Wang Zhongde: I'm good at making tea -- 60 years of ingenuity, just for a cup of Enshi Jade Dew

Enshi Bajiao Jinchaxiang Tea Production Base. In the early spring of March, it is a good time for tea plants to pick buds and make tea.

At 8 o'clock in the morning, the machines in the production workshop were already rumbling. "Master Wang!" When he heard someone calling him, Wang Zhongde showed his face from a basket of green fresh leaves, with his ear plugged into his cochlea.

He is about 1.5M tall. He is thin, wearing gray overalls. When his hat is taken off, he has a Mediterranean semi convex hair style. His hair is gray, and there is a white towel with sweat around his neck. The whole body is grey, and the eyelashes are covered with green hair of tea leaves. The workers in the workshop call this "grey".

"A lot of gray", in fact, it is the high protein of tea, and it is the hair on the surface of the bud leaves that is peeled off when the machine is stirring, screening and processing.

Wang Zhongde, born in 1940, is 79 years old this year. Served as the general consultant of tea making in Jintaixiang Tea Co., Ltd. Every day, the factory will arrange someone to take him to work from his home on Wufeng Mountain in the city, and send him back when it is time in the afternoon, rain or shine.

As one of the three remaining successors of the tenth generation of Enshi Jade Dew in Enshi Prefecture, Master Wang, who has reached the age of 80, is satisfied with the situation in his later years.

At the age of 24, he began to learn how to make tea. In total, he has been making Enshi Yulu tea for 60 years.

   

In 60 years, that will be the first. An old man who has been Enshi Yulu for 60 years. "I am a native of Wufeng Mountain. At that time, Wufeng Mountain was also the Yulu Tea Area. When I was young, my father and they were also tea farmers, so I was interested in making tea."

"At that time, learning to make tea also depended on the master. Our master was very strict at that time, but I learned quickly. As an apprentice, I only learned to make spring tea in one season." The old man said that he was very proud of his achievements in learning tea that year. "The main thing about tea making is to be interested in it, and learn quickly if you are interested. Otherwise, even if you have been studying for ten years, you may not get the chance because you don't pay attention."

The Fate of Tea: The Story of Qingshui Kangfu

In the 1980s, it was a period of state-owned system. With the recommendation of his master, Wang Zhongde entered the tea and hemp company in Enshi at that time as a tea worker. At that time, tea hemp company was mainly engaged in semi manual and semi mechanized tea making process, and refined the dry tea.

In the 1990s, after Enshi Jade Dew was exported to Japan, some people found that the production process of Enshi Jade Dew and Japanese green tea was very similar, even the same origin, both of which had adopted the green steaming process since the Tang Dynasty. This made Yasuo Qingshui, the director of Shimizu Technology Firm, a doctor of agriculture and a professor of Xiangchuan University, very excited and curious.

In 1995, Qingshui Kangfu made a special trip to Enshi to trace the technology of Enshi Jade Dew and investigate the tea harvesting technology, which also attracted considerable attention from all walks of life. The Enshi government arranged the tea and hemp company to send a special person to receive the tea. This task fell to Wang Zhongde, who was good at tea making in the company at that time.

In order to better observe and understand the production techniques of Enshi Yulu, Qingshui Kangfu followed Wang Zhongde to his home on Wufeng Mountain. At that time, Wang Zhongde's family had a special tea making stove, which could be used to steam fresh leaves. This method of making tea has been passed down from generation to generation from the tea makers since the Tang Dynasty. With such a big pot, Wang Zhongde demonstrated the practice of Enshi Yulu in front of Qingshui Kangfu.

The political environment at that time was not long after the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Japan. Enshi, as a region that had been bombed by Japan during its invasion of China, was hostile and estranged from Japan from top to bottom, and was unwilling to teach the Japanese all the techniques of Enshi Yulu.

"At that time, my leader, whose surname was Qiu, said that you should not rub it like this. He let him learn all about it. You can do it simply."

