in-door withering

During the harvest  time ,in the raining day ,we do the in-door  withering , Using the heating  and wind to do the withering 

  Longyan Charcoal：

about the Wuyi Oolong outdoor-- withering

After tea leaves picking ,we do the withering ,there are indoor- withering and outdoor-withering ( in rainy day ,we do the indoor-withering using heat). Withering  is the formation of tea aroma.Through withering can make the water of the fresh leavs loss, promote the mechanism of changes .

According to the intensity of sunlight, wind speed, degree of the humidity ;fresh leaves of old and tender  ，the different requirements of the different varieties of withering degree ,we need to  control the time  flexibly .

During the withering ,we need to turn over the leaves regularly .

About the Tea leaves picking

For the Wuyi Oolong (Rock tea ) harvest time normally  begins on 28th of April and lasts to the middle of May ,accoring to the different cultivars .For example Huang guanyin(黄观音)Huang meigui (黄玫瑰） are  early-maturing cultivars(normally pick them on 28th of April ) ,but  Baijiguan ,qidan are the late -maturing cultivars (normally pick them on 10th of May )

For the tea leaves picking  normally begins after 8:30am ，because if it is too early ,there is too much moisture on the surface of the leaves .We always hire more ladys for the leaves  picking ,and the men for  tea leaves  carrying .

 In case of  the Oxidation in the basket , when each  basket is  full ,the men need to carry that to from the tea moutain to the track .It i really  a hard  work ,because some time need to  walk like 2 hours ,

about charcoal （炭），baking（焙）

We  are very particular about the charcoal we used for baking ,avoid the wood with smell , such as pine, cypress, maple, etc, having fat flavor, burning out the charcoal  will bring peculiar smell, is not suitable for baking tea

Firing Wood need according to its density, until thoroughly burnt, fade the pyrotechnic gas, wood absorption from the inside out exudes fragrant charcoal. When charcoal lighted, immediately covered with grey shades tightly , keep fire.

After the charcoal choosing ,during baking step ,the experience of tea making and the  sensitivity of the tea aroma changes for the tea markers are badly needed .when baking tea ,the markers need to adjust the time of baking and the degree of the fire accoring to their tea 'feature (like the water content ,the degree of thickness of the leaves and so on) . Meantime ,they need to be  very sensitive to the aroma changes ,so they can cotrol the fire degree and time length appropriatly .

About tea baking

   Many tea friends ask me about the  wuyi rock tea Charcoal fire baking .Some people never saw that before ,through the video looking  ,they still know nothing about that .So send some  pics in my baking room .
It is the  hole ,two tools  one is for scraping the ashes ,one shovel is taking the ashes .

 It is the basket :this bamboo sieve is special designed .

 There are some nails in the waist of the basket ,so that can prop up the sieve ,putting the sieve on that , and later just put the tea on sieve ,

 Fire making :quite hot in the room ,about 150degree Temperature .Sweat flows like water

About :5hours later the fire is ready .We put the ashes on the fire ,using the heat of the fire to baking the tea .Remember that speically -designed  basket ,the buttom half is emputy  ,the heat can  come up through there .

 We can through using the ashe to control the fire 'degree .Like Putting on some thick ashes  to make the fire much smaller ,of couse through scraping the ashes to make the fire much bigger  .

 Normally one time charcoal fire making can last 15-18days ,in order to make full use of the fire .My family have two shifts ,anyway it is hard work for the men ,Of course they can loose weight  during this time .

Tea  baking is not just simply putting  the basket on the fires and waiting the time .We need the tasting the tea each 1-2hours to see how is the brewed leaves color changing and tea soup changing ,and each  half -1hours we need to turn them one time .For the tea baking ,there is no a booking which we can copy ,they are all the experience from parctice .

laocong shuixian mao cha tasting

Wuyi rock tea in the first year is changing all the time ,can be better also can be  worse .Tasting Maocha is very easily for us to know its essence .Understand the characteristics of the tea ,like advantages and deficiency.So later we can bake the tea  accoring to its  features ,can be lightly -roasted ,or  higly -roasted .Of course we also bake the tea accoring to the  our clients 'styles.

the images during the harvest time of 2016

It seems  quite harmonious.The boss and employees both are happy .Achieve properity through hard work .

introduction

We Live in Wuyishan , My husband and I make a living on tea .When I was 30years old I found  comparing to talking I perferred to write down .“wuyiorigin" is a platform to record  what we do and what we think in our daily tea life .

Tea is not only the stroy of a leaf.Becuase of tea we meet,through the tea cup we will know more .So I think tea is a bridge, a bridge between you and me.