Tanyang Gongfu tea making technique

Fujian
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"Tanyang Gongfu" is a fully fermented tea. It is named after Tanyang Village, which originated at the foot of Baiyun Mountain in Fu'an City and beside Qinghong Creek. Tanyang Village has the Baiyun Mountain Range as its natural barrier, and the natural environment is unique and very suitable for the growth of tea trees. During the Xianfeng and Tongzhi years of the Qing Dynasty, a family surnamed Hu in Tanyang Village succeeded in making black tea by hand-kneading, fermenting, and baking. Its production area gradually spread to various counties in eastern Fujian, and Tanyang Gongfu black tea became famous. At its peak, there were 36 tea shops and foreign companies in a street less than one kilometer in the village, employing more than 3,000 people a year, producing more than 50,000 pieces of tea a year, and the output value was more than 1 million silver dollars. From the sixth year of Guangxu to the twenty-fifth year of the Republic of China (1881-1936 AD), Tanyang Gongfu tea was exported to more than 20 countries and regions such as the Netherlands, Britain, France, Japan, and Southeast Asia every year, and was favored by royal nobles in countries such as the Netherlands and Britain. In 1915, "Tanyang Gongfu" black tea won the gold medal at the World Expo along with the national liquor Maotai, becoming one of the international famous tea brands. The process of making Tanyang Gongfu tea consists of four steps: withering, rolling, fermentation, and drying. First, the polyphenol compounds in the fresh tea leaves are moderately oxidized, and then the black tea with strips is made, the buds and leaves are kept intact, and the soup is red. Then, after screening, cutting, air selection, picking, re-firing, and even piling, it is divided into commercial teas of various grades. Tanyang Gongfu tea is strictly blended and selected to ensure the quality of "bright color, rich fragrance, fresh, pure, and sweet". Its appearance is round, tight, and straight, the color is black and oily, the leaf base color is good and durable, the soup color is bright red and golden, and it has the rich fragrance of osmanthus. The taste is fresh, strong, mellow, and sweet. It is suitable for drinking alone, and it is also suitable for "adjusting" and mixing sugar and milk. Tanyang Gongfu black tea is also called "oolong" or "black tea" by local tea farmers. It has health benefits such as refreshing the mind and brain, nourishing the skin and beautifying, lowering blood pressure, reducing blood sugar, warming the stomach and promoting digestion. "Tanyang Gongfu" has a long and glorious history. In the Tang Dynasty, there were wild tea trees for making Gongfu black tea, which was exported to more than 20 countries and regions such as Japan and the United Kingdom, forming a fairly large tea market. Its main variety is "Tanyang Caicha", and its unique quality is deeply loved by consumers in Western Europe, Russia, the Arab region and Southeast Asian countries.

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