The most important part of Enshi Jade Dew is shaping and polishing. At that time, it was handmade by rubbing. This rubbing method was also very particular. The strength of the palm and the force on the leaf curl should be uniform. Heavy rubbing will squeeze the water out of the leaf in advance, and light rubbing will not achieve the effect of "thin and straight". Only a real teacher can master the heat by experience to make a handle of shape, color, fragrance Enshi Jade Dew with the right taste.

Even though the Enshi people at that time had many reservations about him, Qingshui Kangfu stayed at Wang Zhongde's house for a full half month, and when he left, he gladly wrote an inscription for Enshi Yulu: "Enshi Yulu, Wen Gu knows the new".

Tea grinding Enshi Yulu is a high selenium steamed green tea

The arrival of Qingshui Kangfu means that the outside world has always paid attention to Enshi Yulu. But in the mountains deep in Enshi, transportation and information are extremely blocked. Enshi Yulu is "raised in purdah and nobody knows", so is famous tea, let alone the tea industry in the whole environment.

Jin Suihong, the boss of Jintaixiang Tea Industry, said, "98 years ago, tea at that time could hardly be sold at a high price. Our local tea and good new tea in Enshi could only be sold for dozens of yuan per kilogram, but the tea merchants in other places bought it and only changed the packaging, and the price could be quadrupled or fivefold immediately."

At that time, Enshi Yulu had no packaging and brand value. The new generation of young people had no interest in it. The older generation, such as Wang Zhongde, also retired after the enterprise restructuring.

In the 21st century, the Enshi government has paid more and more attention to the support and promotion of the Enshi Yulu brand. As a rare descendant of the tenth generation of Enshi Yulu, Wang Zhongde has attracted many tea enterprises.

In 2014, through the strong persuasion of Wang Zhongde's son and grandchildren, Jintaixiang Tea finally invited the elderly to its own tea factory to serve as the general adviser of tea research.

Speaking of Qingshui Kangfu's past in Enshi, we asked Wang Zhongde: "Which do you think is better to drink Japanese green tea or Enshi Yulu?"

"Japanese green tea is flat, not round, and the foam is heavy compared with our Yulu tea. Yulu tea tastes better. Japanese Yulu tea is the same as Enshi Yulu tea in terms of technology, but it can't be the same in terms of raw materials."

Jin Suihong, the boss of Jin Taixiang, added: "Indeed, I went to Sichuan two years ago to attend an exchange meeting. The boss of Sichuan told me that what we can do is exactly the same as your appearance. There is no difference at all, but when we drink it, it still doesn't taste like you." Why?

According to Wang Zhongde, the main reason is the difference of raw materials. The difference of raw materials comes from the difference of environment. Yanzi Spring and Autumn Annals - Internal Miscellaneous says: "An orange born in Huainan is an orange, while an orange born in Huaibei is a trifoliate orange. Its leaves are similar, but its taste is different. So what is the nature? The soil and water are different."

Speaking of Qingshui Kangfu's past in Enshi, we asked Wang Zhongde: "Which do you think is better to drink Japanese green tea or Enshi Yulu?"

"Japanese green tea is flat, not round, and the foam is heavy compared with our Yulu tea. Yulu tea tastes better. Japanese Yulu tea is the same as Enshi Yulu tea in terms of technology, but it can't be the same in terms of raw materials."

Jin Suihong, the boss of Jin Taixiang, added: "Indeed, I went to Sichuan two years ago to attend an exchange meeting. The boss of Sichuan told me that what we can do is exactly the same as your appearance. There is no difference at all, but when we drink it, it still doesn't taste like you." Why?

According to Wang Zhongde, the main reason is the difference of raw materials. The difference of raw materials comes from the difference of environment. Yanzi Spring and Autumn Annals - Internal Miscellaneous says: "An orange born in Huainan is an orange, while an orange born in Huaibei is a trifoliate orange. Its leaves are similar, but its taste is different. So what is the nature? The soil and water are different."

