Shao

The floral-scented Bai Mudan tea is made from suitable raw materials for white tea production, processed through a combination of withering, shaking the green, stacking after merging sieves, baking, and sorting. The processing of floral-scented Bai Mudan tea mainly includes the following steps: 1. First combined withering: indoor natural withering, indoor heated withering, and sun withering are combined. Sun withering should be done during the morning or evening when the sunlight is weak. 2. Shaking the green: this is done once, shaking 40 to 60 times. 3. Second combined withering: it starts with indoor heated withering at a temperature of 15 to 25°C and relative humidity of 40% to 50%, lasting 3 to 6 hours. If the moisture content of the withered leaves reaches 18% to 22%, they can then be transferred to indoor natural withering, which lasts 2 to 5 hours to complete. 4. Stacking after merging sieves: after the second combined withering, the sieves are merged, and the tea is piled up to a thickness of 15 to 35 cm. The stacking process lasts 1 to 7 days. 5. Initial baking: at a temperature of 50 to 60°C, lasting 60 to 100 minutes. 6. Sorting: after the initial…

The Qing Dynasty saw the emergence of black tea, oolong tea, white tea, dark tea, and yellow tea in addition to green tea, forming the six major categories of tea. Regardless of the type of tea, the brewing method from the Ming Dynasty of directly infusing tea leaves was still used. Under these circumstances, the types and forms of tea wares in the Qing Dynasty did not significantly deviate from the standards set during the Ming Dynasty. During the Qing Dynasty, teacups and teapots were typically made of clay or porcelain, with the Kangxi and Qianlong periods being particularly prosperous times for their production, especially those known as “Jingdezhen porcelain and Yixing clay.” Premium porcelain tea wares of the Qing Dynasty were mostly produced in Jingdezhen, Jiangxi, while production in Dehua, Fujian; Liling, Hunan; Tangshan, Hebei; Zibo, Shandong; and Yaozhou, Shaanxi also thrived but did not match Jingdezhen in terms of quality and quantity. During this period, in addition to continuing the production of blue-and-white porcelain and polychrome porcelain tea wares, new types such as pink-ground enamel and cloisonné enamel tea wares were created. Yixing purple clay tea wares of the Qing Dynasty developed further while preserving traditional techniques. During…

The Drum-bellied Handle Pot and the square seal on the bottom reading “Made by Shao Yunsi” Early purple clay pots were mostly handle pots, as they were not used for steeping tea, but rather as water-heating utensils. With a handle, it was convenient to place them over fire or on a stove. Purple clay handle pots have been excavated from Song Dynasty kiln sites in Yangjiaoshan, Yixing, and the earliest dated purple clay pot in the Nanjing Museum collection is also a handle pot. It is said that Zhao Liang, one of the four great masters of the Ming Dynasty, specialized in making purple clay handle pots, but actual examples are hard to find. Some may exist without his mark, leaving their attribution uncertain. After the late Ming Dynasty, purple clay pots began to be used directly for steeping tea, but the handle did not disappear. To this day, handle pots are preserved as traditional purple clay forms. The pot shown in the figure is a purple clay handle pot, measuring 13.4 cm tall overall, with a flush-fitting lid, a flattened round knob, and a three-curved spout. Its body is shaped like a drum, both the lid and the base…

The four types of pots—Lotus Seed, Drum Imitation, Duetsphere, and Duet—are very similar and often confused. Let's clarify these four pot styles: As shown above, the Drum Imitation is generally the shortest among these four pots, with a handle that may have an inverted ear (a small ear-like protrusion at the end). The Lotus Seed pot is slightly taller than the Drum Imitation and also has an inverted ear on its handle. The Duetsphere pot is the tallest of the four, and its handle does not have an ear-like protrusion. The bottoms of the first three pots—Drum Imitation, Lotus Seed, and Duetsphere—are all fitted with a false bottom; looking straight down, there is no visible "foot," as the body curves directly to the bottom. The last style, the Duet pot, easily reveals its bottom, which features a "line" or "foot." This makes it relatively easy to distinguish. Its handle also lacks an ear-like protrusion. Lotus Seed The "Lotus Seed" pot shape consists of circles stacked from small to large, symbolizing the Chinese traditional meaning of "successive generations of noble offspring." Ancestral customs often use homophones for auspiciousness. The basic characteristics of the Lotus Seed pot are: overall fullness, broad shoulders…

Recently, the Zhenba County Agricultural and Rural Affairs Bureau, in conjunction with the National Science and Technology Special Mission Team, the Shaanxi Province Tea Industry Technical System, and Northwest A&F University, held a county-wide on-site training session on summer and autumn tea resource utilization at Shaanxi Bifengchun Tea Company. The aim was to further enhance the utilization of summer and autumn tea resources in Zhenba County, promote labor-saving processing technologies, lead the development of the tea industry with new productive forces, improve the quality and efficiency of the tea industry, and support industrial revitalization. More than 60 people, including representatives from tea enterprises, specialized cooperatives, some village-level collective economic organizations, and technical experts in tea processing, attended the training. Deputy County Governor Shao Yonghong of Zhenba County conducted on-site research and guidance, proposing specific requirements regarding the utilization of summer and autumn tea resources, industrial development, market expansion, and cooperation with farmers. At the training session, Professor Zhou Tianshan, a position scientist within the Shaanxi Province Tea Industry Technical System and deputy director of the Department of Tea Science at Northwest A&F University, provided the main training. Professor Zhou introduced new equipment developed by his team, including a tea withering…