On April 20, the "Chutian Good Tea Coastal Tour" fleet set off from Wuhan, Hubei ("Chutian Good Tea | Seven Teas under Chushan"), and arrived at the sixth stop: Quanzhou, Fujian on April 29.
Quanzhou, where ancient tea went to the world, has the earliest record of Fujian tea history, and has many famous tea products. Today, Chutian Haocha visited Quanzhou, and Chibi Green Brick Tea "Xiaoqing" discovered that Quanzhou has many similarities with its hometown (Chibi).
Quanzhou & Chibi are nearly a thousand miles apart, but they have a lot in common about tea. If you walk around these two cities, you can smell the strong aroma of tea and hear the long-standing tea stories.
Chibi, the birthplace of Chibi Green Brick Tea;
Quanzhou, the origin of Tieguanyin tea.
Although these two teas belong to different tea families, they are both household names and world-renowned.
Chibi Green Brick Tea and Tieguanyin are both very old.
In total, Chibi Green Brick Tea is 1,018 years old this year.
Well-known experts and scholars in the Chinese tea industry have unanimously agreed at the 2021 "Chibi Green Brick Tea Summit Forum": Chibi Green Brick Tea began in 1006 AD (the third year of Jingde in the Northern Song Dynasty) and was produced in the "China Black Tea" at the 30th north latitude line. Golden tea fermentation area - Yangloudong."
Chibi Green Brick Tea was launched in the form of "brick" in the 11th year of Xianfeng Period of the Qing Dynasty (1861). That year, tea makers in Yangloudong, Chibi, Hubei Province improved the pressed tea production technology and designed the shape into a rectangular parallelepiped, creating the world's first brick tea.
The history of Tieguanyin can be traced back to 1725-1735. It was discovered in Xiping Town, Anxi County. It is loved by tea drinkers around the world for its unique "orchid fragrance" and "Guanyin rhyme" excellent qualities.
Chibi Green Brick Tea and Tieguanyin are named after the shape of the tea leaves.
Chibi Green Brick Tea is shaped like a brick, upright and tightly knotted, greenish-brown in color, and smells old when dried.
Tieguanyin is dark and firm, heavy like "iron", with beautiful fragrance and shape, just like "Guanyin".
Chibi Green Brick Tea and Tieguanyin have complicated production processes, and there is a saying that "good tea is not easy to make". The production techniques have been included in the list of representative items of national intangible cultural heritage.
Chibi Green Brick Tea can be passed down for thousands of years, and it must have its own uniqueness. As far as the production process is concerned, Chibi Green Brick Tea is made through 72 processes including picking, initial production, stacking, copying, pressing, and baking.
Chibi Green Brick Tea is carefully polished with pure inner aroma, mellow taste, bright orange-red soup color, dark brown leaf base, and unique taste and sweet aftertaste.
In 2014, Zhaoliqiao brick tea making skills were approved by the State Council and included in the fourth batch of national intangible cultural heritage representative projects; in 2022, Chibi Zhaoliqiao brick tea making skills were included in the UNESCO representative works of human intangible cultural heritage. directory.
All processes of making Tieguanyin tea in Anxi require manual operation. Anxi tea farmers absorbed the tea-making principles of "full fermentation" for black tea and "non-fermentation" for green tea, and combined with Anxi's actual conditions, invented a unique "semi-fermentation" Tieguanyin production process.
In the more than 10 processes of making tea, tea makers also need to flexibly master the techniques of "watching the green and making green" and "watching the sky and making green" according to different conditions such as season, climate, fresh leaves, etc., and flexibly grasp the application in each process. Pay attention to the key points.
Sun-dried green, cooled green, shaken green...the tea leaves undergo a series of changes, forming a unique "green leaf with red edge" phenomenon, which constitutes the unique "color, aroma and taste" of Tieguanyin.
In 2008, Tieguanyin production skills were included in the second batch of national intangible cultural heritage representative projects.
Chibi Green Brick Tea and Tieguanyin, from ancient times to the present, have gone from the local to the world.
There is an ancient poem that goes: "The ancient alleys of Yanglou are secluded with blue stones, and the caves with centuries-old wooden buildings are in autumn. The fragrance of tea has been cultivated for thousands of years, and the charm of Guanyin Spring washes away the wind."
More than 300 years ago, the "Wanli Tea Ceremony" started from Yanglou Cave in Chibi, Hubei. , reaching Europe directly, forming an ancient long-distance trade route with tea as a bulk commodity.
Pieces of Red Cliff green brick tea were transported to the new store in wheelbarrows and shipped out of the river. They were transported to Hankou, up the Han River, to Xiangyang, and then boarded by boat, carried on livestock and carts, and transported across the grasslands and deserts... In this way, a China-Russia tea road of thousands of miles was created. .
Quanzhou is the starting point of the Maritime Silk Road and a window for dialogue between China and the world during the Song and Yuan Dynasties.
As an important export commodity, Anxi tea starts from Quanzhou Port and goes to the world along the "Maritime Silk Road". At that time, there were already 58 countries that had trade relations with Anxi, covering Southeast Asia, West Africa, North Africa and other places. By the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, Anxi tea was popular in Europe and the United States, and 80% of the tea produced in Anxi was exported overseas.
Today, Chibi Green Brick Tea and Tieguanyin are also important business cards for cultural and economic exchanges between China and foreign countries.
Make Chutian good tea brand better and stronger, so that more good tea can go out of Hubei and go to the world! From April 20 to May 22, Hubei launched the "Chutian Good Tea Coastal Tour" activity, going deep into Nanning, Guangzhou, Dongguan, Shenzhen, Xiamen, Quanzhou, Fuzhou, Wenzhou, Ningbo, Shanghai, Nantong, Qingdao, Tianjin, and Tangshan In 16 cities, including Dalian, Hangzhou, and Dalian, the Yangtze River Cloud News client has collaborated with local media to launch a series of reports on the "Twin Cities Looking for Tea" to give you a taste of the tea culture in the Twin Cities.
At the next stop, the "Chutian Good Tea Coastal Tour" fleet will arrive in Fuzhou. The outstanding "tea disciples" who graduated from Chucha Mountain will meet new friends and start a new story, so stay tuned!
Produced by: Hubei Radio and Television News Center
Editor and reviewer: Xu Yuan Peng Yunhe
Reporter: Xie Yajing
Artist editor: Qiu Fanglei
Credit: Fujian Release Haibo tv
