How are the various shapes of tea kneaded?

The tea we usually see is rope-shaped, hemispherical and spherical. The most important process of making these shapes is kneading.

Rubbing tea has three main functions.

1. Knead and shape, laying the foundation for the appearance of tea.

The most obvious function of kneading is to "shape" tea. The original loose and natural form has formed various forms after special kneading.

The most common strip teas, such as Dianhong and spherical teas, such as Tieguanyin, all benefit from the kneading process. Of course, some teas also use other methods to assist modeling.

Second, tea cells are damaged and tea juice overflows.

After rolling, the cells of tea leaves are moderately damaged, and the juice in the cells will overflow the surface of tea leaves. In this way, the substances in tea can be soaked out when making tea, and in short, the taste can be made.

Third, prepare for tea fermentation.

This function is mainly reflected in making black tea.

After rolling, the cells of tea leaves are destroyed, and the tea juice overflows, which makes the effective substances in tea leaves fully contact with the enzymes involved in fermentation, so as to prepare for the next fermentation process.

So, how to operate tea specifically?

The traditional method is of course hand-rolling. The most commonly used method is to rub tea leaves on a bamboo screen, just like playing Tai Chi.

Modern tea production mainly adopts mechanical rolling, and there are many kinds of rolling machines with similar principles.

The process of tea rolling seems simple, but it is difficult to do.

Temperature, pressure, time, etc. When kneading, an experienced tea maker needs to grasp it accurately.

Tea that is not kneaded enough is loose, and the tea cells are not destroyed enough, so it is difficult to make a taste; If the tea leaves are twisted excessively, the tea strips are too tight and cannot be soaked thoroughly, there will often be a lot of broken tea leaves, which is easy to produce bitterness.