Our Houyue Red Tea primary processing facility produced 30 tons of sun-dried black tea this year. Since we first launched our crowdfunded sun-dried black tea last year, people have been asking me what sun-dried black tea is and how it should be defined. I've talked about tea on paper for sixteen episodes without addressing this question. During last year's crowdfunding, I wrote an article titled 'Talking About Tea on Paper, Part 4: How Sun-Dried Black Tea Is Made,' which was widely cited, and some even altered the images and published it as their own original work. However, that article did not delve deeply into the concept of sun-dried black tea. Today, I will sort out the past and present of sun-dried black tea based on the materials I've collected and my own understanding. If you have different views or are interested in further discussion, feel free to add my WeChat: 673998.
To clarify sun-dried black tea, we must first understand black tea. Most sources believe that the birthplace of black tea is Wuyi Mountain, and Lapsang Souchong is the earliest black tea, both in China and the world.
There are various theories about the origin of black tea. According to expert research, the term 'black tea' first appeared in Liu Ji's (1311-1375) book 'Duo Neng Bi Shi', which introduced the preparation methods of 'Lan Gao Black Tea' and 'Su Qian Black Tea'. Zhu Sheng (1299-1370), a scholar of the early Ming Dynasty and a Hanlin academician who visited Wuyi Mountain with Liu Ji, described in his poem 'Ming Li': 'Tea with grassy aroma is its innate nature (habits brought during growth). Tea with floral aroma is its heavenly nature (innate qualities). Suppress it and it becomes solid; solid then hot; hot then soft; soft then grassy aroma gradually removed (the process of making black tea first removes grassy aroma). However, fear that floral aroma may be too released (while removing grassy aroma, avoid losing floral aroma), so lift it again. Alternating suppression and lifting, grassy aroma dissolves, floral aroma lingers, tea's nature transforms, and heavenly nature is complete (the whole process is to remove grassy aroma and retain floral aroma).' The poem says: 'One suppression then another lift, from grassy nature to floral fragrance. Marvel at nature's wonder, simple without harming the essence.' The poem elaborates on the fermentation in black tea production, indicating that black tea was made in Wuyi Mountain in the early Ming Dynasty.
The earliest record of Souchong black tea can be found in 'General History of the Qing Dynasty', volume 2, page 847: 'At the end of the Ming Dynasty, in the 13th year of Chongzhen (1640), black tea (including Congou, Wuyi, Souchong, Pekoe, etc.) was first introduced to England by the Dutch.' Congou, Souchong, and Pekoe are all varieties of Wuyi black tea. It is accurate to say that Lapsang Souchong is the ancestor of world black tea, which also indicates that the Tongmu Pass area in Wuyi Mountain is the birthplace of world black tea.
In 1854, Gao Bing-san and other tea merchants from Guangdong went to Hefeng County to process black tea. After transshipment through Yichang, Yihong (Yichang black tea) began its glorious chapter, accounting for 40% of the national black tea export at that time. Around 1875, Hu Yuanlong from Qimen processed black tea in Qimen.
In 1938, Bai Mengyu established a tea factory in Nannuo Mountain, Xishuangbanna, Yunnan. In 1939, he trial-produced black tea, marking the beginning of black tea in Yunnan.
Bai Mengyu first investigated tea processing techniques and market conditions in more than 20 provinces and cities in China, then went to Japan to learn tea processing techniques. After returning, he hired more than ten senior technicians from Shanghai and Hangzhou, and transported British-made rolling machines, drying machines, cutting machines, sifting machines, and generators from Myanmar by oxcart. The Nannuo Mountain Tea Factory became a modern mechanized tea factory. The machine-made black tea from the Nannuo Mountain factory was in short supply in Southeast Asian countries.
Nannuo Mountain Tea Factory, built in 1938
Abandoned withering workshop on the second floor of Nannuo Mountain Tea Factory
Abandoned rolling workshop on the first floor of Nannuo Mountain Tea Factory
In November 1938, Feng Shaoqiu successfully trial-produced 500g of one-bud-one-leaf black tea in Fengqing. In early 1939, Feng Shaoqiu was ordered to establish the Fengqing Tea Factory (then called Shunning Experimental Tea Factory), and recruited technicians from Zhejiang, Anhui, Hunan, Jiangxi, etc. The Fengqing factory used local methods, including human-powered wooden three-barrel rolling machines, foot-pedal drying machines, and bamboo drying baskets. That year, they successfully produced the first batch of Congou black tea, totaling 16.7 tons, named 'Yunhong'.
