The origin and decline of Dianhong Gongfu black tea

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Gongfu black tea is a unique traditional product in my country with a production history of more than 300 years. It has maintained its world-famous and unique Kung Fu black tea products such as "Qihong", "Dianhong" and "Minhong", and still occupies a specific market in the international market.


Any strip-shaped black tea made from fresh leaves of large-leaf species in our province is called Dianhong Gongfu tea. The quality characteristics of first-class Dianhong Gongfu tea: the strips are moist, tight and plump, the tips are golden, the soup is red and bright, the aroma is rich, the taste is mellow, and the bottom of the leaves is evenly red and bright.

The initial production of Dianhong Gongfu tea is divided into four processes: withering, rolling, fermentation and drying.

Withering is the basic process of Gongfu black tea. It causes the entire batch of buds and leaves to lose water normally and evenly under artificial conditions. During the process of water loss, it stimulates changes in the internal components and achieves an appropriate degree of physical and chemical changes.


Then why wither? Under certain conditions, the appropriate amount of water is evenly lost, weakening the tension of fresh leaf cells, making the leaves soft and tough, creating necessary conditions for rolling and shaping and improving leaf cell breakage.

Water is lost, cell fluid is concentrated, cell membrane permeability is enhanced, enzyme activity is enhanced, and various substances inside the leaves undergo corresponding changes.

Some of the aromatic substances in the fresh leaves begin to transform, and the low-boiling-point grassy substances gradually disappear or transform into other substances, exuding the unique fragrance of withered leaves.

What are the factors that affect withering? The relationship between fresh leaves themselves and water loss.

Withering not only requires water loss to a certain extent, but also requires uniform water loss. Uniform withering or not is the key to withering quality. Different fresh leaves have different water contents depending on their age and tenderness. The same fresh leaf has different tissue structures and water contents in its buds, leaves and stems, and the difficulty and speed of water evaporation are also different. The same fresh leaves require consistent tenderness and freshness to achieve uniform withering.


Withering water loss and leaf physical condition. One kind of water in fresh leaves is free water, which is easily evaporated and lost in the air; the other is water combined with the cell protoplasm, which is not easy to be lost. Most of the water lost during withering is free water. When the hydrophilicity of cell proteins is destroyed, bound water is released. After the fresh leaves wither, water is lost, and the leaf area shrinks in direct proportion to time. The area of ​​fresh and young leaves shrinks even more, and most of the leaves become dorsally rolled after withering.

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