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A Detailed Explanation of the Picking and Processing Techniques of Keemun Black Tea

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The picking and processing craft of Keemun black tea is fine and meticulous. The buds and leaves of one bud with two or three leaves are picked as raw material. After withering, rolling and fermentation, the buds and leaves change from green to purplish copper red, and the aroma is released, after which they are baked over a gentle fire until dry. After the rough black tea is made, it must still undergo refining. The refining process is complex and labor-intensive, and the finished tea is made through rough sifting, shaking sifting, grading sifting, tight-gate sifting, brushing sifting, cutting, air selection, picking and sorting, supplementary firing, clean wind selection, blending and packing. The high-grade Keemun black tea has a tight, fine and slender appearance, a dark glossy color, and after brewing the tea liquor is red and thick, with a fresh, fragrant and richly aromatic scent.

The picking and processing craft of Keemun black tea is fine and meticulous. The buds and leaves of one bud with two or three leaves are picked as raw material. After withering, rolling and fermentation, the buds and leaves change from green to purplish copper red, and the aroma is released, after which they are baked over a gentle fire until dry. After the rough black tea is made, it must still undergo refining. The refining process is complex and labor-intensive, and the finished tea is made through rough sifting, shaking sifting, grading sifting, tight-gate sifting, brushing sifting, cutting, air selection, picking and sorting, supplementary firing, clean wind selection, blending and packing.

The high-grade Keemun black tea has a tight, fine and slender appearance, a dark glossy color, and after brewing the tea liquor is red and thick, with a fresh, fragrant and richly aromatic scent that is lasting, with an obvious sweet fragrance, sometimes carrying a rose floral scent. This unique fragrance of Keemun black tea is called "Keemun aroma" by many consumers abroad.

Its main characteristics are: the tea's appearance is tight, fine and slender, with visible pekoe, and a dark glossy color; the tea's aroma is fresh and lasting, resembling both fruit fragrance and orchid fragrance, and in the international tea market this aroma is specifically called "Keemun aroma"; the tea liquor color and the color of the brewed leaves are red, bright and clear, and the taste is fresh, mellow and full-bodied. Even when blended with milk and sugar, its fragrance is not only undiminished but becomes even more richly aromatic.

The tea plant used for "Keemun aroma" is the national improved variety "Qimen cultivar" (Keemun cultivar) as determined by the National Tea Variety Approval Committee. It is a shrub type, medium-leaf class, with a semi-spreading tree posture, medium branching density, leaves slightly slanting upward, leaf shape long elliptical, leaf surface slightly raised, leaf color green, rich in luster, and leaf texture soft.

Keemun black tea is picked and processed fresh to preserve the effective components of the fresh leaves. The special-grade Keemun black tea is mainly made from one bud with one leaf and one bud with two leaves, and the production craft is exquisite. It is divided into two major processes: initial processing and refining. Initial processing includes procedures such as withering, rolling, fermentation and drying. Refining takes the rough tea of differing lengths, thicknesses, weights, curvatures and straightness, and through sifting, shaping, evaluation and selection, and grading and stacking, at the same time, in order to improve dryness, maintain quality, facilitate storage and further bring out the tea's aroma, it is fired again and blended, becoming a finished tea with both excellent appearance and quality.

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