In Chinese languages, black tea is known as
“red tea” a description of the color of the liquid. Western term “black tea”
refers to the color of the oxidized leaves.
It is nearly 300 years ago, tea farmers
lived in Wuyi Mountain, and north part of Fujian Province discovered the skill
of ferment. They find after ferment tea leaves color becomes black and the tea
liquor is changed from bright green to reddish ruby. The liquor tastes dense
and sweet which is totally different from traditional green tea. During the
Qing Dynasty, about 200 years ago, westerners visited Wuyi Mountain and found
this black tea. Because they found that after mixing up milk with the black tea
liquor, the beverage had a flavor of chocolate. Since then, the black tea has
been welcomed in western countries.
Black tea is a type of tea that is more oxidized
than oolong, green and white tea, so the black tea liquor tastes stronger than
above three. Two principal varieties of the species are used: the small leaf
variety (C.sinensis subsp.sinensis),
used for most other types of teas, and the large leaf variety (C.sinensis subsp.assamica), which was
traditionally mainly used for black tea. According to this classification,
generally speaking, black tea bushes are divided into two kinds, Chinese plant
and Assamese plant. Most of the black tea bushed in India, Sri Lanka even south
Africa are Assamese plant. For the large leaves of the Assamese plant, they are
hard to become tidy and small by being fried, so most black tea in these
countries are C.T.C., which is the abbreviation for crush, tear and curl.
Chinese small leaves plant is planted in
southern part of China including Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou, Hubei, Hunan, Anhui,
Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Guangxi, Guangdong, Fujian, Taiwan and Hainan.
Zhengshan Souchong Black Tea
Zhengshan Souchong black tea is considered
as the first black tea in China which is located in Yuyishan, northern part of
Fujian Province. It is said that tea farmers in this place discovered the skill
of fermentation, and then the Souchong black tea appeared. And this kind of
black tea was exported to western countries where it became very popular. How
come westerners like this kind of tea? It is because its strong flavor and high
fragrance. In the end of Qing Dynasty, the Zhengshan Souchong black tea became
main exports goods. The character of Souchong black tea is the flavor of tea
soup which tastes like Longan, a fruit in tropic regions.
Qimen Kongfu Black Tea
Qimen Kongfu black tea is the first Kongfu
tea in China which is produced in Anhui Province. As we all know, the
production process of the Kongfu black tea is more complex of Souchong black
tea. Kongfu in Chinese could be explained as a consumption of labor and time. Qimen
Kongfu black tea is discovered on the basis of Souchong Black tea which has a
special step on procession of fried. It’s one of the top three black teas with
heavy fragrance in the world, and the other two are Darjeeling in India, Uva in
Sri Lanka. The flavor of superior Qimen Kongfu black tea tastes like a
combination of honey and orchid.
Dianhong Black Tea
Dianhong black tea was discovered in 1939
with nearly 70 years history which tastes like a combination of honey and sweet
potato. Different from other black tea, Dianhong black tea is picked from large
leaf variety arbor tea tree, and the tea liquor tastes strong and could be
brewed for many times. Because of the strong sweet taste, Dianhong black tea is
suitable for drinking without sugar and milk. However, some people still like
to add milk in Dianhong black tea to enjoy the extremely strong nice chocolate
flavor. Nowadays, Dianhong black tea has become one of the most popular black
teas in the world.
Jinjunmei Black Tea
Jinjunmei is a kind of Kongfu black tea produced
in Wuyishan Fujian Province. Different from other black teas, the tea bush of
Jinjunmei should be planted in a place with 1800 meters high and tea leaves
should be picked in early April. This is the reason why Jinjunmei sold in a
higher price. Jinhunmei has a special flavor tasting like the preserved
strawberry.
Appreciation of dry leaves
Qimen Kongfu black tea is famous for its
tidy and elegant appearance. The dry leaves of upper class Qimen black tea has
natural luster to appreciate. Qimen fragrance is named after especially for its
fragrance, and it’s one of the three black teas with strong fragrance in the
world. Chinese black tea is well-known for their beautiful dry leaves, reddish
tea liquor and sweet aftertaste, so before making Chinese tea, enjoying the dry
leaves is a must.
Water brewing
According to Chinese tea custom, making
fully fermented tea should use hot water at 65 ℃. And water quality is a very important element
for making tea. Ancient Chinese tea drinkers considered snow and rain in
high-mountain is a best water to make tea, so using fresh water to make tea is
an indispensable way to make tea.
Warming up tea top and cups
Chinese tea art show is a kind of Taiji or
yoga which means people adjusting their breath, action and mind at the same
time during making tea, and it is also known as a sort of Chinese philosophy. Chinese
tea drinkers love tea for their fondness of nature. When making tea, they would
like to fancy staying in a natural environment. For instance, when they warming
up tea wares and pouring boiling water into the tea pot, they would like to
consider that the hot water is a spring and the tea pot is a valley. For the Chinese,
we think that warming up tea wares meaning arranging our minds.
Displaying dry leaves
Fetching 5 to 7 grams dry leaves and
displaying them into the warm tea pot. It is very important on the control of
dry leaves volume to put in, because less tea is tasteless while more tea is bitter.
If the volume of dry leaves is not enough, the original flavor of tea would not
be fully performed.
Wetting dry leaves
Dropping some hot water into the pot, shake
the pot, and then dry leaves will absorb water perfectly and send out its aroma
gradually. The Chinese tea drinker thinks that the tea is growing among
mountains, picked and made by human in their hands but rebirth in tea pots. So the
step of wetting dry leaves is a procession to let tea regeneration and also is
a very important stage in tea art show.
Pouring in hot water
Lifting water pot highly to put hot water
into the glass tea pot makes the tea leaves floating freely so that the fragrance
and taste can be set out.
Tea liquor sharing
Pouring tea liquor into fair cup, making
the tea liquor into each tea cup evenly, and then sharing tea liquor with
others. It comes to taste the tea with the beginning of appreciation the beauty
of bright and reddish tea liquor, then sipping the tea liquor in three times because
of the structure of Chinese character “品”, which means
tasting, is consisted by three mouths.
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