han.com
2007-05-02 12:51:28 Source of manuscript:
Wuhan Evening News
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According to CCTV's "News 30 Minutes" report, it is the season for new tea to be launched, but Hangzhou Most of the so-called new West Lake Longjing teas on the market are fake Longjing teas from other places.
According to regulations, only tea grown within more than 50 square kilometers of the West Lake production area in Hangzhou can be called West Lake Longjing tea. Outside the production area, it can only be called Zhejiang Longjing tea, and the price is much cheaper.
CCTV reporters randomly purchased 12 servings of West Lake Longjing tea from 11 stores. The prices ranged from RMB 90 to RMB 600, with exquisite packaging and complete anti-counterfeiting marks. After identification by the National Tea Quality Supervision and Inspection Center, it was found that none of the tea came from the West Lake producing area, and 8 of them were at least inferior teas below grade 3 or 4, and 2 were not even Longjing, but other fake green teas.
Machine-fried tea is becoming more and more popular, and West Lake Longjing is encountering the "battle between man and machine"
China-Singapore Zhejiang Network, April 23, spring is the season when tea is in full swing. Recently, in At a series of tea seminars and selection meetings, heads of the agricultural departments of Zhejiang Province and Hangzhou City revealed that in the next three to five years, 80% of tea will be machine-fried.
Not long ago, the West Lake Scenic Area Management Committee decided to declare the traditional tea-frying technique of West Lake Longjing as a national intangible cultural heritage in the second half of this year.
Old tea drinkers know that the so-called West Lake Longjing refers to the fresh leaves produced from the mountains such as Yunlong, Lion, Tiger and Plum beside the West Lake in Hangzhou, which are slowly and manually fried by tea frying workers. The blades and craftsmanship are like a harp, inseparable from each other.
Is the advent of machine-fried tea an advancement in technology? Or is it the loss of tradition? Is machine-fried tea still considered West Lake Longjing? The green behemoths in the tea farmers’ homes led us to this investigation.
News scene
An old tea farmer uses a tea frying machine
Along the tea road in Longwu Tea Village, there are farm teahouses on both sides, and the familiar fried tea The big pot is placed at the door, and behind the electric tea pot there is usually a big green thing, which is a tea frying machine. Tea farmer Lao Du's family, who has been frying tea for more than 40 years, also has such a machine.
The machine is about two meters long, about 1 meter wide and high. It is open and divided into three large compartments. Each compartment has a pressure plate for 360-degree rotation. The pressure plate is covered with cotton cloth. The difference between the three compartments lies in the tightness between the pressure plate and the machine groove, which becomes closer to the back. After the picked green leaves are spread and dried, they can be poured directly into the first grid, and then forward in sequence. The tea leaves will stay in each grid for about 2 minutes, and then poured out from the round hole next to the third grid. This is done. After the "finalization" process, it has basically become dry tea, and the body shape has also taken shape.
“Stir-frying Longjing tea mainly involves two processes: fixing the green tea and stirring the pot. Today’s machines can only be used to stir-fry the green tea. The stir-frying still requires manual labor.” Lao Du told reporters, “Dry tea If you use a tea frying machine to stir-fry again, the tea leaves will definitely be broken."
Lao Du said that the emergence of tea frying machines only happened in the past two years. They began to appear in small quantities in 2005 and in 2006. Starting this year, tea frying machines have become popular in tea farmers’ homes. More than 80% of the tea farmers in the town have purchased tea frying machines at home, and there are probably more than 1,000 of them.
“When new tea first came on the market, the quantity was not large. Tea was expensive at that time, and we were reluctant to use machines to fry it. But when tea leaves are put on the market in large quantities, machines will have to help.” Lao Du explain.
Longwu Town is the largest origin protection zone of West Lake Longjing tea. There are more than 6,300 acres of tea gardens here, accounting for 60% of the total output of West Lake Longjing tea. It is known as the "Wandan Tea Township".
In fact, not only in Longwu, but also in the West Lake Longjing Tea Core Reserve this year, the trend of machine tea frying has begun to spread. At least 50-60 tea farmers have used tea frying machines.
