As the origin center of tea trees in the world, Yunnan has superior natural conditions and a long history of tea making. Over the past century, Pu 'er tea has enjoyed a good reputation at home and abroad. Pu 'er tea in history refers to all kinds of Yunnan tea processed by "traditional technology", which is called "raw Pu 'er". Of course, the concept of "raw Pu 'er" is also inaccurate. The use of "raw Pu 'er tea" is only to distinguish and echo the modern Pu 'er tea (that is, cooked tea) made by the "heap-fermentation" process. Using "raw Pu 'er" is easy to misunderstand, thinking that "raw tea" can't be drunk, but cooked tea can be drunk. In fact, "raw Pu 'er tea" is not inedible, especially the traditional Pu 'er tea. In the past, the accurate traditional name was "Yunnan green tea" or "Yunnan green tea", and the oldest name was "Pu 'er tea", which is the traditional Pu 'er tea. Many such teas have been produced in Yunnan history, not only for Yunnan people, but also for people in Tibetan areas and at home and abroad. At present, the only remaining old tea is rare and valuable.
Around 1973, the stacking fermentation technology of modern Pu 'er tea (cooked tea) was adopted. Pu 'er cooked tea products have their own characteristics, and the tea fragrance is mellow, which has won many consumers. It can be said that Pu 'er cooked tea is a branch product reprocessed on the basis of "traditional Pu 'er tea", and its advantages and disadvantages are self-evident, so this article will not discuss it for the time being.
In recent years, the trend of the collection and drinking of "Pu 'er tea" is gradually rising, and the controversy is getting bigger and bigger. The first is the dispute between "raw and cooked" and the dispute between traditional craft and modern craft. "Born and cooked" is a contradiction. For the rapid aging of raw tea (especially green cakes), some people adopted the method of "wet storage", so there was a debate and contest between "dry storage and wet storage". The use of modern fixing, rolling and drying equipment, for the sake of tea strips and aroma, or other reasons, led to the dispute between Yunnan green and Yunnan green (baking green). Some people don't understand Pu 'er tea, and some make "Pu 'er green tea and Pu 'er black tea" for commercial interests, or bake green cake tea and green tea, which makes consumers who are new to Pu 'er tea road confused. Therefore, everyone is eager to know:
How did Pu 'er tea originate and pass on?
What is traditional Pu 'er tea?
What is the processing technology of traditional Pu 'er tea?
What kind of Pu 'er tea will be more fragrant with age?
What links lead to the natural fermentation of Pu 'er tea during its spread?
How to select and collect Pu 'er tea?
Faced with these disputes and problems, the author is deeply attracted to explore the origin, traditional technology and secret of natural fermentation of Pu 'er tea, which is a great wealth left by our predecessors.
What created the mysterious Pu 'er tea in history? It is a gift from heaven, or an opportunity created in a unique place, or the wisdom and painstaking efforts of Yunnan ethnic groups, or a long history, or a caravan on the ancient tea-horse road, or the result of multi-ethnic cultural exchanges between tea-horse cultures ... and so on. There are too many reasons for my surge of emotion, and there are too many angles worth exploring.
The author's discussion may only be part of the traditional Pu 'er tea. Through unremitting efforts, the author realizes that Pu 'er tea can be said to be the accumulation of Yunnan national culture and history. Only the mysterious south of colorful clouds has created the traditional Pu 'er tea. Without the sky, land and people in Yunnan, Pu 'er tea will become passive water, rootless wood and no longer exist.
To find out "what is traditional Pu 'er tea" and why Pu 'er tea is more fragrant with age, we can investigate it from (1) tea area, tea cellar, (2) rough processing (traditional green tea drying process), (3) reproduction process, (4) transportation and (5) storage and consumption. Then, on the basis of studying Yunnan's historical culture and national tea culture, under the guidance of Tea Making and Tea Chemistry, an exploratory study was conducted.
