Sichuan Border Tea

Sichuan Border Tea

　　Sichuan Border Tea has a long production history. Since the Song Dynasty, successive dynasties implemented the "Tea-Horse Law," and during the Ming Dynasty (1371–1541), "Tea-Horse Offices" were established in Ya'an and Tianquan, Sichuan to manage tea-horse trade. During the Qianlong era of the Qing Dynasty, border tea produced in Ya'an, Tianquan, and Rongjing was designated exclusively for sale in Kham and Tibet, known as Southern Route Border Tea; while tea from Guanxian, Chongqing, and Dayi was designated for sale in northwestern Sichuan regions such as Songpan and Li County, known as "Western Route Border Tea."

Southern Route Border Tea is made by harvesting and processing tea leaves and branches. The fresh leaves used are relatively coarse and mature, which can be hand-picked or cut with a knife—either older leaves or current-year branches and leaves by hand, or freshly matured shoots and branches by cutting. Depending on the processing method, it is divided into Maozhuang Tea and Zuozhuang Tea. Freshly cut branches and leaves that are fixed (kill-green) but not rolled, then directly dried, are called "Maozhuang Tea." Those that are fixed, then undergo piling, sun-drying, steaming, tossing, fermentation (wodui), and finally drying, are called "Zuozhuang Tea." The finished Zuozhuang Tea is graded into 4 levels and 8 grades. The tea is coarse with some stalks, the leaves rolled into strips, with a dark brown, liver-like color. It has a pure aroma with an aged tea fragrance, a mild taste, bright yellowish-red liquor, and dark brown, coarse leaf bottoms. Maozhuang Tea, also called Jinyu Tea, has coarse, unrolled leaves mostly in flakes, with a withered yellow color, and inferior internal quality compared to Zuozhuang Tea. Southern Route Border Tea is the raw material used for pressing "Kang Brick" and "Jinjian" tea.

The fresh leaves used for Western Route Border Tea are even coarser than those for Southern Route Border Tea. Leaves and branches from one to two-year-old tea plants are harvested and simply fixed (kill-green) then sun-dried. The resulting Maocha has a withered yellow color and serves as the raw material for pressing "Fu Brick" and "Fangbao Tea." The leaf material for Fu Brick contains about 20% stalks, while that for Fangbao Tea is even coarser, containing up to around 60% stalks.