In-depth news
Machine speculation VS hand speculation - the game between technology and tradition
One machine is worth three skilled workers
Tea farmers who have tasted the benefits of machine-fried tea believe that the most obvious benefit of using machine processing is to save time and reduce labor intensity. "Take 5 pounds of dry tea as an example, which is more than 20 pounds of fresh leaves. If you fry it by hand, it will take a day and a night, but using a machine to help save at least four or five hours." Tea farmers said that the machine can fry six About 7 taels, while manual frying can only take 3 or 4 taels at a time, which takes about 7 minutes longer than the machine. "So, most tea farmers choose machines as a helper when new tea starts to be launched in large quantities.
Everyone knows that the price of new tea is one day on the market, and the price of today's tea may be different tomorrow. Many times, it is necessary to hire someone to help. Lao Zhu, a tea farmer in Meijiawu, has six or seven acres of tea gardens. During this year's 40-day "tea rush", in addition to the couple personally doing the work, they also hired 12 people to pick tea. There are 1 tea fryer and 1 helper, and the labor cost alone is 20,000 yuan. “The price of tea workers has increased this year, and the price of tea fryers is 80 to 100 yuan/person/day, including food, accommodation and travel expenses. You may not get it yet. "The price of a tea frying machine is three to four thousand, which is more than two thousand yuan cheaper, which is much more cost-effective than hiring tea pickers.
There is another reason why tea farmers "fall in love" with machines to fry tea. Tea buyers said, “Except for the tea dealers who buy tea leaves, most people who come to buy tea don’t understand tea. They pay more attention to the appearance of the tea leaves, and this is better done by machines than by hand. "With the guidance of tea farmers and tea merchants, you can see that machine-fried tea leaves of the same grade have a uniform and uniform color, beautiful and flat appearance, and the appearance is indeed better.
The taste of machine-fried tea Slightly inferior
So is the taste of machine-fried tea the same as that of hand-fried tea?
“The aroma of machine-fried tea is not as good as that of hand-fried tea. It is closely related to the frying technique. When the machine is stir-frying, the tea juice is easily pressed out, so the color will be brighter green, but the inherent trace elements in the tea leaves are easily destroyed, and the aroma of the tea is also scattered during the machine throwing process; while hand-fried tea It is slowly dried, and although it is slightly yellow, it is full of tea aroma. "Experienced tea farmer Lao Zhu said that people who know tea can tell the difference as soon as they drink it. The taste is obviously slightly inferior.
Shen Hong, a national first-class tea taster at the Hangzhou National Tea Quality Supervision and Inspection Center, said: “Machine-roasted tea has a low aroma score in the inspection, so when tea companies and tea purchasers come to inspect the tea, we will emphasize the importance of hand-roasted tea, especially fine tea, special tea and some high-end tea. ”
There are few successors to the traditional tea-frying technique
If most tea leaves are fried by machine, will the traditional tea-frying technique be in danger of being lost? For many people who are not optimistic about machine frying For tea drinkers, this is a big worry.
Most of the tea traders now are middle-aged, and those under 35 years old are rare. Young people all choose to study or work outside, and few are willing to do so. He inherited the art of tea frying. “Tea frying is hard and boring. It’s better to go out and make money. "Lao Lin, a tea farmer with more than 20 years of experience in tea frying, said worriedly that there are fewer and fewer people who can fry tea, and the future may be an era of machine fried tea.
But the national first-class tea taster Shen Hong said: "It is hard to fry Longjing tea because the process is very complicated, and the machines relying on those procedures are far from enough. " Shen Hong said, "Longjing tea is about looking at the tea and making tea. A lot of the frying process needs to be controlled by hand, and the gestures are also ever-changing, and it cannot be done by simply controlling the temperature with a machine. "She is worried that the emergence of a large number of tea frying machines will affect the loss of traditional handicrafts.
Experts sound the alarm for brands
The reporter learned during the interview that most experts and tea dealers The concern about machine-roasted tea is whether it will affect the brand of West Lake Longjing tea.
