HCB Chapter 131 Teaching
Chapter 131 Teaching
The villagers who came out of the brigade headquarters were holding cloth, quilts, and carrying large and small bags, all with smiles on their faces. Some said they wanted to make new clothes for everyone in their family, big and small. Some women held the men in the family and said they wanted to make new clothes for their parents as well. Some children asked their parents to stew cured chicken for them.
Several five-guarantee households were even more excited. Their quilts had long been hardened and were not warm at all. Fortunately, it was not too cold in Xiangyang Village in winter, otherwise they would have been frozen to death. But there are still more than ten days every year when the temperature drops below ten degrees at night, which is still a bit cold. The elderly are even more miserable. Now that they have new quilts, they will probably not suffer from the cold in winter.
Xiangyang Village today is even more lively than during the Chinese New Year.
Zheng Xiaoqiang saw Wen Qing coming over to greet him: "Hello, Master!"
Several students who followed Wen Qing to learn how to grow tea sometimes called her Master. Wen Qing corrected them several times, but the adults in those families said that since they learned the craft from her, they became masters, so Zheng Xiaoqiang never changed.
Wen Qing saw him and asked, "Xiao Qiang, didn't you get into college? Why are you in the village?"
Zheng Xiaoqiang said: "Master, I studied at a technical college and have already graduated. I am now working in the county's agricultural cooperative and just returned home tonight."
When Wen Qing asked about his studies, Zheng Xiaoqiang said, "The Agricultural University mainly teaches farming techniques, seed cultivation, and livestock breeding. Now I am also teaching farmers these things in the agricultural cooperative."
Zheng Xiaoqiang's father died early, his sister has married and has children, and his mother is the only one left at home, so he goes back to the village to accompany his mother whenever he has time.
His mother was not very strong. The family contracted 20 acres of tea garden. His mother made some income by picking and making tea. All the food they ate depended on what Zheng Xiaoqiang brought back from the county town.
Wen Qing asked about the other people who had learned to grow tea together. Zheng Xiaoqiang told them one by one. Chen Changgang had been admitted to the Yunnan-Yunnan Nationalities University and had not yet graduated. Chen Changmin and Yuan Zhengfang were still farming in the village. Liu Manya had married and moved to the county town.
The educated youth center has been converted to other uses. At night, Captain Lin arranged for Wen Qing to stay at his home.
The next day, Lin Changsheng took Wen Qing to Zheng Xiaoqiang's tea garden. The 100 acres of tea garden were contracted to five families including Zheng Xiaoqiang, with each family owning 5 acres.
Although the number of young leaves of tea trees in autumn is not as many as in spring, there are still some.
Several families in the village who contracted tea gardens were all there, and other villagers who were interested in growing and making tea also came to listen.
Wen Qing started by explaining how to pick young buds, how to use the withering trough, what is solar withering, how to control the temperature and time for withering leaves in different seasons and parts, the strength of kneading, and how to identify the degree of kneading.
Fermentation is required when making black tea, and she focused on explaining the fermentation control methods.
The fermentation temperature of black tea should be kept at about 25 degrees, and the fermentation environment should maintain a certain humidity. The volume of the pile during fermentation should be determined according to the age of the leaves, the degree of rolling, and the temperature to determine the height of the leaves. After fermentation is completed, it should be dried in time to avoid under-fermentation or over-fermentation.
She worked as she spoke. After picking the tea leaves with one bud and two leaves, she took them to the shed in the tea garden and spread the fresh leaves on a bamboo curtain. A bamboo curtain was about two square meters and held four kilograms of tea.
The bamboo shed is well ventilated on all sides. The temperature in Yunnan is not high in autumn. Wen Qing felt that the temperature was about 23 or 4 degrees Celsius, so he said, "Today's weather is suitable, but it is relatively dry. The withering time of tea leaves is about 12 hours. We will check the withering situation in the evening."
Wen Qing took out the tea she made and let everyone taste the flavor of the finished tea.
Captain Lin and the others left one after another, while Zheng Xiaoqiang and his mother stayed. Wen Qing would go to check on the changes in the fresh leaves every once in a while. When the leaves began to curl, she would carefully and gently turn them over to ensure even withering.
