First, picking green: Tieguanyin's picking requirement is to pick when the fresh leaves grow to three or four leaves and the terminal buds stop growing. In this way, tea with mature leaves and not too old is better, rich in endoplasmic components, and the leaves have a certain hardness, which is also convenient to shake. Of course, not all leaves can grow consistently. Some have buds at the top, and some with high requirements will pick the buds at the top first, and then pick the mature leaves below.
Second, sun-drying: the collected leaves should be properly sun-dried, also called "sunlight withering". The purpose is to lose some water and make it easy to shake the green. Of course, it will also have a positive effect on the quality of finished tea.
Third, air drying: the dried tea leaves should be placed in a cool room in time to cool down and dissipate heat. They should not be excessively dried or piled together. The leaves are still fresh and have a breathing function. When they are stuffy together, they will get hot and affect the quality.
Green-making: Green-making is a unique process of oolong tea production, and it is also the key to the formation of its quality characteristics. There are two processes in the process: A shaking and B spreading. Modern oolong tea is made by shaking machine, which used to be hand-cranked, which was time-consuming and laborious. Tieguanyin's current practice is to shake three times, and some shake four times.
The first time is 3-5min, the second time is 5- 10min, and the third time is 15-20min, 12h or more. According to the fermentation degree of tea, the time of shaking green and the length of spreading time are controlled.
Fifth, deactivation: this process has a cohesive effect. The first step is to completely destroy the activity of enzyme and solidify the quality of molding. The second step is to release some water to facilitate the operation of subsequent processes. At the same time, it can also promote a series of internal changes, such as reducing green flavor, promoting the exposure of high-boiling aromatic substances, and increasing soluble sugar and pectin.
The process of rolling and baking is mainly the forming process of Tieguanyin, and the graininess of Tieguanyin is formed in this process. Rubbing and baking is also an iterative process. The current practice in Anxi is basically to do three kneading and three baking, that is, kneading-once baking-once wrapping-twice baking-twice wrapping-drying. At present, the kneading of Tieguanyin method is actually two processes, namely, quick wrapping and kneading. When wrapping tea quickly, wrap the tea into a big ball with a special cloth towel. After repeated several times, it is put into a flat kneading machine to knead the dough and set it, and then it is put into a dryer to dry, and some water is lost to set it. Tea leaves are easy to disperse when the water content is high. After repeated several times, the tea leaves became granular. The compactness of the granules depends on the number of times you knead and the intensity of kneading. Relatively speaking, the better the granularity, the more time and energy it takes to make tea, and the higher the cost.
Seven, pick and choose: after the tea leaves are dried, it is Tieguanyin Maocha. At this time, there are many tea stalks, and the brewed products are astringent, so you should be picky. Pick the tea leaves, sieve them, mix them and adjust their taste, and then pack them for sale!