Chapter 329 New Cash Crop - Tea

In the hot summer, people living in the capital are worried about how to escape the heat.

However, Liu Zhiye's family need not worry about this. They now live in Liujiazhuang, surrounded by mountains in the west of Beijing, which has been one of the famous summer resorts in Beijing since ancient times.

Surrounded by mountains, Liujiazhuang is full of greenery and a gentle breeze. Whenever the hot summer comes, the temperature here is always a few degrees lower than that in Beijing, making people feel much cooler.

Liu Zhiye's family often sits in their own yard in the evening, enjoying the cool evening breeze, listening to the chirping of insects in the distance, chatting lively, and drinking green tea grown in their own home. It is really comfortable.

Talking about the habit of drinking tea, the old Beijingers love to drink tea. Those who can afford it will drink good tea, while those who can't will just drink a pot of Gaosui, which is also excellent.

No matter they were rich or poor, the old Beijing people all got up early. After walking their birds or flying their pigeons, they all gathered in teahouses.

When you have free time, get up in the morning, exercise, and some people drink tea first and then have breakfast.

Some people sit on a stool, drink two bowls of fried liver, chat in the teahouse, drink enough tea, go home for lunch, take a nap after lunch, go to the teahouse for the night shift, or go to listen to storytelling, which is also a leisurely life.

After getting up early, the old Beijing people would first make a pot of tea, then wash up, eat, and do other things. "I said, build me a tall pot..."

The following is a very interesting conversation between neighbors when they meet early in the morning. Do you think it sounds familiar?
"Are you awake?"

"get up!"

"Have you drunk yet?"

"I drank it. How about you?"

"Well, I just brewed it and haven't drunk it yet. I'll drink it."

This is a courtesy among neighbors. If a guest comes to visit, the host will first "steep" the tea.

That is to say, first soak the tea leaves in the teacup with a little hot water, and then rinse them with boiling water when the guests come. The first brew of tea will be very strong and fragrant.

So old Beijing people would sometimes say when they meet and greet each other: "I knew you were coming today, so I made tea for you a long time ago."

…………

The Liu family was no exception, especially Liu Jingzhai, who was particularly fond of drinking tea. As he said, "I can skip meals, but I cannot skip tea." He kept the Gu Jingzhou purple clay teapot bought for him by Liu Zhiye in his hand all day long and even brought it to class.

Dad likes it. Generally, sons would try their best to satisfy the needs of their grandfather even if they have no conditions, let alone someone as capable as Liu Zhiye!

So, over the years, Liu Zhiye has made a lot of good tea for Liu Jingzhai.

Except for the Dahongpao grown on the mother tree which is difficult to get, they have all other famous teas.

As a result, Liu Jingzhai's taste for tea has become so picky that ordinary tea is no longer acceptable to him.

In Deng Ru's words, "You just have a lot of money to burn. When we first got married, the jasmine tea foam tasted very fragrant to you."

Because of growing Chinese herbal medicine, Liu Zhiye suddenly got an inspiration. He developed a strong interest in growing tea and began to think about growing tea himself.

This is not just an attempt by him, but may also be an important future development direction of the village's alpine agriculture.

If they can successfully grow high-quality tea, this area will usher in new agricultural development opportunities.

Some people think that the Beijing area, located in the north, is not suitable for growing tea because factors such as climate conditions and water quality are not conducive to the growth of tea trees.

Tea trees prefer warm and humid climates, but the climate in Beijing is very different from that in other places. The climate in Beijing belongs to the temperate semi-humid continental monsoon climate, with an average annual temperature of around 10°C and low relative humidity.

Such climatic conditions are not conducive to the growth of tea trees, and can easily lead to slow growth of tea trees and deterioration of tea quality.

In addition, water quality has an important impact on the quality of tea. The ideal water quality should be moderate in pH value, contain appropriate amount of minerals, be non-toxic and harmless, and have no odor.

However, the water quality in the capital area is not suitable as a source for growing tea due to factors such as salt content, high hardness, and high residual chlorine content.

Although water quality can be improved through water treatment, the cost is high and it is not practical for smaller tea growers.

In fact, that’s not entirely true. There are actually many places in the capital that are suitable for growing tea trees.