At the expert group meeting of "2002 China Pu 'er Tea International Symposium", Professor Cheng Qikun, former director of the Tea Research Institute of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, pointed out: "Pu 'er tea must be sun-dried green tea made by the traditional production technology of Yunnan minority tea areas", that is to say, it cannot be called Pu 'er tea without using Yunnan tea cans as raw materials and traditional sun-drying technology. This also coincides with the main point we are discussing, "Yunnan Teahouses, Ethnic Minorities and Traditional Crafts".
A Preliminary Study on the Origin of Pu 'er Tea
1. Pu 'er tea area
Yunnan Pu 'er tea area has its historical origin, and the tea area is relatively large. Here we introduce and discuss four larger Pu 'er tea areas: Xishuangbanna, Simao, Lincang and Baoshan. Of course, there is no intention to criticize anyone here, and omissions are inevitable.
In ancient times, the "Six Tea Mountains" were famous for Pu 'er tea. However, due to historical changes, it is really not easy to accurately locate a mountain now. Besides, we should know more about Pu 'er tea area. They are heroes behind the scenes, and their products are famous all over the world, but they seem to be unknown. In fact, several major Pu 'er tea areas in Yunnan, such as Xishuangbanna, Simao, Lincang and Baoshan, have made great contributions to Yunnan Pu 'er tea.
Xishuangbanna tea area has created the early Xishuangbanna private teahouse and the modern Menghai tea factory; Pu 'er tea in Simao, an ancient processing and distribution center, has a long history with Pu 'er tea. Many old tea drinkers recalled that in the early days (1920- 1940s), private tea houses spent a lot of money on the tea rolling technicians in Simao, which shows that the processing technology of Simao was excellent at that time. Coupled with the history of making tribute tea, some people say that "Pu 'er does not produce tea", which seems to be somewhat one-sided. For a long time, in Simao area with Pu 'er as the core and Pu 'er as the center, both tea industry and tea industry should be on a large scale. According to historical documents, the tea shipped to Pu 'er for processing and trading is "nearly two days, far away for several months"; Some people say that the distance between Chashan and Chashan is "eight hundred Ali weeks". It can be seen that the area of Pu 'er tea is also huge.
Lincang and Baoshan tea areas, known as Yongchang House in ancient times, are the origins and important activity areas of the Meng She nationality, the originator of Yunnan tea. It can be said that the tea areas in western Yunnan (now Lincang, Baoshan and Dehong tea areas) used to be ancient tea areas, but in modern times they belonged to Xiaguan tea factory (early Kangzang tea factory). The following discussion is taken from the era when Pu 'er tea was not hyped.
Tea making (edited by Chen Xun, Anhui Agricultural College, 1979, 1 1 version), P 262, "First, Yunnan pressed tea".
"Yunnan is an ancient tea area in China and the birthplace of tea trees in the world. Tea production has a long history and good quality. Historically, it is famous for producing pressed tea, cake tea, round tea and square tea. Pu 'er tea is exported to Southeast Asian countries and Japan, Italy and France. Compressed tea, cake tea and round tea are mainly sold to Tibet and Tibetan areas in this province, with an annual output of nearly 65,438+10,000 tons. "
"At present, it is mainly concentrated in Xiaguan tea factory in Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture in western Yunnan, and Menghai and Kunming tea factories also have some output, but Xiaguan tea factory has the largest output, accounting for about 74% of the province's total output."
The above excerpt reflects a fragment of Yunnan pressed tea in the 1970s. At present, there are thousands of wild ancient tea tree communities in Xishuangbanna, Simao and Lincang, with the oldest being more than 2,000 years, especially in Simao, Lancang and Lincang. Therefore, from the botanical point of view, it is very one-sided to think that Xishuangbanna or Simao is the only producing area of Pu 'er tea. It can be said with certainty that these four tea-producing areas (or neighboring areas in a broader sense) are all the origins of Pu 'er tea. On the other hand, Pu 'er tea is the traditional craft tea of Yunnan ethnic groups. From the perspective of Yunnan's national culture and history, the migration, integration and exchange of ethnic minorities in the four major tea areas have also created the magical Pu 'er tea.
