The final compression is an important processing step for all sizes of Huajuan Tea (Shiliang Tea, Bailiang Tea, Qianliang Tea). The steamed leaves are compressed into their three layers of vegetal wrapping, before resting in the open air for about a month.
The video below shows the different tools and actions involved in this key processing step.
An elaborate processing step
- The leaves are taken out of the steamer in their jute bags and let into bamboo baskets, which have been covered inside with polygonum leaves and inner pine bark.
- After having been stuffed with leaves, the baskets are sealed with their bamboo straps and firmly compressed with a manual compressing mechanism.
- The final touches are given with a wooden hammer.
Huajuan Tea is usually compressed during the summer, when the picking season is over. At this stage, the leaves have already gone through the other processing steps, including kill-green, kneading, pile-fermenting and smoking.
For a small and exclusive production
Taken by us deep inside Anhua County, this video shows a very small scale operation. The producer rented the small factory for two days, together with a team of skilled workers, put together by a master artisan (pink shirt).
When the work was done was done, we helped the producer and his wife transport the logs to their drying ground. The yearly production of high-end, spring leaves Bailiang Tea was compressed in just one day. If you wish to get a taste of it, we are very proud to have it in our shop.