At noon, she had lunch at Zheng Xiaoqiang's house. Seeing that they were eating two kinds of rice and stir-fried bacon and green peppers, Wen Qing hurriedly said, "Xiaoqiang, don't be so polite. We are not outsiders."
Mother Zheng said, "Mr. Wen, you are a rare guest, and we don't have anything good in our house, so please don't despise me."
In the afternoon, Wen Qing and Zheng Xiaoqiang went to the tea garden first. They saw that Wen Qing turned the leaves more frequently as the temperature rose. After 6 o'clock in the afternoon, Zheng's mother came over and called them back for dinner, which was corn dumpling soup with salted duck eggs.
After eight o'clock in the evening, Wen Qing asked Zheng Xiaoqiang to call all the people who had studied in the morning to come and let everyone see the withered leaves.
After ten hours of withering, the surface of the tea leaves becomes soft and wrinkled. The leaves feel tender when pinched by hand and can be clump together when held. They do not smell like grass, but rather have a fresh fragrance.
Next, Wen Qing demonstrated the kneading and twisting to everyone.
She poured the tea leaves on the bamboo mat, and kneaded the tea leaves lightly or heavily. After kneading for a while, she compared the kneaded tea leaves with the unkneaded tea leaves. Everyone found that the kneaded tea leaves gradually shrank and the leaves became smaller. It took more than 40 minutes to finish kneading all the tea leaves.
Wen Qing said: "After rolling, the tea juice will reach the surface of the tea leaves and dissolve quickly when brewing, increasing the concentration of the tea soup."
After rolling, the tea leaves enter the fermentation stage. Wen Qing explained: "The fermentation time of black tea is generally 3 hours, and the environmental humidity must reach %, so artificial humidification is required. It is relatively dry here, so we can sprinkle water to increase the humidity."
She asked Zheng Xiaoqiang to bring the rolled tea leaves to his house. They all went into the tea-making room together. Jian Wenqing piled the tea leaves in a fermentation basket and covered it with a straw mat.
There are also some requirements for stacking tea leaves during fermentation. In summer, it is usually 8 cm high and the fermentation time is usually 3 hours. In winter, it will be higher and the fermentation time will be longer. It is moderate in spring and autumn.
Wen Qing said: "When the tea leaves are fermented properly, the green smell disappears and they smell like apples. The leaves also turn red. After the fermentation is completed, the fermentation should be stopped immediately and the leaves should be dried. The drying temperature is generally around 100 degrees."
Wen Qing looked at the time. It was now half past eight. They could proceed to the next step around eleven o'clock in the evening.
Mother Zheng said, "Wen Zhiqing, you have worked hard today."
Wen Qing said, "It's okay, we can finish all the steps today, and it won't take much time to dry."
Now the tools are incomplete and every step has to be done manually. In the future, with the availability of mechanical equipment, processes like rolling and drying can be done by machines, and making tea will not be so hard, but the flavor of handmade tea will also be lost.
After ten o'clock in the evening, everyone came to Zheng Xiaoqiang's house. Wen Qing waited until the tea was fully fermented before taking out the fermented tea and showing everyone what the fermented tea looked like. Smelling the fragrance of the tea, it was indeed different from what they usually made.
Wen Qing lit up the wood stove, put the tea leaves into the white cloth covering the pot, and sprinkled the tea leaves evenly on it to allow them to be heated evenly. When the moisture content of the tea leaves was reduced, its shape became firmer.
She had only picked 50 kilograms of fresh leaves in the morning, so it didn't take long to dry them all. She spread the tea leaves on a bamboo dustpan to cool. Wen Qing grabbed a handful of tea leaves and saw that the tea leaves were tightly bound, dark red in color, and had a strong tea aroma.
I asked Zheng Xiaoqiang to boil water and took out cups to make tea for everyone. The tea soup was bright red and mellow, and it was considered a very good black tea.
After making the tea, it was already midnight. Wen Qing returned to the captain's house, briefly explained the process of making tea, and then fell into a deep sleep.