#zhuji

[lu-tens-turtleduck]

Girlfriends!!

[dasistleeway]

after strolling along the weekly plant market, had lunch at this famous restaurant featuring northern chinese food...

[glamzery]

[ericchenphotography]

#zhuji #railway #station #hispeedrail #architecture #landscape #summer2021 #beautiful #photography #vivox60series #vivo #phonephotography #vivophotography #photooftheday #capture #adventure #exploring #china #travel #traveling #instgood #instacool #instapic #igchina #instadaily #loves_china #excellent_asia #captchina #natgeotravel #chinadestinations（在 Zhuji） https://www.instagram.com/p/CRdaMFRn8uN/?utm_medium=tumblr

[tatmanblue]

Xishi Grand Theatre #2 by Hans Georg Fischer Via Flickr: Zhuji/China Skin of metal plates, enlightened in various colours

[ashateahouse]

Sourcing Report - Spring 2015, China - Zhuji (諸暨) - Part 2

We are back in the US, now serving this year’s freshly picked and fried Dragonwell Supreme Green Tea!

In our previous post, we discussed the art of hand-frying Dragonwell. In today’s post, we discuss an alternative method for processing this delicious green tea.

Machine-frying takes place in two steps: first, a mechanical flattener flattens the leaves using a spinning cylindrical arm that reminded us of childhood carnival rides.

The first machine is completely automated. Mr. Chen pours a batch of tea into the hopper, and the machine automatically pre-portions the amount of tea to be processed, then drops it into the bin. After the specified flattening time has passed, the machine then releases the tea automatically into the tray.

Below is a photo of tea in the hopper, waiting to be portioned.

And here is some portioned tea! (Note: The variation in color of the tea leaves is due to lighting & shadows within the room)

The video below shows the automatic feeding in action. Watch the video closely or you may miss it!

Watching the arm circle around was oddly hypnotizing.

After the tumbler, a heated shaker is used to further remove the water content of the leaves. This second machine requires some manual adjustments since Mr. Chen needs to closely monitor the temperature of the leaves and adjust the shaking speed to ensure that the leaves do not overheat.

We seem to have hit the video limit for this post, so click HERE to see the shaking up close in action!

As Mr. Chen diligently ran the machines (it takes roughly an hour per batch), we wandered back uphill to watch Mrs. Chen sort the green teas.

It never ceases to amaze us how much manual effort goes into processing these green teas. Not only are the leaves picked by hand, but each batch is weeded through by hand to sort out the bad leaves and other undesirable inclusions.

Again, we were in awe of the bright green color of the leaves, and could not help but take copious amounts of photos.

As with the pan-frying process, it was incredibly peaceful watching Mrs. Chen and their worker sort the leaves. All we could hear was their soft-spoken dialogue in their local dialect, and the sound of wind passing through the tea bushes and chestnut trees. It’s such a stark contrast to the buzzing hum of city life.

After sorting, the leaves are put onto a rack to air wither overnight. Two baskets in this rack show the leaves in various stages of withering. The photo below shows leaves that were picked one day ago. It’s amazing how much of their vibrant green color is already lost after just one day!

The leaves in the bottom tray had only been withering since earlier that morning, and were visibly more green. What a difference a few hours makes!

In the next room, Mr. Chen was finishing up the frying. After removing the teas from the shaker, Mr. Chen went outside to shake out the bits/crumbs that formed during the tumbling and shaking.

Here is a photo of the finished product!

There is definitely much less color variation among the machine-fried leaves. Here is a close-up of the hand-fried leaves for comparison.

Here is a side-by-side comparison of hand-fried (left) vs. machine-fried (right) Dragonwell. Can you tell the difference?

By this time, we had spent almost the entire morning and afternoon with the Chen’s. Our visit gave us a deeper understanding of the Dragonwell harvesting and frying processes, as well as a greater appreciation for this tea. It’s amazing how much manual effort and craftsmanship is dedicated to creating even just the little bit of tea that we made during our visit.

We are very honored to serve the Chen’s tea at Asha, and hope that you have enjoyed learning about where our Dragonwell (Long Jing) Green Tea comes from, and about the family that has made it their life’s work.