In a word, the author thinks that Yunnan South Road Tea Area (Xishuangbanna, Simao Tea Area) and West Road Tea Area (Lincang, Baoshan, Dehong Tea Area, Dali Nanjian Tea Area) are ancient tea areas, and there is no need to favor one over the other, let alone mislead consumers, speculate in a small area and suppress other areas like the previous information. In fact, the teahouses, geographical environment and ethnic processing techniques in the four major tea areas have their own characteristics, which constitute a splendid Pu 'er tea culture. Pu 'er tea is the crystallization of traditional crafts of Yunnan ethnic minorities, which can be confirmed by the traditional crafts and natural fermentation I will talk about later.
Second, the historical context of Pu 'er tea mass ice
The name of Pu 'er tea appeared in the Ming Dynasty, and the third volume of Yunnan Brief, which was metabolized in the Ming Dynasty, said: "All kinds of teas are steamed and grouped for ordinary people." This shows that Yunnan pressed tea reached its peak in the Ming Dynasty.
However, the beginning of the History of Pu 'er Tea is Fan Chuo's Schumann in the Tang Dynasty. There are three clouds: "Tea leaves silver to replace all the mountains in the world, and there is no way to adopt it. Meng Sherman drinks it with pepper, ginger and cinnamon." During the Tang Dynasty, Nanzhao was the local political power in Yunnan, and Meng Sheman was the main force of Nanzhao. With the support of the Tang Dynasty, their communication was very close. Meng Sheman's way of drinking tea was also very popular in the Tang Dynasty, and even became the custom of the citizens in the Tang Dynasty. Although Lu Yu felt dismissive, he still made an important record in his Tea Classic.
The history of using tea in Yunnan is earlier than that in Tang Dynasty. "Seven Laws of the Three Kingdoms" mentioned "South China Tea Seed", which is equivalent to the south of Dadu River in Sichuan Province and Yunnan-Guizhou Province. Speaking of the important development of Yunnan tea, or the formation of Pu 'er tea, I think it is the result of the blending of Han culture and Nanzhao minority culture in the prosperous Tang Dynasty. As for the earlier history of tea use in ancient Yunnan, it remains to be verified. It is generally believed in academic circles that China first used tea in Bashu, especially in Guangya and the Three Kingdoms period of Pakistan, and there are historical materials about tea picking and cake making between Beijing and Pakistan. Exchanges and wars among ancient Yunnan, Nanzhao and Bashu also played an important role in the development of Yunnan tea. There is no direct record of Yunnan tea area in Lu Yu's Tea Classic, which should be related to Nanzhao being a local autonomous regime at that time. In the early Nanzhao period, Yunnan was divided by ethnic tribes. Later, the relationship between Nanzhao and Tang Dynasty was sometimes peaceful and sometimes at war.
"Schumann" records that "no picking, no picking, Meng Sheman drinks with pepper, ginger and cinnamon", which shows that Yunnan ethnic minorities used primary tea drying technology at that time, and picking was not particular, and manufacturing was the simplest sun drying. In Fan Chu's view, this is also compared with the tea-making process of cake tea (steamed green tea) in Tang Dynasty.
During a folk visit in Yunnan, many ethnic minorities did not know what Pu 'er tea was, but they were very familiar with it. They call it "old black tea", which is an important drink and an important source of income for them. It can be said that the accumulation, inheritance and development of green tea drying technology is the foundation of Pu 'er tea. At present, the ancient ways of sunning and drinking tea are still popular among ethnic minorities in Yunnan, such as baked tea and crock tea of Wa and Lahu nationalities, "three teas" of Bai nationality and "Long Hudou tea" of Naxi nationality.
The author believes that due to many factors such as the geographical and cultural environment of Nanzhao, the green tea drying technology of ethnic minorities, inconvenient transportation and so on, Meng Sherman, as the royal family in Nanzhao's political center, promoted the history of making pressed tea by "steaming group" after acquiring the knowledge of cake tea and combining with the needs of foreign exchange.
In the Tang Dynasty, it was a popular custom to mix loose tea with ginger and cinnamon, while tasting cake tea was regarded as a kind of progress and fashion. Meng Sherman would imitate these fashions and make cake tea. However, due to the remoteness of mountains and rivers and the difficulty in processing and transportation, the processing method of "drying green cake tea" was formed instead of steaming green cake tea in the Tang Dynasty.
