Every process of Wuyi rock tea (Dahongpao) has its own uniqueness, which plays an important role in the quality of rock tea, and its baking method is also an important part.
1. Traditional baking method of Wuyi rock tea
(1) Places, utensils and materials for baking rock tea.
The traditional place for baking tea is called the curing barn, and the building structure is mostly earth walls, which are generally two floors. The upper curing barn and the lower curing barn are about 7- 10 meters deep and 6-9 meters wide, and the lower layer is about 2.5 meters high and the upper layer is 2 meters. The curing barn is cut into 20-30 curing holes along the wall, which can be made of brick or mud. The specifications of baking holes are as follows. There is only one door (double opening) on the front of the whole baking room, which can be used to adjust the wind direction. A small window with a length of about 100 cm and a height of 25 cm is opened on the partition wall with the tea kneading room, which is used to directly transfer the kneaded tea leaves (even the tea kneading calendar) for baking (fire).
The floor of the baking building is paved with 3×2 cm wooden strips with a spacing of 3 cm, with water screening bamboo mats and shingles on the roof for ventilation (the baking building is used for rainy days or later green withering). Before there was no electricity in the tea area, the scale and mode of tea factories were similar, which is a common method in Wuyi rock tea producing area.
There are baking cages, baking screens, baking grates, soft baskets, tea houses, calendars, cereal barrels, flat wooden four-corner frames, baking shovels, baking knives, spatulas, ash spoons and pliers. No matter in the past or now, as long as it is baked with charcoal, these utensils must be available.
Material: charcoal, mostly hard charcoal. Now there are also bamboo charcoal and fruit tree charcoal (litchi and longan).
(2) Baking method
1. The drying time of initial drying (also known as wool fire drying and running water drying) generally starts from 7~8 pm, and the drying is generally 3~4 hours in advance. Use an open flame when baking, but there is no flame. The carbon temperature of the baking hole is from high to low, and the carbon surface temperature is generally around 500℃. Most roasting cages only put about 700 grams of tea on the roasting sieve (that is, the amount of green leaves in a one-handed frying pan). The distance between tea and charcoal is about 27 cm, and the temperature is about 150℃. When the bottom tea leaves are half dry, they can be stirred, which takes about 4 ~ 5 minutes. The roasted tea leaves are moved to a roasting cave (the temperature is slightly lower) and then can be roasted again.
2. Total fire (re-fire) is the key process of rock tea processing. The baking adopts the principle of dark fire (covering charcoal with ash, using mango ash for the first time) and slow fire, which is completely mastered by the baking master according to the actual situation of baking tea. The caramel fragrance of rock tea appears at this time.
It generally takes about 65,438+00 hours from airing to picking and winnowing. By this time, the tea was already a semi-finished product, and then it began to burn. Because there is no stem cuttings, only about 2~2.5 kg of tea leaves are needed in each cage for about 2 hours, and the baking temperature is controlled at about 150℃ (the leaf temperature of the baking cage can reach about 90℃). Leave only a gap of about 10 cm to reduce air convection and keep warm and "eat fire". In general, tea leaves can be baked on the spot at one time to make refined tea. The specific standard is that the rope is tightly tied, the color of the leaves has changed (very bright), and there is a smell of fire (caramel).
In addition, the author has seen the so-called two processes of group tea and fire supplement, but because of the large amount of tea, the operation has not adapted to the actual needs, and now no tea farmers follow this operation.
Second, the current baking method of Wuyi rock tea
Hairiness fire: it mainly dries the twisted tea directly until the water content reaches the standard (subject to the breaking of tea stems) and then saves it.
Drying equipment: most tea factories use automatic dryers with hot stoves or smokeless stoves, and most of the heat source fuels use coal and diesel. The twisted tea leaves with stems and leaves are baked to the standard dryness for two or three times, during which there is a moderate cooling time, mainly depending on the processing capacity. When tea is dried, the inlet air temperature is generally controlled at about 150℃, and the leaf spreading thickness and tea baking time are adjusted according to the variety, tenderness and processing capacity of tea to ensure thorough drying.
Full Fire (Reheating) Now the full fire (Reheating) of Wuyi Rock Tea still follows the principle of "slow fire and slow baking", and the semi-finished products that have been piled up and picked according to quality are baked until they reach the required quality.