“Tea leaves can speak, and you can tell whose tea is it as soon as you drink it. "A tea purchaser told reporters that each tea farmer's roasted products are different, and the quality of the tea roasted by the same company every day can be seen. "If it is roasted by machine, there will be no difference at all, and there will be no difference at all from the original Longjing tea. The artistic sense contained in the aroma of tea.
"
Fortunately, most of the tea farmers now only use machines for frying medium and low-grade tea, and good tea is still made by hand.
"I think West Lake Longjing tea is the best. It should be fried by hand. Shen Hong, a national first-level tea taster, told reporters seriously that the national mandatory standards for the origin of West Lake Longjing tea include detailed instructions on traditional handcrafts, including frying techniques, but because there are no administrative regulations, Nor can it be enforced.
Shang Jiannong, secretary-general of the Longjing Tea Industry Association in Xihu District, Hangzhou and a senior tea artist, said: “Under the trend of mechanized tea frying, how to protect and develop the tea frying process? The contradiction has become a new topic. "Price guidance may be a means. For example, in the early stage of the launch of new tea, tea companies do not accept machine-roasted tea and increase the price of purely hand-roasted tea." The tea roasted by Longwu Chao Tea King is particularly popular, and the price is higher than The average price is two to three hundred yuan, but the sample tea he sells is six times the price of ordinary tea. This is also the purpose of holding the Tea-Fried King Competition. At the same time, it attracts young people to learn the tea-frying technique and maintains the development and inheritance of traditional craftsmanship. ”
In fact, Xihu Street in the West Lake Scenic Area is planning to apply for a project on which method of frying West Lake Longjing tea should be used, and invite experts to evaluate the two frying methods.
It is advisable to keep an eye on the scenery
In some ancient towns in Lijiang, Yunnan, there are many stores with "handmade silver shops" signs. Smart store owners understand the psychology of tourists and will arrange for a craftsman to stand at the door of the store. Beating silver jewelry shows that the goods in the store are purely handmade. Most tourists don't buy it, because countless lessons have shown the fact that old silver is very rare; handmade is just a pretense.
The editorial department is worried that if the trend of machine-fried tea is allowed to spread, after a few years, in places such as "Wenglongmanyangmei" in the core tea-producing area of ??West Lake, hand-fried tea will become a performance art like the handmade silver above. It is even a "show" for tea farmers to attract customers.
Whether it is better to fry tea by hand or by machine, this is a question with no standard answer. If you look at it from a market perspective, you will consider it. To save labor and reduce costs, machine frying has become a trend; if you stand in the perspective of polishing the golden sign of West Lake Longjing, you will think of good handicrafts, such as Yixing purple clay pots and Italian leather shoes, the essence of which is handmade Production.
I remember that in the 1950s and 1960s, Premier Zhou Enlai accompanied foreign guests to visit Meijiawu. The guests once asked the tea farmers: "Why not use machines to fry?" " Mr. Zhou understood the situation and told the foreign guests: West Lake Longjing is not only a drink, but also a work of art.
Simply looking at the machine frying tea may be just an individual behavior - individual tea farmers, The choice of individual tea-producing areas, however, is related to the Longjing tea market. Every move in the market will quickly spread to other tea-producing areas, driving tea farmers to make the most economical choice. Nowadays, tea-frying "greening machines" have become popular. , given time, a one-stop machine for tea frying will also come. The author is worried that the skill of manual tea frying will gradually decline, which will affect the brand of West Lake Longjing - after tea farmers improve the efficiency of tea frying, once the tea farmers have empty tea frying machines. It will become a processing point for other peripheral Longjing teas, and it will be branded with the trademark of West Lake Longjing. In the end, the golden brand of West Lake Longjing will be damaged.
Machine fried tea will become the darling of the market. , but we should take a long-term view, keep the artistic bottom line of the core tea-producing area of ??West Lake Longjing, and prevent Longjing tea from becoming an ordinary drink. This will not only be a blessing to the villages, but also a blessing to West Lake Longjing.
