When is the best time to pick Tieguanyin in Anxi?

Anxi Tieguanyin is rigorous in production and exquisite in skill. It germinates in late March and is harvested all year round. Grain Rain is spring tea from mid-late April to early May, and its output accounts for 40-45% of the total annual output. Summer solstice is summer tea (from mid-late June to early July), and the output accounts for15-20%; Beginning of autumn is summer tea (from early August to late August), and its output accounts for 25-30%. Autumn tea is from the autumnal equinox to the cold dew (from late September to1early October), and the yield accounts for 25-30%. In some places, winter tea can be produced in one season because of the high temperature. Winter tea is green in color and taste, and the yield is not much. Autumn tea is the best tea quality, followed by spring tea. Autumn tea has a very high aroma, commonly known as autumn fragrance, but the soup tastes thin. Summer and summer tea are of poor quality. The standard for picking fresh leaves must be to pick two or three pieces after the tender leaves form buds and when the top Ye Gang develops into a small or medium-opened face. When harvesting, we should achieve "five noes", that is, no leaves, no broken leaves, no tips, no single piece, no fish leaves and no old terrier. The fresh leaves of tea trees in different growing areas should be separated, especially the early green, afternoon green and late green should be made strictly separately, and the afternoon green has the best quality.

The picking technology of Tieguanyin tea is very special. Instead of picking very tender bud leaves, pick 2-3 leaves from mature new shoots, commonly known as "show-face picking", which means picking when all leaves have spread out and formed buds. The collected fresh leaves are fresh and complete, and then they are cooled, dried and shaken (turned green) until they release natural floral fragrance. When the fragrance is strong, they are fried, twisted and wrapped (rolled with cotton cloth) to make the tea leaves roll into particles, and then baked with slow fire. After making raw tea, it is screened, winnowed, picked, evenly piled and packaged to make commercial tea.

Cool green, sun green, cool green: fresh leaves are harvested according to the standard, cooled thoroughly and dried. It is advisable to bask in the sun at 4 o'clock in the afternoon when the sun is soft. The leaves should be thinned and lose their original luster, the leaves turn black, and the hand-made leaves are soft. The terminal leaves droop and the weight loss is about 6-9%. Then move it into the room to cool, and then do it.

Greening: shaking and spreading are carried out alternately, collectively referred to as greening. The high technology and flexibility of green making are the key to determine the quality of raw tea. Shaking the leaf causes the edge of the leaf to be rubbed, and the cells at the edge of the leaf are damaged and then spread. Under certain temperature and humidity conditions, with the gradual loss of water in leaves, polyphenols in leaves are slowly oxidized by enzymes and cause a series of chemical changes, thus forming the unique quality of oolong tea. Tieguanyin's fresh leaves are thick, so it needs to be shaken again to prolong the greening time. Shake them 3-5 times, and the number of revolutions per shake is from less to more. After shaking, the spreading time is from short to long, and the thickness of spreading blades is from thin to thick. The second and third shaking of green leaves must be rich in green flavor and stiff in fresh leaves, commonly known as "returning the sun", and the water in the stems and leaves should be redistributed and balanced. The fourth and fifth shaking depends on the change degree of green leaf color and fragrance. Moderate green leaves with vermilion edges, yellow-green (semi-ripe banana skin color) in the middle, convex surface, spoon-shaped leaves from the back, emitting orchid fragrance, slightly shiny leaves, bright red leaves and wrinkled stem skin.

Stir-fry: stir-fry in time. As the smell of green Julia disappears, it should be done when the fragrance first appears.

Rolling and baking: Tieguanyin's rolling is repeated many times. Knead for about 3-4 minutes, and bake for the first time after deblocking. Bake until it is 50% to 60% dry, then bake it when it doesn't stick to your hands, wrap it while it is hot, knead, press, rub, scratch and shrink it, and then bake it slowly at 50-60℃ to make the finished product rich in fragrance, mellow in taste and shiny in appearance, with a layer of hoarfrost on the surface of tea strips. Wrapping, rolling and baking are repeated many times. Until the appearance is satisfactory. It is best to dry the finished product.

Air separation: the slowly baked tea leaves are finally air-separated, and the stems and impurities are removed to obtain the finished product.

Tieguanyin shaking green technology

The following is an example of Tieguanyin's first shaking technique:

1 It is the key to get high fragrance and "keep green"

Shaking green is the key to do Tieguanyin well, and "flowing water" is one of the main purposes of shaking green. The so-called "flowing water" means that "the tender stems contain a considerable amount of aromatic substances", and the contents of amino acids and non-ester catechins which are l-2 times higher than those of bud leaves diffuse into the leaves with water, and combine with the effective substances in the leaves to transform into higher and stronger aromatic substances, which is also an important reason for the high aroma of oolong tea. The process of "flowing water" requires not only that the leaves are in motion, but also that the leaves and stems have a certain difference in water content to maintain the physiological function (hydrophilic ability) of mesophyll cells, which is what tea farmers call "keeping green". On the contrary, if the physiological activity of mesophyll cells is lost prematurely, it is called "dead green", and "dead green" can't make good tea, because it can't "drain water", and the leaves can't be replenished with water in the process of shaking green, and the leaves lose too much water, resulting in dry appearance and low internal fragrance.