For example, suburban areas such as Huairou, Miyun, and Yanqing have good ecological environments and are suitable for growing tea.

Yanqi Lake in Huairou, Xishan in Miyun, Badaling and Kangzhuang in YQ District, and southwest of Liujiazhuang in western Beijing all had certain records of tea planting, and some villages still have many tea trees.

The climatic and soil conditions in the above-mentioned places are very suitable for growing green tea and black tea, among which Huairou's Yunju Temple Green Tea, Miyun's Xishan Jinjunmei and Yuanyang Tea are the most famous.

The tea culture of the old capital has a long history. As early as the Yuan Dadu period, "teahouses" as a carrier of tea culture had already appeared in the capital.

In the Ming Dynasty, the Prime Minister Zheng Guifei vigorously advocated tea tasting in order to promote tea culture. Later, emperors such as Kangxi and Qianlong also entertained themselves with tea and built many teahouses for people to taste tea.

People in the city love drinking tea, especially in the hot summer, when drinking a pot of herbal tea is a real enjoyment. People in Beijing who have to go to work will also make a pot of tea when they get up early.

There is a saying in Beijing: "Thirst won't kill you in the East City, and hunger won't kill you in the West City."

The meaning is that people from Dongcheng often ask each other when they get up early: "Have you drunk, have you?" People from Xicheng often ask each other: "Have you eaten, have you?" In fact, drinking morning tea is a common habit of old Beijing people.

The green tea that Liu Zhiye asked his uncle to try to grow was the green tea seedlings transplanted from Yunju Temple in Xishan.

After the green tea is picked this year, it needs to be withered immediately to prevent the tea leaves from fermenting naturally.

The purpose of withering is to rupture the cells of fresh tea leaves through high temperature treatment, destroy the oxidase of polyphenols in the tea leaves, and promote the production of catechins and aromatic substances.

The traditional way of killing green tea is to use charcoal fire or iron pot. Now mechanized methods are more commonly used, such as steam killing and microwave killing.

The green tea needs to be rolled after withering to break the cell morphology and intracellular chain polyphenols, which is conducive to the mixing and dissolution of various substances in the tea leaves and promotes the aroma, taste and morphology of the tea leaves.

The purpose of rolling is to control the moisture content, temperature and time of the tea leaves, and constantly turn, rotate and knead the tea leaves to make them flat, while releasing aroma and moisture.

Because it was an experimental planting, my uncle only planted three acres of green tea. With such a small amount, of course he used the traditional tea-making process, which was followed by frying and fermentation.

Liu Zhiye's investment in tea planting was well-intentioned. He specially invited Master Huiming from Xishan Yunju Temple to teach his uncle and others how to refine tea.

Although Master Huiming is nearly 70 years old, he is still vigorous and walks briskly. His face is ruddy and full of energy, as if the years have left no trace on him.

Whether climbing a mountain or crossing a stream, he could do so with great speed, demonstrating extraordinary physical strength and perseverance.

Liu Zhiye also made many visits and finally learned that the Yunju Temple in Xishan grows high-quality tea, which was even a tribute to the royal family.

The geographical environment of Xishan and Liujiazhuang is quite similar. Since Xishan can produce tea of ​​excellent quality, Liujiazhuang should also be able to produce tea of ​​the same high quality.

This seems to be a self-evident fact, however, the reality is not that simple.

The excellent quality of green tea produced at Xishan Yunju Temple stems from its profound tea planting tradition. Since the end of the Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, this place has inherited the green tea planting skills, passed down from generation to generation, and accumulated rich experience.

It is this inheritance and persistence that makes the green tea of ​​Xishan Yunju Temple more and more brilliant in the long river of time.

It is not difficult to obtain tea seedlings from Yunju Temple, but it is extremely difficult to master its unique planting techniques.

If Liu Zhiye had not personally come forward to negotiate, even the compassionate monks would not easily pass on these precious skills to outsiders. Liu Zhiye had no choice but to offer tempting conditions to impress Master Huiming. He promised that as long as Yunju Temple was willing to teach Liujiazhuang how to grow high-quality tea, Liujiazhuang would generously donate a considerable amount of incense money to the temple every year.

The temples were having a harder time these days, and they were no longer as prosperous as they used to be. And no matter how good the skills were, they couldn't make a living, so the two sides hit it off and agreed.

