The Making of Ti Kwan—yin 铁观音制作.docVIP

The Making of Ti Kwan—yin 铁观音制作 【Abstract】China has a long history of drinking herbal tea and Chinese are keen on tea. Ti Kwan-yin—Iron Goddess of Mercy— is one of the most famous oolong teas throughout Chinese history， and now is mainly produced in Fujian and Taiwan. This paper demonstrates the process of making this tea， which is requiring and tricky. 【Key words】Ti Kwan-yin， legend， making process Drinking tea has a history of more than 4000 years in China. Now tea is a common beverage. Generally， tea is divided into green tea， black tea， jasmine tea， oolong tea， pu-erh tea and medicinal tea. Oolong tea is semi-fermented， but Ti Kwan-yin， also known as Iron Goddess of Mercy， differs from any other kind of oolong teas. Its tea leaves are as black and rich as iron. Its sharing name with Chinese Goddess of Mercy begins with a romantic fable. The process of making Ti Kwan-yin is complex and requires expertise. Even if the tea leaf is of high raw quality， plucked at the right moment， if not correctly treated， its true character cannot be shown. This is why the method of making Ti Kwan-yin was kept a secret. Ti Kwan-yin making is a thirteen-to-sixteen-hour long and labor-intensive process. It is a state of art rather than science. The “right” way depends on a lot of uncontrollable factors， such as the amount of dew on fresh tea leaves， strong or weak sunlight， the moisture in the air， etc. It is therefore up to tea masters to determine what should happen during each step. Not until the end can one know the final quality of a tea batch. To make Ti Kwan-yin tea， one has to go over the next steps： 1.Plucking tea leaves Plucking the best tea leaves is the first and a very essential step. It usually happens between 9：30 a.m. and 3：30 p.m. The best time is two to three p.m. People used to pluck tea leaves with fingers， though it’s easier to do with clippers/shears. To make the best tea， one has to know what the best leaves are. Ti Kwan-yin require