In 1940, Yunnan black tea was uniformly renamed 'Dianhong' (Yunnan black tea), and the name 'Dianhong' has been used ever since.
From these records, we see that black teas were all dried by machine or fire. So how did sun-dried black tea come about?
To clarify this, I think we must first address two questions:
- Was there a sun-drying process for black tea before the sun-drying process in Yunnan? If not, why?
If the first question is affirmative, then we need to ask the second:
- Why did the sun-drying process for black tea emerge specifically in Yunnan?
I. Was there a sun-drying process for black tea before the sun-drying process in Yunnan? If not, why?
I have searched various sources and asked many tea makers from other regions, and I have not found any sun-drying process for black tea outside Yunnan.
Let's look at the climate of Wuyi Mountain, the birthplace of black tea.
Wuyi Mountain has a mid-subtropical monsoon humid climate. There are significant climate differences throughout the year. Annual precipitation is 1960 mm, and average annual temperature is 19.7°C. In spring, temperatures rise, and spring rains are continuous, but spring cold spells often occur. Late spring to early summer (May-June) is the rainy season with frequent heavy rains. Local flooding often occurs. In midsummer, the weather is hot, with occasional local thunderstorms and rainfall under typhoon influence, followed by droughts.
That is to say, during the spring tea-making season, Wuyi Mountain is rainy, lacking conditions for sun-drying. Of the two major drying methods—machine drying and sun-drying—only one remains. In Wuyi Mountain, when discussing tea processing, drying specifically refers to machine drying. However, in Fujian, the drying process for Fuding white tea does include sun-drying, but due to mass production and the fact that Taimu Mountain also has continuous rain, the actual drying process for white tea in the Taimu Mountain area is mostly machine drying. Sun-drying depends on weather and lacks volume; it is mostly for promotional purposes.
Therefore, under the weather conditions of Wuyi Mountain and other tea regions, it is unlikely that sun-drying processes existed.
II. Why did the sun-drying process for black tea emerge specifically in Yunnan?
If you stay on Yunnan's tea mountains in spring, you will find that it rarely rains in spring. The scorching sun is what tea makers love most. Sun-dried green tea (raw tea) requires such weather. Yunnan tea makers, accustomed to sun-drying, would want to sun-dry any tea. For example, in Yongde, freshly fermented ripe tea is often sun-dried after piling. Sun-drying black tea is actually the most normal process. Initially, few people sun-dried black tea. If black tea is insufficiently withered or inadequately fermented, sun-drying may produce a grassy smell. Don't tell me you like that flavor; most people consider it a defect. Machine drying can effectively solve this problem. This is probably why sun-dried black tea remained niche and hard to popularize for a long time. In recent years, sun-dried raw tea has been pushed to the market in large quantities, and consumers have partially accepted the mixed flavors of sun-dried raw tea. Sun-dried black tea has gained market foundation. A small group started sun-drying, then more and more followed suit, and sun-dried black tea finally began to reach the masses.
From the fourth crowdfunded ancient tree sun-dried black tea of Houyue, to building my own large-scale professional black tea factory this year focusing on sun-dried black tea, I have been searching for the origins of sun-dried black tea. I found various legendary versions, mostly promotional materials from tea companies. With this question, I have been searching, and I also went to Wuyi Mountain to investigate. The above is my comprehensive analysis of the origins of sun-dried black tea based on various situations I have learned. I think it should be like this—nothing mysterious, nothing to boast about. It is just the nature of merchants to dig out this concept, hype it, and amplify its effects, making sun-dried black tea seem like a great invention created by Yunnan people. Tea should return to its nature: eaten raw as medicine, boiled as a dish; drunk pure or mixed, it is still tea. Sun-drying on sunny days, or low-temperature or high-temperature machine drying on rainy days, are just processing issues.
Houyue Black Tea Factory gate and drying yard
Only by returning to the original intention of tea and not mythologizing it can sun-dried black tea go further. I do not mean to belittle sun-dried black tea in any way. Returning to authenticity is the foundation. This year, the seventh crowdfunded tea of Houyue is ancient tree sun-dried black tea. Of course, I hope sun-dried black tea can support half of Dianhong's reputation.
Happiness sun-dried, in tea, in life!
Article and images are original. Author: Lü Jianfeng, WeChat: ynwuse. Works at 51 Pu'er Net, initiator of Houyue crowdfunded tea, convener of Yunnan Houyue Black Tea Co., Ltd.
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