enzyme activity in the young leaves is stronger and the water content is higher, the curing time is longer; the thick old leaves have less water content, higher cellulose content, the leaf quality is rough and hard, and the water is easier to lose. . Generally speaking, if the curing temperature is high, the amount of leaves is small, the water content of the fresh leaves is low, and the leaf quality is thin, the curing time should not be too long.
Kneading the tea leaves into strips, twisting can break the tea cells, squeeze out the tea juice, make the tea juice adhere to the surface of the tea strips, increase the viscosity, and help the shape of the tea leaves. Kneading can make the leaves roll into strips, reduce the volume, and increase the flavor concentration of the tea.
After kneading, the tea leaves are returned to the heated iron pot for drying. Drying is the last process in the initial processing of green tea. Drying and spreading should be alternated in stages. "Because the water content of the tea leaves after kneading is still high, if they are directly fried, they will quickly form agglomerates in the pot, and the tea juice will easily stick to the pot wall and damage the shape, so it is dried first. It is to further remove the moisture in the tea, fix the shape and color, extend the aroma and taste, and form the unique color, aroma, taste, shape and other quality characteristics of green tea. Alternate drying and spreading in this way make the water content of the tea gradually decrease.