Changes in Manufacturing Processes
The increased demand for Liubao tea abroad has boosted its exports, strengthened the Liubao tea industry, and driven continuous improvements in its manufacturing processes.
According to “A Brief Record of Guangxi's Special Products,” historically, early Liubao tea was made from fresh leaves through a process that included killing the green, initial kneading, heap Fermentation, secondary kneading, and drying. This, however, was only the preliminary processing. As the overseas market expanded and Liubao tea needed to be transported by ship along the ancient tea route, local tea makers developed a refined processing technique. This involved using the coarsely processed green tea as raw material, sorting it, blending it according to different grades, heap fermenting it, and then steaming and compressing it multiple times. This traditional refined technology not only facilitated transportation but also allowed the tea to age well over time, making it suitable for shipping. According to “Guangxi Agricultural Communications,” this technique had become the standard refined process for Liubao tea by the 1930s.
Traditional tea utensils used by Singaporean Chinese families for drinking Liubao tea
However, during the war years and into the late 1940s, the quality of Liubao tea produced in Wuzhou plummeted. A 1952 document titled “Summary of Work in the Tea-Producing Areas of Cangwu County” stated that “after the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, merchants pursued profits at all costs, arbitrarily lowering tea prices, engaging in fraud, and adulterating the product, which severely impacted the reputation of Liubao tea.” The Liubao tea exported to Hong Kong at this time had poor color and taste, and restaurants and teahouses were dissatisfied after trying it, leading them to switch to other varieties of tea.
To reverse the sales slump, tea merchants in Hong Kong organized tea makers to conduct repeated experiments and eventually discovered the key to improvement: gathering the purchased green tea or low-quality Liubao tea together, covering it with damp towels to ferment for some time, then placing it in a humid warehouse. After a period, it was moved to a dry warehouse to age. The Liubao tea processed in this way, once the damp warehouse flavor had completely dissipated, had a rich color and taste. Using this method to process Liubao tea not only met the requirements of restaurants and teahouses but also did not significantly increase production costs, so Hong Kong tea merchants began to use this method extensively.
At the time, Liubao tea produced in Guangxi was exported by the Guangdong Tea Import and Export Corporation, which applied the processing techniques used by Hong Kong tea merchants to post-process the exported Liubao tea and provided feedback from the Hong Kong market to Guangxi. “After learning about this, the Guangxi Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation Bureau organized technical personnel from the Wuzhou Tea Factory and Hengxian Tea Factory to go to Guangzhou for observation and then further research and development. Around 1956, Guangxi finally developed a cold Water fermentation refined technique, which involved heap fermenting the green tea after sorting and blending, followed by steaming and compressing it, then drying it thoroughly in a ventilated warehouse before aging in a cave.” Huang Jinhe, former factory manager of the Hengxian Tea Factory, said, “This modern refined technique was then used by the Wuzhou Tea Factory, Hengxian Tea Factory, Lingchuan Tea Factory, and Guilin Tea Factory for the production of Liubao tea.” Many Liubao tea production enterprises still use this technique today.
In addition to the application of techniques, overseas consumers served as a litmus test for improvements in Liubao tea processes. In the mid-1970s, various tea companies across Guangxi were producing Liubao tea, but the quality varied widely, affecting exports. Lu Suxia, who previously worked at the China National Native Produce and Animal By-Products Import and Export Corporation Wuzhou Tea Branch, said that at the time, the company invited over 20 tea merchants and tea enthusiasts from Hong Kong and Malaysia to taste various types of Liubao tea sold by the company in order to determine the varieties and processes most suitable for the overseas market. Following this selection process, Liubao tea exported abroad became even more popular.
Six Bao teas sold at the store of Yusheng Long Co., Ltd. in Malaysia
Tea barrels formerly used by Tong Shantang in Macau
Hong Kong-Produced Tea Also Evolves
On the extended route of the ancient tea route, exchanges are never one-way, and the application of techniques is no exception.
After repeated research and development in the mid-1950s, the mature cold water fermentation technique was widely applied in Liubao tea production enterprises throughout Guangxi. However, at this time, the output of Liubao tea produced in Guangxi still could not meet the demand of the overseas market. Tea merchants in Hong Kong and Macau borrowed this cold water fermentation process, upgraded and improved their own tea-making techniques, and then purchased large quantities of green teas from Guangxi and Guangdong provinces, as well as from Vietnam, Myanmar, Thailand, Indonesia, and other countries, using the improved techniques to make Liubao tea. From the late 1950s to the early 1990s, many Hong Kong-produced Liubao teas used this technique.
In West Kowloon, Hong Kong, some old tenement buildings and warehouses purchased or leased by tea merchants are still preserved. Huang Xin, an experienced tea person in Hong Kong, currently stores aged teas in warehouses in this area. His family's tea business, Rongfa Tea Shop, also made Liubao tea here back then. Huang Xin says that the basements or ground floors of these old tenement buildings and industrial buildings are very damp and hot, providing a similar effect to cold water fermentation when making Liubao tea. Therefore, from the 1960s to the 1980s, many Hong Kong tea makers produced Liubao tea in these places.
The fermentation technique for Liubao tea has also been applied to the production of other teas abroad. Huolian Tea Company was founded in 1965. Before the establishment of the company, its director, Zeng Zhuihui, frequently visited mainland China to understand the production situation and learn tea-making skills. At one trade fair, Zeng Zhuihui met Master Xian from Wuzhou and learned the Liubao tea production technique. This learning experience proved to be extremely memorable for Zeng Zhuihui. In the 1960s and 1970s, due to the high demand for Liubao tea, Huolian Tea Company also processed and manufactured it. “The tea we produced was post-fermented and didn't require long aging times, allowing us to quickly supply the market. We mastered the fermentation production process thanks to Master Xian's guidance back then,” Zeng Zhuihui said. This fermentation production process was later applied by Huolian Tea Company to the batch production of Pu'er ripe tea.
A single ancient tea route connects mountains and seas, with people and things flowing and permeating along this “line,” leaving indelible marks on the course of history.
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