Smacking, also known as smoking, is a process of making flower tea. The basic principle is to mix the tea blank with the freshly picked flowers, the flowers spit out the fragrance, the tea blank absorbs the fragrance, and the tea fragrance and the floral fragrance are finally fused, and the flower tea is made.
Jasmine tea is a tea variety made by mixing fresh jasmine and green tea blanks, which is different from the general herbal tea that directly uses flowers as the infuser, but removes the flowers after squirting and only retains the tea.
Therefore, the finished jasmine tea does not see the flowers in the tea, but there is jasmine fragrance in the tea.
Fuzhou is located in the first zone, the climate is mild, the rainfall is abundant, the natural conditions are very suitable for the growth of jasmine, so far there is a history of more than 2,000 years of jasmine planting. As the birthplace of jasmine tea, the jasmine tea making process in Fuzhou has a history of nearly 1,000 years.
Fuzhou jasmine tea is a representative kind of flower tea, belonging to the reprocessed tea, it originated in the Han Dynasty, developed in the Tang and Song dynasties, and flourished in the Ming and Qing dynasties. During the Daoguang period of the Qing Dynasty, Fuzhou, as one of the treaty ports, became one of the three major tea markets in ChinaDuring the Xianfeng period, Fuzhou jasmine tea, as a royal tribute tea, began to be commercialized on a large scale, and sold well in Europe, America and Nanyang regions.
The process of Fuzhou jasmine tea is based on roasted green tea as the blank and jasmine flowers, through a series of complex kiln making processes, so that the tea and jasmine fragrance are interacted and integrated, and finally flowered. Its product characteristics: the strip cord is tight and even, the color is black and brown and oily, the aroma is fresh and lasting, the taste is mellow and fresh, the soup color is yellow and green, the bottom of the leaf is tender and soft, and it has the reputation of "the jasmine has no supreme taste, and is listed as the first fragrance in the world".
Fuzhou jasmine tea kiln making process, its technical process mainly includes tea blank rough, refining and serving flowers, camellia spelling (flowers), static flowers, stacking and recuperation, camellia separation (flowering), turning or jacquard, even stacking and packing.
Craft process:
1. Serve flowers. After the flowers are picked, they must be cooled. Then the flowers are served to make the flowers fully open, and the flowers can be screened when the openness reaches 80%. 2. Flowers.
That is, camellia spelling, is the key process of Fuzhou jasmine tea making process, with the amount of flowers, flower openness, temperature, moisture, thickness and time six factors of the requirements will be different in different kilns.
3. Tonghua. According to the temperature, moisture and jasmine condition of the kiln, the time from the kiln to the flower is about 5 to 6 hours, and it is generally carried out in the early morning.
4. Compound kiln. After spending an hour, the pile will be rebuilt.
5. Flowering. 5 hours to 6 hours after the re-kiln, that is, the camellia is separated, the order is "more kiln times first, low kiln times later, the same kiln times first high-grade tea, then low-grade tea".
6. Baking. Removes excess moisture while avoiding aroma loss. Baking is the difficulty of making Fuzhou jasmine tea.
7. Jacquard. The purpose of jacquard is to improve the freshness of flower tea, and the operation method is similar to that of the flower.
The processing of Fuzhou jasmine tea is still the traditional process of piling up kilns with flowers and tea blanks, and there are some deficiencies in this process, which leads to the low comprehensive utilization rate of jasmine and restricts the development of jasmine tea. In addition, with the advancement of urbanization and industrialization, the planting area of jasmine in Fuzhou has been decreasing, and the production of jasmine tea has decreased sharply.
In order to better promote the inheritance of the traditional kiln-making skills of Fuzhou jasmine tea, in recent years, the Fuzhou Municipal Party Committee and the Municipal Government have issued a series of protection and development policies, and industry associations have also participated in organizing many qualification evaluation and certification activities.
In 2014, the flower tea making technique (Fuzhou jasmine tea making process) was included in the fourth batch of national intangible cultural heritage representative items.
At the end of 2022, UNESCO officially approved the inclusion of the project "Traditional Chinese Tea-making Techniques and Related Customs" on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The project includes 6 national intangible cultural heritage representative projects in Fujian Province, and the jasmine tea making process in Fuzhou is among them.