After the Mongols unified Erhai Lake area in Nanzhao, Taihe City was built on the shore of Erhai Lake, which was divided into two floors, the upper level was Longtouguan (now the ancient city of Dali) and the lower level was Longweiguan (also known as Longweicheng, now Xiaguan City). Montessori initiated "drying green cake tea", and Yongchang area and Erhai area in ancient times became important tea production and tea making bases, which also laid a deep foundation for Shimonoseki tea culture. Later, Nanzhao's influence expanded to the Silver Festival, and the four major tea areas in Yunnan were initially formed.
In the 13th year of Emperor Montessori's biography, in 250 years, he was usurped by Zheng, Zhao and Yang. Then Duan Siping, our envoy in Nanzhao Tonghai (now Tonghai County, Yuxi area), with the support of Thirty-seven Mans in southeast Yunnan, successfully marched eastward to Yang, creating the era of Duan's Dali kingdom, and Duan's capital is still in Dali. According to "Notes on Daoguang Yunnan", after Dali Kingdom was passed down for several generations, Song Xing and Song Taizu went to Germany for three years, and Wang Quanbin sent a flat book to Yunnan. In view of the Nanzhao disaster in the Tang Dynasty, I felt that "Nan Man" was not easy to cure, so there was a story of Song Yuqiu (and painting the Dadu River, saying, "Besides, I have no such thing"). Therefore, Duan can live in Yunnan for a long time. As a result, Dali became a continuation of Nanzhao, and Montessori's processing method of "drying green cake tea" was naturally handed down.
In the Yuan Dynasty, after Yuan Shizu leveled Yunnan, the Yuan Dynasty sent the royal family to Yunnan to be in power, and ethnic minorities were forced to migrate, and some people went to the so-called miasma-filled frontier. Mongolian processing methods and customs spread among ethnic minorities in Yunnan.
During the Ming Dynasty, Yunnan was greatly helped by the Ming Dynasty, and its economy developed by leaps and bounds. There have been extensive exchanges between Yunnan's minority culture and Han culture, and Montessori's "drying green tea" is widely circulated in Yunnan. "A Brief Introduction to Yunnan" written by Xie Zhao in the Ming Dynasty records that "all philosophers use it and all teas are steamed." Because Yunnan is located in the southwest, the traffic is inconvenient, and the change of consumption customs is not as fast as that of the Central Plains. In the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang wrote a letter to abolish the group cake tea and promote the loose tea, which did not affect the pressed tea in Yunnan, so the pressed tea in Yunnan was preserved.
After the Ming Dynasty, people gradually realized the health care efficacy of Pu 'er tea. The famous work Dream of Red Mansions recorded the digestion and health care efficacy of Pu 'er tea, and even stewed a can of Pu 'er tea became a fashion. Scientific and technological works "Physical Knowledge" and "Compendium of Materia Medica" are also recorded. In this way, Pu 'er tea not only did not decline with other cakes, but developed in the Qing Dynasty and even became tribute tea.
The above is the historical context of Pu 'er tea (group cake tea) inheriting the history of cake tea in Tang Dynasty and developing to Ming and Qing Dynasties.
Third, Nanzhao and Pu 'er tea in the prosperous Tang Dynasty
Many researchers in the history of Pu 'er tea only pay attention to "where tea comes from, there are mountains in the city", and only pay attention to the regional concept-where tea is produced. While ignoring the other four important links:
process technology
Drinking custom
Ethnic group: Monsheman
Historical background: the prosperous Tang Dynasty and Nanzhao
By studying these aspects, we will get many interesting conclusions.
About mengshman
Since Qin and Han Dynasties, Yunnan has been Yizhou County, which includes Yunnan and Bashu, and Yizhou County is a part of Yizhou. According to "Canon Test", "Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty leveled Yunnan, first set up Yizhou County, and Yizhou secretariat ruled Chengdu, which was also in charge of Yunnan and Sichuan. When he arrived in the Three Kingdoms, Zhuge Liang went south, defeated Meng Huo and gained Pingnan Middle School, and changed Yizhou County to Jianning, in order to avoid Yizhou. Zhuge Liang dispatched troops, set up a monument in the south to commemorate his achievements, set up a town iron column, and later set up Jianning, Xinggu, Yongchang and Yunnan counties. " Yongchang is now Baoshan, Lincang and Dehong. Yunnan "is the present Dali area.
