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Black Tea the Upper Assam Way: Withered, Clapped, Pan-Heated, Rolled and Fired
Black tea is tea leaf left to darken before it is dried; green tea is heated straight away to stop that. C. A. Bruce, superintendent of tea culture in Assam, wrote down how Chinese tea makers did it there, and Andrew Ure printed his account in 1839: wither in the sun, clap the leaves soft, heat them in iron pans, roll out the juice and dry them crisp over charcoal.
The picture: tea production in China, Guangzhou, about 1800: picking on the hills, working the leaf in the sheds, packing chests for the ships.
Intermediate
Two days
Instructions
1
1
Pick and wither
Pick and wither
Pick the youngest leaves, the tip of each shoot with about four leaves. Scatter them thinly in open bamboo baskets in the sun for about two hours, turning them, until they look slightly withered. Cool them indoors for half an hour.
Materials for this step:
Fresh Tea Leaves2 kgTools needed:
Bamboo Basket2
2
Clap them soft
Clap them soft
Clap the leaves gently between your hands and toss them for five to ten minutes, then rest them half an hour. Do this three times, until they feel like soft leather. Bruce was told this gives the black colour.
Tools needed:
Bamboo Basket3
3
Heat in the pan
Heat in the pan
Heat an iron pan over a straw fire. Put in about a kilo of leaves and turn them briskly by hand until they get too hot to hold.
Materials for this step:
Straw1 as requiredTools needed:
Wok
Fire Pit4
4
Roll out the juice
Roll out the juice
Gather the hot leaves into a ball and roll it forward under both hands for about five minutes, pressing to squeeze out the juice. Open the ball and shake the leaves apart. Heat them in the pan once more and roll again.
Tools needed:
Bamboo BasketWok5
5
Half-dry over charcoal
Half-dry over charcoal
Spread the leaves 8–10 cm deep on a bamboo sieve over a clear, smokeless charcoal fire, with a gap in the middle for the hot air. Take them off while still soft and leave them in a basket overnight to deepen in colour.
Materials for this step:
Charcoal1 as requiredTools needed:
Bamboo SieveFire PitBamboo Basket6
6
Sort and fire crisp
Sort and fire crisp
Next day sort the leaves into large, middling and small. Dry each sort again, a thin layer at a time, until crisp. Finish them piled deeper over a fire deadened with ash, covered with a second basket, until a leaf breaks at the slightest pinch.
Materials for this step:
Charcoal1 as requiredTools needed:
Bamboo SieveFire PitBamboo Basket7
7
Pack it
Pack it
Press the cooled tea into a tight, closed tin and keep it dry.
Tools needed:
Tin Tea Storage CanisterMaterials
3- 2 kgPlaceholder
- 1 as requiredPlaceholder
- 1 as requiredPlaceholder
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