When did the ripe tea technology of Pu 'er tea come into being?

When did Pu 'er ripe tea come into being?

many people will definitely say-1973. Because there is a very popular tea called "73 thick brick" on the market, it is known as the first batch of artificial post-fermented Pu 'er cooked tea bricks.

but is this really the case? Was Pu 'er cooked tea not born until 1973? What is the evolution of cooked tea itself?

We explain it in detail in five steps: predecessor, record, craft, birth and present life. The predecessor of Pu 'er cooked tea-Hongtangshengpu

Let's go back along the history. There is a passage on the inner ticket of Longma Tongqing:

"The leaves are golden and thick, and the water tastes red and fragrant".

The word "water tastes red and thick" is obviously not used to describe raw tea. But if it is cooked tea, then "the soup is red and thick" is clear.

the longma tongqing was founded in the 13th year of Yongzheng, that is, in 1735.

But this ticket has also been questioned by many people:

"What if this cake tea is an old Pu 'er tea (raw tea) that has been stored for more than 1 years? Pu' er tea with red soup color is not necessarily only cooked tea. "

ok, let's move on.

Let's go back to 1948, and a document from the tea trade in Kunming can be used as evidence-

The document says that the soup color standard of Qiziyuan tea (that is, Qiziyuan tea) is red soup. It is difficult for us to guess what kind of tea it corresponds to now, but what is certain is that this red soup of Qizi cake tea has a certain degree of fermentation.

if you think that the standard of soup color is not strict enough, let's take a look at its record in tea-making technology. Process record of cooked tea-pile fermentation

Tea lovers who know raw Pu 'er tea and cooked tea should know that cooked tea has one more pile fermentation process than raw tea, so it can be qualitative and fermented into "red thick" tea soup at one time.

In the production technology of raw tea, there is no "pile fermentation" step.

Pu 'er raw tea

Pu 'er cooked tea

But we searched many records about Yunnan Pu 'er, only to find that "pile fermentation" was recorded in 1939.

In p>1939, Mr. Fan Hejun came to Fohai (now Menghai) to inspect the strength of Xishuangbanna tea factory. In his investigation result "Fohai Tea Industry", the tea-making technology at that time was clearly recorded, and there were steps of pile fermentation.

"A dish of C-tea and Chao-tea should be of high quality, with a bobbin edge of 15 Jin each, and all of them need tide to make them ferment, fragrant, soft and easy to knead. When the tide comes, the tea will be picked up in three or four colors (about 15 kilograms) and spread on the floor, with a thickness of ten inches, and then it will be scattered when it is clustered. Take water from three watering pots and sprinkle it evenly on the leaves ... When the tide is over, pile up a corner to ferment it. When the heat is high, the center reaches 16 degrees and the near edge is about 92 degrees. "

—— Fan Hejun's Fohai Tea Industry

Similarly, Tan Fangzhi (1944) also recorded in great detail:

"Before kneading tea, Han and Yi women were hired to pick out the old leaves with branches in the tea by hand. The coarse old camellia oleifera abel. is chopped and used as the base tea. The picked "high quality" and "shuttle edge" need to be wetted with 3% water respectively and piled in the corner of the house for fermentation. The bottom tea can't be tidal, otherwise it will be black and inedible after being dried. "

—— Tan Fangzhi

Fan Hejun and the founding team of Fohai Tea Factory

In 1957, Mr. Tang Qingyang, the head of Xishuangbanna Tea Factory (Menghai Tea Factory), also said:

"Since liberation, Xishuangbanna Tea Factory has broken the practice that it could not be processed in the rainy season in the past and produced overseas Chinese (sold) round tea in the rainy season in the third quarter ahead of schedule. After a certain temperature and humidity artificial technical management, not only the growth of mold is controlled, but also the characteristics of mellow fermentation taste after round tea can be preserved. "

It can be seen that the round tea at that time was "artificially managed at a certain temperature and humidity" after it was made into a finished product, which also meant that it had a slight post-fermentation.

and the taste is "post-fermented and mellow", which is very close to the current cooked tea in terms of various characteristics. Technological attempt of cooked tea-close to cooked tea

In p>1958, Xiaguan Tea Factory successfully experimented with high-temperature rapid fermentation of tight tea steam, and the whole process was turned over twice, up to 15 days.

Although this fermented compact tea has a big defect and a strange taste, it still laid the foundation for Xiaguan Tea Factory to develop its own pile fermentation after 1975.

in 196s and 197s, Guangzhou became an important trading port. Yunnan Pu 'er tea needs to be transferred to Guangzhou before it can be exported.

At the same time, because the transportation conditions are more convenient than before, the Yunnan green tea sent to Guangzhou and Hong Kong is not old enough, so Hong Kong tea merchants represented by Lu Zhuxun at that time tried to ferment Yunnan Pu 'er tea with water. His method was:

"Every 1 kilograms of tea is covered with 2 kilograms of water, and it is heated to 75 degrees with sacks. When the tea is about 7% dry, it is put into flour bags and hung in the warehouse. If the tea bag is too hot, pour it out and shake it before putting it in the bag. "

At this time, the fermentation time and temperature of Lu Zhuxun's tea are very close to the requirements of cooked tea. But the purpose of his fermentation is only to pursue the taste of old tea, so the fermentation degree is not deep enough.