Yongchang gave birth to the letters of Dream Society with its long mourning culture. Wang Ye, or "imperial edict", according to Yunnan records, the imperial edict of Mengshe originated in Sha Yi, Yu Yongchang, and some Ailao people in Yongchang moved to Weishan in the north. Over time, they merged with the Kunming people who lived here, and they were called "Mengshe people". Weishan has also become a famous historical and cultural city in China and a sacred place where Nanzhao originated. In the early days of Nanzhao, there were six imperial edicts in western Yunnan, and Mengshe imperial edict was south of the other five imperial edicts, so it was called Nanzhao.
In order to contain the Tubo forces, the Tang Dynasty adopted the strategy of supporting local forces. Yongchang is closest to Tubo, and the imperial edict of Mengshe naturally won favor and strong support. After a series of battles and mergers, in the 26th year of Kaiyuan (738), Meng Shezhao unified western Yunnan with Erhai Lake as the center. In the Tang Dynasty, Piro was crowned king of Yunnan, and Yan Luofeng attacked king of Yunnan for seven years. Subsequently, Yan luo feng was ordered by the Tang Dynasty to annex Dianchi Lake and unify Yunnan. In the tenth year of Zhenyuan, Yunnan Anfu Department was established in the Tang Dynasty, and Yimou Xun was named Nanzhao King, a native of Yunnan Anfu Department. So far, Nanzhao has ruled the southwest frontier of China.
On Jieshan Mountain in Yinsheng City and Yunnan Ancient Tea Area
"Schumann" said that "tea comes from the mountain of the city boundary", and later "Pu 'er Mansion Records" also said: Pu 'er belonged to the silver mansion in ancient times, so Xifan used ordinary tea since the Tang Dynasty. This defines the general origin of Pu 'er tea. According to Schumann's historical background, Yinsheng is one of the eight administrative regions of Nanzhao, also known as Kenan Festival. Yinsheng City is now Jingdong County, Simao District, and Kenan City is located in Kenan Village, Wenjing Township, Jingdong County. The jurisdiction of Yinsheng Festival is Xishuangbanna and Simao, and there are also some areas in Lincang.
Administrative jurisdiction of Nanzhao regime: Shijie District (Huang Liu around the tenth year of Zhenyuan) is Nanzhao's direct jurisdiction (Erhai area); Yongchang Festival (Baoshan, Lincang and Dehong); Yinsheng Festival is also called Kenan Festival (Yinsheng City is Jingdong County of Simao, and Yinsheng Festival includes parts of Simao, Xishuangbanna and Lincang); Dongnong Festival (now Chuxiong, Yao 'an and other areas), with Huichuan Governor (Huili to Dadu River area); Ningbei Festival, then Jianchuan Festival (including Eryuan, Jianchuan, Heqing and Lanping); Lishui Festival (on both sides of the upper reaches of Irrawaddy River); Tieqiao Festival (Diqing, Lijiang, Yanbian); Tuodong Festival (Kunming, Qujing and Zhaotong) has jurisdiction over Tonghai Dadu (Honghe and Wenshan).
About "the use of tea popular in western countries began in the Tang Dynasty", it shows that the Pu 'er tea trade between Yunnan and Tibetan areas began in Nanzhao period of Yunnan local government in the Tang Dynasty. Among the eight administrative regions in this period, Shihuang District (Erhai area, now Xiaguan area in Dali) was directly under its jurisdiction. The festivals of Tieqiao are now Diqing, Lijiang and Yanbian, and the main ethnic groups of Tieqiao are Mohe and Xifan. At present, as one of the famous ancient tea-horse roads of Dali, Lijiang, Diqing and Tibet, the trade route of Pu 'er tea is well known.