The legend of tea and Hupao Spring
When Emperor Qianlong went to the south of the Yangtze River, he came to the foot of Shifeng Mountain in Longjing, Hangzhou, and watched the village girls picking tea
to show his understanding of the people's sentiments. The emperor saw several country girls picking tea in front of more than a dozen green tea trees. He was so happy that he also started picking a handful. Suddenly the eunuch came and reported: " The Queen Mother is ill and asks the Emperor to return to Beijing quickly. "
Emperor Qianlong heard that the Queen Mother was ill, so he put a handful of tea leaves into the bag and hurried back to the capital day and night.
In fact, the Queen Mother's anger rose temporarily because she ate too much delicacies, her eyes were red and swollen, and her stomach was uncomfortable. She was not seriously ill. At this time, when he saw the emperor's son arriving, he felt a refreshing fragrance and asked what good things he had brought. The emperor also felt strange, where did the fragrance come from? He touched it casually, ah, it turned out to be a handful of tea leaves from Shifeng Mountain in Hangzhou. It had dried after a few days, and the rich aroma came out of it. The Queen Mother wanted to taste the tea. The palace maid brewed the tea and brought it to the Queen Mother. Sure enough, the tea was fragrant. The Queen Mother took a sip and her eyes felt much more comfortable. After drinking the tea, the redness and swelling disappeared. No more stomach bloating. The Queen Mother happily said: "The tea from Longjing in Hangzhou is really a panacea." Seeing that the Queen Mother was so happy, Emperor Qianlong immediately sent an order to the Hu Gong Temple at the foot of the Longjing Shifeng Mountain in Hangzhou. The eighteen tea trees in front are named Imperial Tea, and new tea is picked every year as a tribute to the Queen Mother. To this day, these eighteen imperial tea trees are still preserved in front of Hu Gong Temple in Longjing Village, Hangzhou. Many tourists to Hangzhou even make a special trip to visit them and take photos as souvenirs
Longjing tea (one of the top ten famous teas in China) and Hupao Spring are known as the "two wonders of Hangzhou". How did Hupao Spring come from? It is said that a long time ago there were two brothers, named Dahu and Erhu. The two were extremely powerful, and one year they came to Hangzhou and wanted to settle down in the small monastery where Hupao is now. The monk told them that it was difficult to get water here and they had to climb several ridges to carry water. The brothers said that as long as they could live in it, we would take care of carrying the water, so the monk took them in. One summer, there was a drought and no rain, and the small stream dried up, making it even more difficult to draw water. One day, the two brothers remembered the "Tongzi Spring" that wandered through Hengshan Mountain in Nanyue. It would be great if the Tongzi Spring could be moved to Hangzhou. The two brothers decided to go to Hengshan Mountain to move Tongzi Spring. They ran all the way and fainted when they reached the foot of Hengshan Mountain. A violent storm broke out. After the wind stopped and the rain subsided, they woke up and saw a man standing in front of them. The little boy holding a willow branch in his hand is the little fairy in charge of the "Tongzi Spring". After listening to their story, the little fairy pointed a willow branch and sprinkled water on them. In an instant, the two brothers turned into two beautiful tigers, and the child jumped on the tiger's back. The tiger looked up to the sky and roared, taking "Tongziquan" straight to Hangzhou. The old monk and the villagers had a dream at night. They dreamed that the big tiger and the second tiger turned into two fierce tigers and moved the "Tongzi Spring" to Hangzhou, and there would be spring water at dawn. The next day, the sky was filled with bright lights, and two tigers fell from the sky. The tigers were in the bamboo garden next to the temple, digging their front paws into the ground. After a while, they dug a deep hole, and suddenly there was a violent storm. , after the rain stopped, a clear spring emerged from the deep pit. Everyone understood that it must be the spring water brought to them by Dahu and Erhu. In order to commemorate Dahu and
Erhu, they named the spring "Tiger Paddle Spring". Later, for the sake of convenience, it was called "Hupao Spring". Use Hupao Spring to make Longjing tea
The color, aroma and fragrance are excellent. Today, you can taste this "double-excellent" drink in Hupao Teahouse.
Reference: /hezechaboshi/