Speaking of Qingshui Kangfu's past in Enshi, we asked Wang Zhongde: "Which do you think is better to drink Japanese green tea or Enshi Yulu?"

"Japanese green tea is flat, not round, and the foam is heavy compared with our Yulu tea. Yulu tea tastes better. Japanese Yulu tea is the same as Enshi Yulu tea in terms of technology, but it can't be the same in terms of raw materials."

Jin Suihong, the boss of Jin Taixiang, added: "Indeed, I went to Sichuan two years ago to attend an exchange meeting. The boss of Sichuan told me that what we can do is exactly the same as your appearance. There is no difference at all, but when we drink it, it still doesn't taste like you." Why?

According to Wang Zhongde, the main reason is the difference of raw materials. The difference of raw materials comes from the difference of environment. Yanzi Spring and Autumn Annals - Internal Miscellaneous says: "An orange born in Huainan is an orange, while an orange born in Huaibei is a trifoliate orange. Its leaves are similar, but its taste is different. So what is the nature? The soil and water are different."

When it comes to tea making, Wang Zhongde will subconsciously stand up and show us how to make tea. Open your hands to show us that your palms are covered with calluses. Rub the hand of Enshi Yulu all his life. "I have never read a book, and I don't know how to express it." He smiled innocently.

Yang Shengwei, who is also the tenth generation successor of Enshi Yulu, is his younger martial brother. In 2018, Yang Shengwei won the title of provincial representative inheritor of Enshi Jade Dew Art, the fifth batch of representative intangible cultural heritage projects. Through his own cultural accomplishment, he raised the production techniques of Enshi Jade Dew to a theoretical level, proposed concepts such as "temperature domain" and "even number rule", and became an authoritative industry expert in Enshi Prefecture and Hubei Province, It has also cultivated many successors for the social inheritance of Enshi Yulu.



Group photo of the 10th generation inheritors of Enshi Yulu, Wang Zhongde and his wife (left) and Yang Shengwei and his wife (right)

Speaking of the tenth generation of inheritors, Jin Suihong added: "Now there are only four people left, and others have long since stopped doing this."

The so-called tenth generation inheritors, just like the legendary Wulin sects in the Jianghu before, are learning from their masters, which is an ancient tradition. There is a ceremony for the masters to accept apprentices and apprentices to learn from their masters, and they are only spread in small circles. It takes three years for an apprentice to become a full apprentice. It has been hundreds of years since the successor of Enshi Yulu.

"I am an ordinary tea farmer, and I will be a kind of Enshi Jade Dew all my life". Different from Yang Shengwei's dazzling, Wang Zhongde is not good at theory and expression. He always gestures when talking about tea

A long silence. "Not good at words". Jin Suihong evaluated the teacher who taught him to be Enshi Yulu. "He can't talk about it, he just feels it. His heart is very quiet, and only tea is. If the display of tea art is a process of communication, then the tea ceremony is the ultimate destination - return to the original heart.

His world. "

"Mr. Wang often told us that we should not add anything to the tea, but keep its original flavor. This is the real taste of Enshi Jade Dew. It is the essence of tea."

Tea was originally just a symbol of nature, but later people became more and more willing to communicate with it through brewing, so it had a Zen meaning.

In terms of the development process of Enshi Yulu, this cup of tea is going through the process of tea art, that is, trying to show the world a kind of existence value that was once ignored.

And we should not forget that all tea art is to reflect the ultimate "Tao", that is, the existence of Enshi Jade Dew, but also to reflect the ultimate simplicity and authenticity of our hearts.

Just like many tea making masters Wang who hide in the crowd, they have worked hard for many years just to develop a good cup of tea.

Blessed are those who can drink the Enshi Jade Dew made by him. This is the supreme praise of the senses to the soul.