After some twists and turns, Master Huiming, an experienced tea-growing expert, finally came out to help and taught my uncle and others the techniques of planting tea trees and post-processing tea leaves.

"What's the matter? Do you think this tea is okay?" The uncle looked at his younger brother Liu Jingzhai's comments with anticipation.

Liu Jingzhai took a sip of tea and smacked his lips, a hint of surprise flashing in his eyes: "Hey! This tea is good. Is it really grown by us?"

Seeing this, the uncle raised his mouth corners and revealed a meaningful smile. He asked softly: "How can this be fake? Tell me quickly, how does it taste?"

Liu Jingzhai picked up the teacup again, took another sip, and said slowly: "Hmm, it tastes fresh and fragrant, with a mellow and sweet taste, and the leaves are bright green."

"This is really good tea, worthy of being the Zen tea grown under the guidance of Yunju Temple. Before, I only heard about it but never had the chance to taste it, but now I finally get my wish."

It has been said among the real tea lovers in Beijing that the green tea from Yunju Temple in Xishan is no worse than West Lake Longjing.

Yunju Temple Green Tea is famous for its unique taste and aroma. It is usually fragrant and fresh, with a mellow and sweet taste and bright green leaves.

After brewing, the tea soup is clear and exudes a pleasant aroma that makes people feel relaxed and happy.

Yunju Temple was able to produce the finest green tea that was used as tribute to the royal family. This was not accidental, but had profound reasons.

On the one hand, Yunju Temple is located in Xishan, with a unique geographical environment, which provides unique conditions for the growth of green tea.

On the other hand, Yunju Temple is closely connected with Buddhist culture and tea ceremony. This profound cultural heritage also gives green tea a unique flavor.

For thousands of years, Buddhism and tea have formed an indissoluble bond.

Buddhism seeks emptiness, and emptiness is happiness. Tea tastes bitter, but then it becomes sweet. They are truly of the same origin and nature.

How many people have tasted the sweetness of life in this bitterness, realized the true meaning of life, comprehended the artistic conception of Zen, and felt the mystery of the tea ceremony.

The essence of the tea ceremony is "harmony, tranquility, happiness and truth". Harmony means harmony, tranquility means emptiness, emptiness and tranquility, happiness means harmony, joy and comfort, and truth means truth of Tao, truth of emotion and truth of nature.

Mr. Zhao Puchu, the president of the Chinese Buddhist Association, once wrote a poem: "Seven bowls of tea bring you the ultimate taste, one pot of tea brings you the true pleasure. It is better to drink tea than to recite hundreds of thousands of verses."

It means that although drinking seven bowls of wine is delicious, it is not as good as tasting a small pot of tea. It is better to put everything aside and drink tea than to read thousands of verses of great monks and study all the Buddhist teachings.

Zen is to understand the truth through meditation and ordinary things. Modern life is tense and busy. Drinking tea and sitting in meditation require letting go of worries, letting go of the roots, dust and consciousness of the eighteen realms. Stealing a half day of leisure in this busy life, let's have tea and be free.

Enlightenment is a state of mind, and drinking tea is also a state of mind. The two states of mind are interconnected.

Therefore, it is not accidental that the monks of Xishan Yunju Temple can cultivate such good products. This is a kind of spiritual realm.

Even if Liujiazhuang had acquired the planting technology, the same tea seedlings would not necessarily produce the same tea as that grown at Yunju Temple in Xishan. It would require years of instruction from these monks.

…………

"Master Huiming also said that if we only talk about quality and taste, there is not much difference between our tea and the tea grown in Yunju Temple in Xishan. If you are not an experienced person, you can't taste the difference between the two. What you lack is just the artistic conception..." said the uncle proudly.

When Liu Jingzhai heard the news, he was filled with indescribable joy. To a tea fanatic like him, it was undoubtedly exciting news that his own tea garden could produce such high-quality tea.

"Alas, it's a pity that the quantity planted is a bit small. With only three acres of land, we can only get more than ten kilograms of tea. If we share it with each family, there won't be much left. We have to drink it sparingly!" He said with a painful tone.