After the unification of Erhai District and Dianchi District, the communication between Nanzhao and Tang Dynasty, namely Yunnan-Tibet Road, Sichuan-Yunnan Road and Chang 'an Road, is another important tea-horse road.
Because Meng Shezhao established Nanzhao Kingdom with Dali as its capital from Yongchang to Weishan, and then to Erhai, and the inheritance of Dali Kingdom, Yinsheng Festival, Yongchang Festival and Weishan naturally became important areas for tea production and tea making in Yunnan. Many wild ancient tea tree communities have been found in Lincang area, and even a large wild tea tree community has been found in Yongzheng Township, Baohua County, not far from Weishan, the birthplace of Nanzhao, which can illustrate this point.
In short, the ancient tea areas in Yunnan since Nanzhao include Xishuangbanna, Simao, Lincang, Baoshan, Dehong and Dali, which are also important producing areas of Pu 'er tea now, but since the Qing Dynasty put Pu 'er House under the jurisdiction of Xishuangbanna and Simao, these two places have gained a little fame.
The Birth of Sun-cured Green Tea in Yunnan
"Schumann" records that "no picking, no picking, and Mengshe is full of pepper, ginger, cinnamon and boiling", which shows that the tea-making process of Yunnan ethnic groups at that time was sun-baked green tea and was in the form of loose tea. Then how was the Yunnan drying process born? According to the analysis of Zhu Zizhen's A Preliminary Study of Tea History, the sun-drying technology originated from the original tea baking and sun-drying processing methods of various nationalities in Yunnan.
Primitive tea processing may first come from direct sun-curing of tea, which is beneficial to storage, and sun-curing is the most common and frequent practice in primitive life. In addition, it is often found that in order to overcome the green and bitter smell of fresh tea, simple processing of tea is produced, and burning tea is the simplest one. The tradition of burning tea is still circulating among Dai and Wa people in Yunnan. The so-called tea-burning of Dai and Wa people refers to the new shoots with one bud, five leaves and six leaves picked from tea trees, which are first roasted on the fire until the leaves are brown, and then put into a pot for frying and drinking. Burning tea is also the embryonic form of enzyme fixation process. The utensils used to burn tea, from the earliest stone tools, pottery to iron, are used by ethnic minorities in Yunnan.
The inheritance of "burning tea" is the most primitive. At present, there are Wa people's iron plate roasted tea, Dai people's and Jinuo people's bamboo tube roasted tea in Yunnan. Wa people use an iron plate as a container for "burning tea", roast the tea on the iron plate until it is brown, and then cook and drink it; Bamboo tube drying tea is based on local materials. Fresh bamboo tubes are used as containers for "burning tea". Fresh tea leaves are stuffed into bamboo tubes, the mouth of which is sealed, and then thrown into the fireplace. When the bamboo tube is baked to brown, the bamboo tube is broken and the tea leaves are taken out for frying.
Combining the original two processing methods of burning tea and drying tea, that is, baking fresh leaves on the fire for a while, and then spreading them to dry, the production process of drying green tea was formally formed. This is the origin of sunburn in Yunnan.
The custom of "burning tea" later developed into the tradition of baking tea for ethnic minorities in Yunnan. In order to be convenient and practical, fresh tea is no longer used, but processed sun-dried green tea is used as the raw material of fried tea, which has developed from a simple "burning tea" processing method to a storage processing method of Yunnan fried tea. In Erhai area, the central area ruled by Mengsheman, the custom of baking tea is more common, and the "three teas" of Dali Bai people also come from this. With the inheritance of Nanzhao and Dali, baking tea has become the tradition of many ethnic groups and regions in Yunnan. Bamboo-tube tea made by Dai and Jinuo people with fresh tea has also developed into Yunnan bamboo-tube tea products processed with sun-cured green tea.
Drinking custom of Meng She nationality.
"Schumann" records that "Meng Sherman drank it with pepper, ginger and cinnamon, cooked it and ate it". This way of drinking tea is also a popular custom around the Tang Dynasty. Making and drinking cake tea is a higher or more advanced way that Lu Yu thinks. After Lu Yu's summary and improvement, Tuanbingcha developed greatly in the Tang and Song Dynasties.