The use of mechanical baking utensils and fuel is like getting angry.
When baking, the air inlet temperature should be controlled at about 130℃, and the baking time of leaf spreading thickness should be flexibly controlled by the baking master according to the specific requirements of varieties, famous clusters, producing areas, raw material quality and sales areas, and basically baked into products in one step and put on the market.
In the traditional charcoal roasting full fire (re-fire), all the appliances are the same as the wool fire, but the difference is that the dark fire is used when the full fire is finished, the temperature of the charcoal ash surface is controlled at about 170℃, the number of roasted leaves is about 3.5 kg each time, the temperature of the leaves is controlled at 70-90℃, and the distance between the tea leaves and the charcoal ash surface is about 20-35 cm, thus the tea leaves are cooked. The standard is also based on whether the tea leaves change color and smell of charcoal, whether the calendar is stamped half an hour before the end of baking, whether it is completely covered or leaves a small gap, whether it is spread after baking or whether it is stored when waste heat is available. At present, there are still some different practices, which need to be proved by future practice.
3. The influence of baking on the quality of Wuyi rock tea
There are many factors that affect the quality and style of Wuyi rock tea, such as origin, variety (famous cluster) and climate (weather), and the baking method in the production process is also an aspect that affects the quality and style of Wuyi rock tea. Although baking can't replace other reasons, most drinkers think that rock tea has fire and caramel flavor. This is based on good baking technology and presents caramel flavor through reasonable baking. The author believes that this is mainly the result of the interaction of many related reasons.
1. The green factor (fermentation degree) is "three reds and seven greens", and the red edge of green leaves is one of the standard characteristics of Wuyi rock tea, which is also the basis for determining the quality, so the quality of green leaves is the basis for determining the quality of tea, and baking is the means to influence the quality and style. Can Wuyi Rock Tea be baked with high-quality style if the teas with different production techniques are also baked in the same baking method? Obviously, it is impossible to use charcoal to roast.
2. Temperature factor: Temperature can change the changes of enzyme and leaf content. No matter in the past or now, the traditional charcoal fire baking and machine baking, whether it is gross fire or full fire, whether it is open fire or dark fire, all use high temperature, so it can affect the change of tea aroma, flavor, leaf color and the formation of caramel flavor of Wuyi rock tea. Temperature plays a great role, but it is impossible to quantify the upper and lower temperature of rock tea baking.
3. Charcoal factor: Wuyi rock tea was and is baked with charcoal, using hard charcoal. Litchi, longan fruit charcoal and bamboo charcoal are used now, so people who drink rock tea think it is baked with charcoal and it is very popular. The reason is not only nostalgia, but also the finer and more traditional charcoal roasting. Why? This is related to the fact that when these coals are burned, trees contain some rare trace substances, which can be used to influence the quality and style of tea. Is it relevant? This is related to the use of pine baking in the production process of Zhengshan small black tea, which makes the tea have pine fragrance and longan soup taste. Theoretically, the reasoning is somewhat similar, but it can't be fully reflected in the real evaluation, which depends entirely on the olfactory sensitivity of the drinker.
4. Time factor: the fire principle of rock tea is slow fire baking, which means long time. At the same temperature, the length of time can really make the quality change of rock tea have an effect. It complements the temperature and can change the color of leaves, aroma, soup and taste, thus affecting the quality and style of rock tea or improving it. At present, the baking time of Wuyi rock tea is mostly between 4 and 8 hours, with some exceptions.
5. Origin factor: In many similar cases, generally speaking, the quality of raw tea from different origins determines the grade. Many facts have proved that it is impossible to obtain the same result by a unified method for tea from different producing areas, that is, it is impossible to bake with charcoal fire. It can only master the baking flexibly according to the actual situation of raw materials from different producing areas, and use different temperatures and times to achieve their best results.
Wuyi rock tea (Dahongpao) production technology was included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage protection list, among which the baking technology was unique. In practice, both inheritance and innovation, flexible grasp, to maintain vitality for the development of rock tea.
Chen Dehua, former director of Wuyishan Tea Research Institute and director of Fujian Wuyishan Beidou Tea Research Institute, is a representative inheritor of national intangible cultural heritage.