Detailed Explanation of Famous Tea Plucking and Fresh Leaf Processing Techniques

The quality of famous tea depends to a large extent on the fresh leaf raw material, but in recent years tea farmers' awareness of product quality has declined somewhat, especially in the plucking stage where standards are not strictly enforced, affecting the quality of famous tea. The plucking and fresh leaf processing techniques for famous tea are now introduced to tea farmers.

1. Plucking of Famous Tea

The requirements for fresh leaf raw material of famous tea are extremely strict; the selected raw material must be uniform in thickness, complete, fresh and clean. It is strictly forbidden to mix in diseased or insect-damaged leaves, broken leaves, scales, fish leaves, purple buds, and even less to carry stem bases, tea fruits, old leaves and other debris. Plucking must be fine and strict. Generally speaking, high-grade famous tea plucks only single buds and fresh leaves of one bud and one initial leaf where the bud is longer than the leaf; medium-grade famous tea plucks fresh leaves of one bud and one leaf and one bud and two initial leaves; low-grade famous tea and quality tea pluck one bud and two or three leaves and opposite-clamp leaves of the same tenderness. To ensure the excellent quality of famous tea, the raw material for making famous tea, regardless of which kind of fresh leaf, should be hand-plucked, and plucking as early and as tender as possible should be pursued. Buds and leaves are required to form a whole cluster and be uniform in size; they must not be plucked broken and must not carry stem bases, especially for high-grade famous tea where plucking requirements are even stricter. Fresh leaves should be plucked and placed gently. The containers for holding, storing and transporting fresh leaves should be clean bamboo-weave tea baskets or woven baskets with good ventilation; cloth bags, plastic bags and other soft packaging materials must not be used, to prevent the fresh leaves from being crushed by weight.

While emphasizing plucking, famous tea should also attach great importance to nurturing the bush, and plucking, nurturing and cultivating should be combined. In addition to promptly washing the bush after the spring tea plucking is finished, that is, plucking clean all the fresh leaves left from the season to prompt early sprouting of tea buds, summer and autumn tea should be plucked with leaves retained, leaving the leaves that do not meet the tenderness requirements of the raw material. The amount of leaves retained should be such that the tea bush just does not expose its branches and trunk.

2. Fresh Leaf Processing

After the fresh leaves are plucked and brought back, they should be inspected for whether they form whole clusters, are not broken, and have no reddening, among other aspects. If there are fresh leaves that do not meet the requirements, they should be handled promptly. Before the fresh leaves are processed, they must undergo spreading. The main purpose of spreading is to improve tea quality. Spreading the fresh leaves can moderately reduce their moisture, release the grassy smell, and promote the transformation of aroma components. These physical and chemical changes are conducive to the formation of the appearance and aroma of famous tea and have a positive effect on improving the quality of famous tea. Spreading fresh leaves can also raise work efficiency, save energy and lower costs.

Before spreading the fresh leaves, fresh leaves of different varieties must be separated, sunny-day leaves separated from rain-water leaves, leaves from mature tea trees (including bushes renewed by collar pruning) separated from leaves of old tea trees, and fresh leaves plucked in the morning separated from those plucked in the afternoon. This is because different fresh leaves differ in bud and leaf size, leaf thickness, color depth, stem and stalk thickness, and moisture content. If they are not separated for firing, some tea leaves will develop scorched edges or red stems and red leaves, and the finished tea will have a mottled color, affecting tea quality.

On the basis of separation, the fresh leaves also need to be piled by grade and spread separately. High-grade famous tea fresh leaves are tender and fine, so they must be spread on bamboo trays or bamboo mats, and should not be spread on cement ground. Otherwise, when collecting the leaves a broom would inevitably be used to sweep them, which easily damages the buds and leaves and causes reddening; at the same time, cement ground has a lot of dust, which also does not meet product hygiene requirements.

For spreading thickness, generally high-grade famous tea fresh leaves must not exceed 3.5 cm; if the supply of raw material for firing cannot keep up, they can be spread thinner; medium- and low-grade famous tea fresh leaves should be 5-8 cm. In dry weather, when firing cannot keep up, the spread can be slightly thicker, but not too thick, otherwise the fresh leaves will heat up and turn red. The degree of spreading must reach a standard moisture loss rate of 10-15%. The spreading time depends on the weather, generally 6-12 hours, and at most must not exceed 24 hours; on cloudy and rainy days it can be spread thinner and for a longer time; on sunny and dry days it can be spread thicker and for a shorter time. If the spreading time is too long, the tea liquor color will turn yellow, affecting quality.

During spreading, the fresh leaves should be turned appropriately so that moisture is released evenly. Generally, the leaves should be gently turned once every 4-6 hours; turning too heavily will damage the tea leaves, cause reddening and affect the quality of the finished tea. If the weather is dry and the tea leaves cannot be fired in time, the leaves may not be turned, and doors and windows should be closed. But after spreading for several hours, because some fresh leaves have already lost more moisture and begun to shrivel, they can be gently picked up by hand and fired first. If they are rain-water leaves, they can be turned several more times, and doors and windows should be opened to allow indoor and outdoor air to circulate, so that the surface moisture of the fresh leaves disperses faster and they can be fired in time.

In addition, before the fresh leaves are processed, they also need to undergo sieving. No matter how carefully famous tea is plucked, it is still inevitable that some buds and leaves will be plucked broken, and it is also inevitable that a small amount of buds and leaves that do not meet the plucking standard will be mixed in. Therefore, in principle, the raw material must be sieved before firing. In this way, the firing temperature can be controlled according to differences in fresh leaf size, and after sieving the fresh leaves are fired separately, so the finished dry tea is uniform in size and beautiful in appearance.