The sixth drink of the Tea Classic says: "Or use onions, ginger, dates, orange peel, dates, mint and so on. Boil them to boiling point. It is customary to abandon the water ear in the ditch. " Lu Yu believes that tea is cooked with ginger and cinnamon. This kind of tea is like waste water pouring into the sewer, but citizens are used to drinking this kind of tea. In addition, before Lu Yu, Liu Kun, a A Jin native, wrote in a letter to the nephew of Yanzhou in the south: "Before this, there were two Jin of dry tea, one Jin of ginger and one Jin of cinnamon in Anzhou, all of which were needed." Mr. Zhu Zizhen, the author of A Preliminary Study of Tea History, thinks that dry tea is loose tea. From this point of view, it was popular to drink tea with ginger in Jin Dynasty. From Jin Dynasty to Tang Dynasty, this custom prevailed in several dynasties.
In a word, Meng Sheman's drinking custom is consistent with the above-mentioned popular custom of China culture in the Central Plains. It laid the foundation for Nanzhao's birth of Tuanbingcha.
The Birth of Yunnan Tuanbingcha
Historically, with the prosperity of the Tang Dynasty, colorful Nanzhao culture appeared. Nanzhao absorbed the culture of the prosperous Tang Dynasty and made it localized and nationalized, which promoted the birth of Yunnan cake tea.
There was a close relationship between the Tang Dynasty and Nanzhao. The disciples of Meng Shezhao's royal family often paid tribute to Chang 'an, kept in touch with the culture of the prosperous Tang Dynasty, and even directly received the education of the culture of the prosperous Tang Dynasty, constantly transforming what they learned into the system and culture of Nanzhao.
From the perspective of tea culture, from "picking without picking, Meng extravagant drinking it, cooking with pepper, ginger and cinnamon" to the taste of cakes and tea that Lu Yu thinks is more fashionable, because it should be said that Meng extravagant has done it. Mengshe Manzao studied the cake tea technology of Datang, followed the fashion of Datang, and created the cake tea in Yunnan.
In addition, Nanzhao is a local political power, and its relationship with Datang is also divided and combined, which is quite tortuous. There are many historical facts such as Nanzhao rebellion in history. Hundreds of thousands of mainland soldiers were exiled to Nanzhao during the two Erhai Wars in Tianbao. In addition, in the third year of Taihe (829), Nanzhao returned from Chengdu with tens of thousands of "children" (women and technicians) and basically integrated into Meng Sheman. There must be many tea drinkers and tea makers among the above-mentioned foot soldiers and technicians, and they can also be described as one of the pioneers in the manufacture and drinking of Yunnan Tuanbingcha.
Therefore, the central area of Erhai Lake, Yongchang Festival (Baoshan, Lincang and Dehong) and Yinsheng Festival (Simao and Banna) are the origins of ancient Pu 'er tea.
References:
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Efficacy of Pu 'er tea
For thousands of years, Pu 'er tea has been favored by consumers because of its excellent quality. At the same time, the unique flavor of Pu 'er tea is also related to its natural transformation process. After the cooked Pu 'er tea is processed by a special processing program, it is broken into tea balls of different sizes and shapes, which are naturally dried in the shade. Then according to the transportation requirements, put them into baskets and transport them to other places. Yunnan is located in the frontier of the motherland, and Xishuangbanna is located near Yunnan, with high mountains and dangerous clouds. In ancient times, the transportation of tea was extremely difficult. The transportation of tea depends entirely on caravans and cattle gangs, and the delay on the mountain road is very long. In some sections, the caravan can only walk twice a year, and the cowherd can only walk once a year. The unique color and fragrance of Pu 'er tea come into being when the tea leaves jolted on the back of horses and cows for a long time and the contents slowly changed. The efficacy and function are doubled.