The uncle nodded slightly, his voice steady, "Yes, when Zhiye first proposed to try to grow tea, we all had some concerns and only dared to try it on a small scale.

After all, tea has a long growth cycle and it takes two to three years to see results. If we blindly expand the scale of cultivation, once it fails, the losses will be unimaginable. "

Liu Zhiye's face was filled with smiles. He witnessed the successful cultivation of tea and immediately had the idea of ​​expanding the scale of cultivation.

He said decisively: "Since it has been proven that the environment here is suitable for tea growth, we should seize this opportunity and vigorously develop green tea planting. The potential of the tea market is second only to the alcoholic beverage market."

He is also a person who loves tea and wine. It is said that tobacco and alcohol are inseparable, but in fact, there is one thing that is missing, and that is tea. Chinese wine culture is closely related to tea culture, and tea is a must-have drink on the wine table.

Another thing is that the tea market is also a long-lasting large market. For more than two thousand years, it has been one of the most distinctive commodities exported by China.

Liu Zhiye remembers that in 2023, the size of the domestic tea market alone reached 6181 billion yuan, and it is expected to grow further in 2024 to nearly 7000 billion yuan.

This data shows the continued growth and potential of China's tea industry. As a traditional Chinese beverage, tea not only maintains a strong growth momentum in the domestic market, but also shows broad development prospects in the international market.

The total domestic sales volume of tea in China in 2022 was approximately 240 million tons, showing a continued growth trend in the overall scale of the tea market.

根据预测，华夏茶叶市场从2022年至2027年的复合年增长率为5.9%，预计到2027年将达到4412亿元。

This growth is not only reflected in the domestic market, but also in the export market.

In the future, in 2023, green tea will still have an absolute advantage in China's tea export volume, accounting for 84.18%, while in terms of export value, green tea exports will account for 67.88% of the total tea exports, showing the dominant position of Chinese green tea in the global tea market.

The reason why Liu Zhiye chose to experiment with growing green tea is that he knew very well that green tea would occupy a vital position in future export trade.

He understands that with the rise of healthy eating around the world, green tea, as a natural and healthy drink, will be favored by more and more consumers.

Although Liujiazhuang lags slightly behind other regions in the country in growing green tea, it is this calmness and patience that gives it a unique advantage in future export trade.

Decades have passed, and now is the perfect time for Liujiazhuang green tea to shine.

Liu Zhiye wanted to expand the scale of green tea cultivation, and this idea was not strongly opposed by the third uncle Liu Yuanhai and others.

However, they disagreed on the exact details of the scale of cultivation.

"Although we currently have a land area of ​​hundreds of square kilometers, the real core area is only the original part of Liujiazhuang. The rest of the area is mountainous and water resources are not abundant."

"Zhiye, you can see that if we want to grow high-quality green tea, the soil and water environment are very demanding, and the suitable land around our village has been developed."

"If this doesn't work, we can only destroy the forest and build a tea garden!" The third uncle talked about the difficulties and proposed a solution.

Liu Zhiye flatly rejected the proposal. He shook his head and said, "This won't work. Destroying forests to create farmland will cause endless troubles. We can't go back and destroy the results of many years of afforestation."

The third uncle shook his head helplessly, spread his hands and sighed: "Oh, this doesn't work, that doesn't work, it's really like a good cook can't cook without rice!" His words were full of helplessness and confusion, as if the whole world was pressing on his shoulders.

Liu Zhiye lowered his head and stared at the map of Liujiazhuang in his hand, his brows furrowed, as if he was looking for something.

Suddenly, a gleam of light flashed in his eyes. He looked up at Uncle San, tapped a spot on the map with his finger, and asked, "Uncle San, what do you think of this place?"

The third uncle looked in the direction of Liu Zhiye's finger, a trace of doubt flashed in his eyes, and then he said in surprise: "You mean, Miaofeng Mountain?"

"This place is too remote. Not to mention there are no main roads, there are only small roads that are winding and difficult to travel, making transportation extremely inconvenient."

Miaofeng Mountain is located in the southeastern part of Liujiazhuang in the MTG area. The main peak is 1288 meters above sea level. It is 55 kilometers away from the center of Beijing City. There is a long mountain road of more than ten miles between it and Liujiazhuang Village, so the location is quite far.

(End of this chapter)