Strictly speaking, Lu Zhuxun's tea is not really cooked tea. The real birth of cooked tea still has to go back to 1973. The official origin of cooked tea-the birth of cooked tea

In 1973, the provincial tea department received an order from a Hong Kong businessman.

Hong Kong businessmen want fermented Pu 'er tea with "red soup". And took out the sample they wanted-Pu 'er cooked tea fermented in Guangdong.

However, the provincial tea company didn't make real cooked tea at that time. They didn't know what to do, so they thought of a way to send people to study in the sample production area.

So, seven technicians, led by Wu Qiying from Kunming Tea Factory and Zou Bingliang from Menghai Tea Factory, came to Guangzhou to study fermentation technology.

There is another episode. At that time, Chen Peiren, an old technician in the tea factory, was unable to go to Guangzhou for some reason, so he was more energetic. He applied to the tea factory for 1 ton of coarse and old tea, and wanted to do his own experiments to make fermented Pu 'er.

After the study group went to Guangzhou came back, they began a large-scale experiment in Kunming Tea Factory, copying the technology of Guangzhou. I failed several times.

Because hot water is sprinkled during fermentation in Guangzhou, and the air in Guangzhou itself is more humid, the climate conditions in Kunming are different from those in Guangzhou.

when the Guangzhou team failed, Chen Peiren had successfully fermented a batch of tea by traditional methods, and took the lead in producing the earliest pile-fermented cooked tea in contemporary times.

The Guangzhou investigation team also responded by replacing the cold water used in Guangzhou with cold water, and after adjusting the process, it soon achieved success.

The finished products of the two groups were mixed together to form the first batch of official Pu 'er cooked tea exported to Hong Kong in 1973. This is also the beginning and end of 1973, which was recognized as the first year of Pu 'er cooked tea. The present age of Pu 'er cooked tea-mass production

Later, in 1974, the technicians from Menghai Tea Factory and Xiaguan Tea Factory returned to the factory to conduct experiments respectively. After their respective improvements, Menghai had its own technology, while Xiaguan combined the steam thermal fermentation technology of tight tea mentioned above, and each formed its own unique products.

In the same year, in 1974, Menghai fermented cooked tea began to be exported after trial production. Because the soup color did not meet the expected requirements, it was called Yunnan Green.

In p>1975, the Pu 'er cooked tea in Menghai Tea Factory was basically finalized, and the batch production of Pu 'er cooked tea garden tea 7452 and 7572 began. Shimonoseki Tea Factory introduced 7663 made of fermented cooked tea.

after 1976, this tea was exported to France in large quantities, which is the later marketing method. Kunming Tea Factory launched 7581 cooked tea bricks.

That is to say, although Pu 'er cooked tea was successfully produced in 1973, the large-scale product launch began in 1975. In 1973, it was exported in the form of loose tea, and it was not until 1975 that the first marked tea was pressed into bricks.

Therefore, the production of Pu 'er tea cooked tea has gone through the process of tide tea, the process of pouring water on tight tea, and then the process of imitating old tea in Hong Kong and Thailand, and finally it has become the process of Pu 'er tea cooked tea that we see now.

after decades of perfection, our existing pile-fermentation technology of Pu 'er cooked tea was born. Formed a variety of? Excellent quality, rich taste, mild and smooth Pu 'er cooked tea. Summary:-the difference between raw and cooked Pu 'er

Focus on the year when cooked tea was born-1973, the birthplace-Kunming Tea Factory; Cooked tea is not cooked, fried or cooked, but artificially fermented and cooked.

In order to avoid being deceived, please remember that there was no real artificial fermentation of cooked tea before 1973. (Before Pu 'er tea, by today's standards, it was all raw Pu 'er tea. )

That is to say, it is only 48 years since the birth of Pu 'er cooked tea. If you hear that the owner of the tea shop sells Pu 'er cooked tea for hundreds of years, you can laugh it off.

The difference between raw Pu 'er tea and cooked Pu 'er tea can be discussed from many angles, aspects and levels, but in short, three points can be remembered:

# Difference between raw and cooked Pu 'er tea #

1. Different technology.

The main step of raw tea is "fixing-rolling-drying". The main process steps of cooked tea are "fixing-rolling-piling-drying", and the fermentation degree has also changed dramatically with the addition of a piling process.

2. The color and taste of the soup are different.

raw tea is transparent in Huang Liang, while the soup color of cooked tea is red, thick and bright. Raw tea is fragrant and ripe tea is mellow.

3, the nature is different.

raw tea will be aged (post-fermented) with the change of time, while cooked tea has been preliminarily characterized during pile fermentation. Although it will be "more fragrant with age", the change is far less obvious than that of raw tea.

If you want to know more about Pu 'er cooked tea, please pay attention to our Tea Learning Society.