Detailed Explanation of the Hand-frying Technique for Xinyang Maojian Tea

The hand-frying of Xinyang Maojian is divided into processes such as the raw pot, the cooked pot, baking, and picking and sorting.

1. Raw pot

The raw and cooked pots both use a "Niu Si pot" with a diameter of 82.5 cm, mounted at a 30-35 degree slant on a stove platform more than 33 cm high, with the two pots built adjoining each other. The raw pot is for fixing (de-enzyming) and initial rolling. Before frying tea, the pot surface must be polished and wiped clean to keep the pot surface clean and smooth. The pot temperature is relatively high, with different requirements for fresh leaves of each grade: 160-180°C for high-grade fresh leaves; 180-200°C for medium- and low-grade fresh leaves. The leaf load per pot is 0.5-0.75 kg. The frying time in the raw pot is flexibly controlled according to the tenderness of the fresh leaves, the plumpness or thinness of the buds and leaves, and the moisture content; generally, tossing and rolling takes 7-10 minutes. When the pot temperature rises to the required level, begin adding the leaves, and use a specially made tea brush (a round brush made of woven bamboo and thatch) to rhythmically toss and turn them, continuously stir-frying the leaves in the pot, producing a slight popping sound as the moisture rapidly dissipates. After about 3-5 minutes, the leaf texture becomes soft and the leaves curl up; when they can be held into a ball in the hand, switch to the rolling "wrapping" frying method, using the bamboo tips at the front of the tea brush to gather the leaves together and roll them in an arc-shaped mass in the pot, applying force first lightly then heavily, with the turning radius first large then small, and the motion first slow then fast, while occasionally shaking the tea leaves loose with the brush to release moisture. Alternating in this way for about 7 minutes, fry until 40-50% dry (moisture content 55%), the strips are distinct, and a small amount of tea juice is squeezed out with a sticky feel, then sweep into the cooked pot for shaping.

2. Cooked pot

The cooked pot is the key step in forming Maojian's fine, round, tight and straight shape. Through shaping, moisture evaporates and aroma develops, and the appearance achieves fineness, roundness, tightness and straightness. The pot temperature is 80-90°C. The pot surface must be clean and smooth.

After the leaves from the raw pot are swept into the cooked pot, "wrapping" and "fanning" are still carried out at first. Wrapping uses greater force and a smaller turning circle, mainly to further roll the strips tight; fanning uses less force and a larger turning circle, serving to roll the strips and release moisture. When the tea strips are tight and fine, carry out "driving". Driving requires gripping the tea brush firmly, slightly touching the tea strips, rotating up and down, driving the tea strips straight and shaking loose the clumps. When fried to 60-70% dry and the tea juice on the leaf surface no longer sticks together, use the right hand (whichever is more comfortable) to carry out "strip arranging".

Strip arranging includes two techniques: grasping and flinging. When grasping, palm facing down, thumb raised, use wrist force at a height of 12-15 cm from the center of the pot to quickly and nimbly shake and fling the leaf strips out from the "tiger's mouth" (the gap between thumb and index finger), so that the tea strips fall from the center of the pot along the edge in sequence into the center of the pot; do not fling all the tea leaves in the hand at once, but keep about two-fifths in reserve. Proceed in sequence until the tea strips are formed and reach 70-80% dry (moisture content 33-35%), then remove from the pot.

"Strip arranging" requires grasping evenly, flinging widely, and laying straight without disorder, so the hand motions should start loose, high, light and slow, and gradually become tight, low, heavy and fast as moisture dissipates.

3. Baking

The main function of baking is to fix the shape, continue evaporating moisture, achieve the purpose of drying, prevent quality deterioration, and further develop color, aroma and taste. Baking is carried out twice, as initial firing and full firing, with proper spreading in between.

Initial baking (mao huo): spread the leaves from the cooked pot on a baking basket for about half an hour, with each basket holding the leaf amount of 4-5 pots, then place on the heated stove for initial baking. The initial baking temperature (at the center of the baking top) is 70-90°C, for 20-25 minutes, turning once every 5-8 minutes, until the moisture content is about 15%, then remove from the basket and spread. The spreading time is no less than 40 minutes, so that the moisture within the leaves is redistributed, which helps full drying.

Second baking (full firing): use a gentle fire for slow baking, with a fire temperature of about 60°C, about 2.5 kg of leaves per baking basket, for 30 minutes, turning once every 10 minutes, until the moisture content reaches 6%, the tea leaves crumble into powder when pinched by hand, the color is emerald green with high aroma, the strip shape is attractive, and the white down is visible, then remove from the basket immediately.

4. Picking and sorting

After the initial processing of Xinyang Maojian, manual picking and sorting removes coarse old leaves, yellow flakes, tea stems and broken pieces. The greenish strip-like but not tightly formed flake tea picked out is called "huiqing"; the large yellow flakes and broken pieces and dust picked out are classified as below-grade tea.