2 "three defenses, one attack and one supplement" of the green shaking operation

Tieguanyin's green shaking operation is known as "three guards, one attack and one supplement", that is, the first and second green shaking should be light, the number of revolutions should not be too much, and the interval of stopping green should be short. Generally, it takes 3 minutes for the first shaking and 5 minutes for the second shaking to avoid excessive water loss, so as to maintain the physiological activity of green leaves and make withered leaves "live" slowly. By the third and fourth shaking, you have to shake it hard enough to destroy the leaf edge to a certain extent, and the green and peculiar smell will come out. Generally, it takes 10 minutes for the third shake and 30 minutes for the fourth shake. "One supplement" means shaking it again when it is not enough for the fourth time and the leaves are not "red". Every revolution should be from less to more, and the green stopping time should be from short to long. Stop the green for the first time, the second time and the third time until the green gas disappears and the leaves on the surface become soft to prevent the leaves from "dying green" due to excessive water loss.

3 Tieguanyin shake green "water" master degree

"Water elimination" is the water loss of tea green. Proper mastery of "water elimination" is the technology of shaking green. In the process of shaking the green leaves to cool, if the cooling time is too long, it can't be shaken in time, resulting in excessive water loss, rustling in the hands and boredom, which is called "running water". If the green leaves don't stop enough, the water is not enough, the green leaves are still "fake", the buds are still standing, full of water, and the hands feel broken, the green leaves can be killed. This is called "big water". The finished tea made of "water exhausted" leaves is loose in appearance and yellow in color. The finished tea made of "Dashui" leaves is not compact enough in appearance, and its color is bluish gray. Both of them are of poor quality.

Proper control of "water elimination" often varies with season, climate and variety. Tieguanyin should master the principle of "spring fades, summer wrinkles and autumn stays", because the temperature in spring is low and the temperature is high, and the tea leaves are rich and moist, so it is necessary to evaporate more water in the process of making green, that is, it can be shaken more heavily and stopped for a longer time. When the green is moderate, the stems and leaves should be "faded", that is, the tender stems are dry and the appearance is elastic. As for the high temperature of tea gardens in summer summer, it is necessary to steam and spin with Shaanxi water, with less water loss and slightly wrinkled stems and leaves, so the fermentation can be moderate. Because autumn tea contains less water, only fresh and fresh tea will form a strong aroma, so when it is moderately green, the stems and leaves are still slightly shiny, which can reflect the autumn fragrance characteristics of autumn tea.

4 "Fermentation" mastery

According to the experience of old tea farmers, it is considered that we should master the degree of "fermentation". To achieve the principle of "fragrance is equal in spring and autumn, and red in summer and summer", because the temperature is relatively low in spring and autumn, the leaves turn red slowly, so that the leaves can be shaken until the moisture in the stems and leaves disappears, revealing a higher floral fragrance, and then go green. In summer and summer, the temperature of tea leaves is high, and the leaves are "fermented" while shaking, so we can't wait for "the fragrance of stems and leaves is high". Mainly when the leaf red becomes moderate, it is necessary to kill the green immediately, otherwise it will be excessively "fermented" and reduce the quality.

5 low temperature and low humidity north wind day

The north wind is a good weather for making high-grade tea. Because in this weather, the enzymatic oxidation of polyphenols in leaves is relatively slow, and the fermentation of leaves is relatively slow, the leaves can be shaken until they disappear, so that the contents in leaves can be fully converted into aroma and taste substances of tea. At the same time, under low temperature and low temperature conditions, the chemical changes of substances in leaves are relatively slow, and the transformation of substances is greater than consumption, which is beneficial to "keeping green", and the rich effective substances in stems can be fully utilized after "keeping green", so "North Wind Day" is a good weather for making tea.

In short, to make a good tone, we must cooperate with the "heaven and earth" weather is "weather", that is, the tea maker and the weather. Land is a "geographical location", which refers to Tieguanyin's unique growth environment and good raw materials of fresh leaves, which is also a prerequisite for making high-quality Tieguanyin. In addition, people should be "suitable for people", that is, the technical level of making tea. To do Tieguanyin well, we must know how to "make it green" and master the operating essentials and degree of the shaking process, which is the subjective factor to do Tieguanyin well.

Acid drag method

One is turning green, the other is pulling green, and the third is dragging green. Compared with fried tea, the difference is as follows:

1. Stir-fry tea: stir-fry tea at noon 1 1- 12 the next day after picking. Coarse tea is banded, round, dark green in color, rich in aroma, blue in flavor, mellow but slightly astringent in taste, bright in rhyme and golden in soup color.

Second, the greening method: stir-fry the greens on the second day after picking 15- 18. The coarse tea is compact, green in color, rich in aroma, mellow in taste, clear in rhyme, peanut-flavored and sweet and sour, but light in taste, and golden and green in soup color.

Third, the green pulling method: stir-fry the green (green fixing) at 22-24 hours the next day after picking the green. The crude tea is tight, dark green in color, rich in aroma, mellow and rhythmic, sweet and sour, and the soup is yellow or deep golden yellow.

Four, drag green method: the third day after picking green 6- 10 fried green (fixed green). Rough tea is slightly tight in shape, dark green in color, Shang Gao in aroma, not pure enough, light in rhyme, mellow in taste and rich in sour taste. If it is soaked for a long time, the tea soup will turn orange and the bottom of the leaves will become hard and dark green.