Pearl tea, also known as round tea, is produced in Pingshui tea area of Zhejiang Province. Pingshui is a market town in the southeast of Shaoxing City, Zhejiang Province. In the past, Mao tea was mainly processed in Pingshui, so it was called "Pingshuizhu tea" in the international market. Because it was fried in a pot at first, it was also called "round fried green". Pearl tea is round and compact in appearance, granular, and heavy in body and bone, like pearls. This tea is named after Zhu, just right. However, its English translation often leads to jokes. The English translation of this kind of tea is called "gunpowder", which means gunpowder bullet of a gun in Chinese. Before the invention of rifles, bullets were as round as pearls, and the shape of pearl tea was like early bullets, which shows that translators are willing to go home. But it also brings some unnecessary misunderstandings. 198 1 At the beginning, a Hong Kong businessman solemnly suggested that China Port Company change the translated name of Zhucha. How did Jucha get the strange name gunpowder bullet? But our port company feels that this name has been used abroad for several years. If you name it easily, even if the new name is elegant and beautiful, it will still be self-defeating and hinder export. 1984 At the beginning of this year, the green tea trade delegation of Zhejiang Tea Company went to C? te d 'Ivoire, which just established diplomatic relations with China, to discuss trade. An Indian businessman doing business there saw a sample of pearl tea and was very impressed. However, when signing the contract, we were repeatedly asked. Generally, the name column can only be called "China Green Tea", and the word "gunpowder" cannot be displayed. The reason is simple, that is, to avoid being mistaken for an arms deal by the local customs. In fact, in recent years, with the development of bamboo tea production, under the translation of "gunpowder", the sales area of bamboo tea has been expanding, and the foreign sales volume has increased year by year. Some foreign businessmen simply called the export business unit "gunpowder company" or even called me "Mr. gunpowder" when negotiating pearl tea business with us. This practice is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.

Zhejiang Pingshui tea has a long history. As far back as the Tang Dynasty, it was a famous grass market and a trading place for tea and wine. Yuan Zhen, a poet in the Tang Dynasty, said in the preface to Bai Changqing's Collection that many people exchanged manuscripts or copies of Bai Juyi's and Yuan Zhen's poems for tea and wine in the market. It shows that Pingshui was a tea distribution center more than 1000 years ago. "Lanting talks about flowing water, and tea markets are raining in succession", which is a vivid description of the grand occasion of Lanting tea market in more than 20 miles southwest of Shaoxing by Lu You, a poet in the Song Dynasty. By the Qing Dynasty, almost all the tea in eastern Zhejiang was processed and exported in Pingshui, and Pingshuizhu tea was more famous in the international tea market.

Pingshui Tea Area includes Shaoxing, Shengxian, Xiaoshan, Zhuji, Shangyu, Yuyao, Tiantai, Fenghua, Yinxian and Dongyang in Zhejiang Province. The whole production area is adjacent to the East China Sea in the east, Hangzhou Bay in the north, Qiantang River in the west and Dongyang in the south, surrounded by Huiji Mountain, Siming Mountain and Tiantai Mountain. The territory is full of mountains, undulating peaks, misty clouds, criss-crossing streams, mild climate, beautiful mountains and rivers and pleasant scenery, which is very suitable for developing tea production.

The processing technology of pearl tea is divided into two stages: primary processing and refining, both of which have realized mechanized production.

Primary processing technology: it is divided into three processes: enzyme fixation, rolling and drying. The drying process is divided into four steps: "Erqing", stir-frying small pot, stir-frying small pot and stir-frying large pot. The small pot, the opposite pot and the big pot are all finished in the same bamboo tea frying machine. The initial system takes about 5 hours. The product is still coarse tea, generally called flat fried green or round fried green.

Refining process: it is divided into raw pressing, fried pressing, net pressing and even loading. Raw tea includes four working procedures: screening, cutting, screening and air separation; Car frying includes two processes: rolling frying and car coloring. Cleaning includes six working procedures: napping, winnowing, screening, picking, netting and blowing; Finally, through uniform packaging including blending, uniform stacking and packaging, it becomes commercial pearl tea.

Pearl tea is one of the earliest exported commodities in China. /kloc-At the beginning of the 0/8th century, pearl tea became popular in the world tea world under the name of "Gong Xicha". The price is high. In the London tea market, except Wuyi tea, Zhu tea has the highest price, up to 6 pence per pound100,000 shillings. The price of tea is as high as jewelry, and it was once called "green pearl". It was originally shipped overseas from Ningbo Port and moved to Shanghai after passing through five trading ports. Foreign firms dealing in pearl tea include Jardine Matheson in Britain and Yongxing in France. Mainly sold to northwest Africa and Europe, Asia, the United States and other countries.

1In September, 1984, Tiantan Brand Super Pearl Tea won the gold medal at the 23rd World Quality Food Selection Conference held in Madrid, Spain. The World Quality Product Selection Conference is sponsored by the International Quality Product Selection Association. The selection activity started at 196 1 and is held once a year in European countries. The selected products are divided into ten categories: alcoholic beverages, non-alcoholic beverages, food (including tea), tobacco leaves and their products. The quality appraisal of the selected products is carried out by neutral and authoritative machinery through chemical analysis, sensory evaluation and representative inspection of samples. Tiantan brand super pearl tea won the world gold medal, which is a great event in the tea industry and has written a new chapter in the history of Chinese tea. Mr. Sha Menghai, a famous calligrapher in China, once wrote "leijin Zhu Lei" for the Pearl Tea Award, wishing this oriental "green pearl" to shine forever in the world tea industry.