How is Pu-erh tea made into cake?

The production of Pu-erh tea products is the whole process of how to make green tea into cake tea, brick tea, Tuo cha and other different shapes. In this article, we will take Pu-erh tea green cake with a net weight of 357 grams as an example.

 Compared with the suppression of Pu-erh cooked tea, the production of Pu-erh tea raw tea is much simpler. This process from drying green tea to finished tea can be summarized into nine characters, or "hand-made stone molding tea nine-character formula", that is to say, set, steam, pour, knead, set, dry, take off. (Of course, between the pressing of Pu-erh tea cakes and the completion of the drying of green tea, some tea making details have been ignored, such as picking yellow tablets and other steps.)

The first step: Weighing, namely tea.
 
In order to ensure that the net weight of the finished tea is 357 ± 1 grams, it is necessary to weigh the sun-green tea with a net weight of about 360 grams according to the standard dryness of Pu-erh tea sun-green tea. This completes the first step of hand-pressing Pu-erh tea cake tea with stone molds.
 
Speaking of this, some readers may start to wonder. Because the net weight of the finished Pu-erh tea is 357 grams, why do you weigh the 360 ​​grams of Pu-erh tea loose tea? In fact, the loss of Pu-erh tea during the pressing process is inevitable. Secondly, the finished tea also loses a little water during the drying process.
 
The second step: set, that is, put in the fly.
 
What is Inflight? In the Pu-erh tea world, inside paper refers to the mark of the manufacturer or orderer pressed on Pu-erh tea, which can be used as the basis for the authenticity of the finished tea. In general, regular manufacturers need to place "inner fly" when producing Pu-erh tea products, except for some special tea products.
 
In the process of Pu-erh tea manual stone mold pressing, there are two points to be noted when placing the inner fly: First: the inner fly should be found at the center of the steamed tea tube, with the graphic surface (ie, front) on the top; second, Put a little tea on the front of the inner fly to prevent the inner fly from falling off after forming a cake.

The third step: cover, put a cloth cover pressed 357 grams of Pu-erh tea cake on the steamed tea tube.
 
For newbies, it is important to note that at this stage, do not put the cloth bag upside down; the normal operation is that the side that touches the tea should be the most "smooth" side of the bag.
The fourth step: steaming, that is steaming tea.
 
In terms of manual stone mold pressing of Pu-erh tea cake, boiler steam operation is mostly used. The purpose of steaming tea is to soften the tea leaves and facilitate subsequent operations. Second, it can also serve to disinfect and sterilize tea leaves.
 
Generally speaking, the boiler steam operation is adopted, under the action of steam at a high temperature of 100 degrees Celsius, usually steaming for 10-20 seconds, the tea leaves become soft and humid, and the water content can be increased by 3%.
 
In the steaming tea process, the most critical point is how to master the time for steaming tea. If the tea is steamed for too long, too much water will be absorbed from the tea leaves, which will cause yellow tea noodles to ripen, reduce the aroma, and even cause tea mildew and other problems; if the time is too short, the leaf quality is not easy to soften, and it is more difficult to form , After the finished product is easy to produce delamination.
 
The fifth step: pouring, refers to pouring the steamed tea together with the cloth bag on the workbench.
 
This step has higher requirements for the operator. For example, the operator is required to apply even pressure on both hands to ensure that the tea leaves after pouring are smooth and do not deviate the inner fly from the center point. The movement must be fast and light.
 
The sixth step: kneading, that is, kneading tea.
 
This is the most important step in the whole pressing process. First, the tea leaves in the cloth cover are evenly spread out to the surroundings, the center bottoms (inward flight), and the cloth cover is firmly placed in the center of the tea ball with the right hand (or left hand), and the left hand (or right hand) kneads and rubs the tea. The intensity needs to be even, kneading one circle to one and a half circles, the tea balls are rounded, and can be shaped like a cake.
 
Next, we need to tie a knot in the middle of the tea cake. The height of this knot should be consistent with the tea balls in the shape of a cake. It can be slightly lower, but not higher than the height of the tea ball.
 
For this part, the technique is very particular, and the time is more urgent-it needs to be completed within 20 seconds, otherwise the tea will become hard, and the tea cake will not be clean and neat after the finished product, and it is also prone to delamination.

Step 7: Set.
 
Put the kneaded tea balls down on the tea pressing plate with a cloth cover, and then press it flatly with a bowl-shaped stone mold. In order to make the tea cake compact, the operator needs to stand on the stone mold and shake the stone mold evenly in a uniform direction for half a circle. If the force is uneven, the thickness of the finished tea cake will be different, and the "look" and "body" of the tea cake will be lost. It can be taken out after fifteen minutes. If it is obtained too early, the tea cake is easily deformed.

The eighth step: drying, that is, drying tea.
 
Place the pressed tea cake on the tea rack and wait for half an hour to spread and cool and shape before proceeding to the next step.
 
The ninth step: take off, that is take off.
 
Unlock the cooled and shaped tea balls, gently remove the tea cake from the cloth cover, and then put it back on the cooling rack. The paper tea cake is dried or dried.
The above is the whole process of manual stone mold pressing of Pu-erh tea raw cake tea, as is the pressing of Pu-erh cooked tea.

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