What is the production process of rock tea charcoal roasting?

Xiao Chen knows something about baking tea. Baked tea used to be made of charcoal. In the past, there was no electricity or machinery, so we had to use charcoal.

At that time, the choice of charcoal was not very particular, that is, the miscellaneous wood on the mountain was cut down and burned into charcoal for use. As for baking methods, there are two kinds, dark baking and open baking.

Dark baking is to pile up the charcoal first, light it from the surface of the charcoal pile, and the fire burns down from above; Open baking is to spread a layer of charcoal to burn through first, then spread a layer of charcoal to press through, and the fire burns from bottom to top.

The dark roasting process is simple, but there is a strange smell in the burning process of charcoal. Open baking is covered layer by layer, thoroughly, and the charcoal is pressed more tightly. The process is complex, and it takes more than a dozen baking pits to finish an open-air baking in the morning.

The previous baking method was Ming baking. According to the old master, the Ming baking at that time was not so particular, but after the bottom was burned, charcoal fire was added, just like the fire on the stove.

As for the extent to which the fire was roasted, the master said that the charcoal temperature was not measured at that time. I remember baking for five or six hours, and basically it was a light fire, and tea didn't eat fire.

Liang Zhangju, a tea man in Qing Dynasty, described the baking process of Wuyi tea as "Wuyi baking method is the best in the world". Charcoal roasting can also be called the "death gate" to test the richness of oolong tea. Proper charcoal roasting can add points to good tea, or make up for the deficiency of previous green technology to some extent. Of course, it is not a small probability event if the charcoal roasting process is not well mastered.