"Brahma Lu Cong Lu" (written by Chai Chen in A.D. 1925) said: "Pu 'er tea is warm and fragrant and can cure all diseases. Steamed and wrapped with bamboo sticks, the price is equivalent to gold. "Pu 'er tea, as a traditional beverage, can not only quench thirst, promote fluid production and refresh, but also has special medicinal effects. This has long been recorded in ancient books. Qing Zhao Xuemin's Compendium of Materia Medica says: "Pu 'er tea is warm and fragrant, producing six famous tea mountains: Youle and Gordon, among which Yibang and Manzhuan tea are more delicious. Bitter taste, greasy cattle and sheep poison, and it is forbidden for those who are weak. Bitter, expectorant, qi-lowering, laxative. Pu 'er tea paste is black as paint, and the first thing to sober up is green. Digestion and phlegm, clearing the stomach and promoting fluid production are particularly powerful. " In the sixth volume
Of course, this is not a hypothesis and association. The article also said: "We use human cancer cells cultured in vitro, and the effect of green tea is particularly obvious ... Under the microscope, Pu 'er tea can kill cancer cells, but green tea and black tea can kill cancer cells ... Pu 'er tea has the strongest effect on killing cancer cells, even when ordinary people drink tea 1%. After the action of Pu 'er tea, the cancer cells changed from polygonal concentration to round, and the shortened pseudopodia decreased, losing the ability of attachment and swimming, and even falling off, floating and losing. The remaining cells also become smaller and rounder, the nucleus is condensed, chromatin is condensed or disappeared, vacuoles appear in the nucleus and aggregates, nucleoli is condensed or fragmented and disappears, and chromosomes contract or condense with each other. Ribosomes decreased, mitochondria and endoplasmic reticulum expanded, DNA synthesis decreased and nuclear division stopped. These changes can prove that cancer cells often degenerate and die under the action of tea. "At the same time, according to the clinical trial of Kunming Medical College, Yunnan Pu 'er Tuocha was used to treat 55 cases of hyperlipidemia. Compared with Antoine's treatment of 3 1 case, Pu 'er tea has a higher curative effect than Antoine, and its cholesterol-lowering effect is similar to Antoine's, and there is no side effect after long-term use. Mi Le Carobbi, director of clinical teaching in the Department of Medicine of San Antonio, has proved through experiments that Pu 'er tea has an unexpected effect on fat metabolism.
Among the obese patients who drink Yunnan Pu 'er tea, more than 40% people lose weight in different degrees, and the effect is more significant in cases aged 40-50. 37% has a good effect on reducing lipid compounds contained in human body, 33% has a moderate effect, and has different effects on reducing triglycerides, cholesterol and hematuria. In addition, drinking Pu 'er tea can cause vasodilation, cerebral blood flow reduction and other physiological effects, and it is also used to prevent and treat diseases such as the elderly, hypertension and arteriosclerosis. Professor Beenaert Giacoto of Henri Lundo Hospital in Paris gave 20 patients with hyperlipidemia in Modao Hospital in creteil three bowls of Yunnan Pu 'er tea every day. A month later, it was found that the patients' blood lipids were almost reduced by a quarter, while those who drank the same amount of other teas remained unchanged. Professor Lv Dong of Orsay Institute of Nutrition and Physiology, who is also engaged in this experiment, said: "This kind of tea seems to have one or more special components that play a role in lipid metabolism."
The book "Pu 'er tea with peculiar efficacy" co-authored by Nobuyo and Ichiro Masuyama in Japan has set off a Pu 'er tea fever in Japan. 199 1 In the "International Symposium on Tea and Health" held in Shizuoka, Japan on August 26-29, participants showed great interest in the paper "Antioxidant Activity of Tetramethoxybenzene and Its Inducer in Black Tea" by Chinese and Japanese scholars, which aroused strong repercussions. Compatriots in Hong Kong and Macao believe that Pu 'er tea can quench thirst, strengthen the spleen and relieve alcoholism, stimulate appetite and eliminate food stagnation, inhibit bacteria and lose weight. Others think that green tea is cold: black tea is hot; Pu 'er tea is neither cold nor hot, it is economical and practical, and it is generally addictive, so it is called "Bao Li tea". Pu 'er tea is neutral and healthy, which is more suitable for the stomach of Hong Kong people. It may be the main reason why Hong Kong people prefer Pu 'er tea.