Before we left the Chen’s, we visited another one of their tea fields. This one was just as remote as the tea field behind their home--it was one of the first times we actually saw blue skies in China! 

We took one last view at the small tea buds and leaves, and bid Mr. Chen’s son goodbye.

Come by Asha soon to try this wonderful tea!

[ashateahouse]

Sourcing Report - Spring 2015, China - Zhuji (諸暨) - Part 1

Our sourcing trip is quickly coming to an end! We wanted to make one last post before we headed back to the US, but our Dragonwell report ended up being so long that we needed to break it into two parts. Here is Part 1 for now--we will post Part 2 as soon as we return!

Arguably the most famous of Chinese green teas, Longjing (龍井), also known as Dragonwell, is produced in Hangzhou (杭州), the capital of the Zhejiang (浙江) province, and the surrounding areas.

Since Asha opened in 2012, we’ve been sourcing our Dragonwell Standard and Dragonwell Supreme green teas from a small family farm located about an hour south of Hangzhou in Zhuji. Mr. Chen and his wife started out as farmers, and got into the tea business over 20 years ago when the local government set about educating and teaching farmers about crafting Dragonwell green tea.

We visited the Chen’s when they were harvesting and producing pre-Qing Ming Dragonwell tea. We were blown away by the vibrant green color and beautiful shape of the leaves.

There are three different grades of Dragonwell, categorized according to when the leaves were picked--specifically, if they were harvested before or after the Qing Ming holiday (清明节) , when the Chinese pay respects to their ancestors, and if they were harvested before or after the rains that follow the Guyu (谷雨) holiday, when Chinese celebrate the coming of the Spring rains.

Dragonwell made from leaves picked before the Qing Ming holiday (”Pre-Qing Ming”) are most prized because the leaves are the very first buds and leaves of the season, and are therefore believed to be more tender and delicate than the leaves from the second, third, fourth, etc. harvests. “Pre-Rain” Dragonwell, as the name implies, consists of leaves harvested before the rains, and the leaves picked after the rains are considered lower in quality since they tend to be larger.

Before we started processing any teas, the Chen’s treated us to an incredible farm-to-table lunch. Everything we ate was grown and raised on their farm!

Including the green tea, of course! Watching the tea leaves dance up and down the cup was mesmerizing.

After lunch, we took a small tour of the small plot behind their house. The Chen’s own several plots in the area. The entire hillside was covered with tea bushes and chestnut trees.

The land has been passed down through Mr. Chen’s family for many generations, and they work very hard to maintain its viability, especially since their livelihood depends on the output from the land.

After meandering through the grounds with Mr. Chen’s son, we made our way down to the room where Mr. Chen prepared to pan-fry the leaves. Unlike Mr. Xu, who uses a gas-powered wok, Mr. Chen uses an electrical wok. Electrical woks are more commonly used since they give the tea master more control to regulate the wok temperature.

To give Dragonwell it's distinctive flattened shape, Mr. Chen shapes the tea leaves by pressing them against the bottom of the wok and up the sides to allow them to cool down before undergoing the flattening treatment again and again. 

The leaves are also frying in the process, and will gradually lose their water content during this process. The tea leaves also grew darker in color as they were being fried.

Watching Mr. Chen fry the tea leaves was incredibly peaceful, especially since we had a backdrop of their tea fields through the door. The room was also filled with an intoxicating aroma of tea!

As with the Bi Luo Chun frying, David gave Dragonwell frying a try. 

After David’s valiant attempt, Mr. Chen retook control of the reins to finish the frying.

When Mrs. Chen inspected the final product from David’s attempt, she whispered “chou” in the local dialect to Mr. Chen. Unfortunately for us, it sounds the same in Mandarin so we knew exactly what she said: “ugly”. We sheepishly apologized for ruining the batch of tea, but Mr. Chen and his son explained to us that hand-fried teas always come out a bit “uglier” than their machine-fried counterparts.

Here is a comparison of how the tea leaves started, and how they look after frying.

Stay tuned for Part 2 of our Dragonwell sourcing adventure!