Chinese tea making techniques have a long history. Since more than three thousand years ago, tea used as a drink has appeared among the rituals of the Western Zhou Dynasty. In ancient times, tea was called "Tu" which is seen in the "Book of Songs." In the Three Kingdoms and the Western Jin Dynasty, drinking tea became a habit in Jiangnan. In Tang Dynasty, it became very popular. Emperor Xuanzong changed "Tu" into "Cha" in the "Kaiyuan Phonetics and Senses of Words," followed by the emergence of Lu Yu's "Tea Sutra." Before Song Dynasty, the tea used was mostly tightly pressed tea. That is to steam tea leaves and pound them into pieces and then make them into lumps. Then boil the tea in water before drinking. Sometimes, dried fruits and nuts were put into the tea as well. In Qing Dynasty, people began to use boiling water to brew tea, and this prevails till today. Green tea is a kind of tea that has not been oxidized or fermented after being heated at a high temperature, also known as "non-fermented tea." Its production process mainly includes the steps of picking fresh leaves, de-enzyming, kneading, and drying. Top-grade green tea is made from the young buds, which are generally picked before Qingming Festival or the Grain Rain, and the finished tea is commonly known as "Mingqian" or "Rainqian." In Tang Dynasty, it was popular to pick the small tea buds that had just sprouted. This kind of buds are as sharp as a spear, and there are small leaves shaped like flags next to them. So they are called "flag spears," and the name has been used to today. De-enzyming is to strengthen the green color, fragrance and clearness of the green tea through high-temperature processes, mainly steaming and frying. In ancient China, high-temperature steaming was used to "kill green" and it was called "steaming green." And nowadays, people opt to stir-fry tea leaves in iron pans, which is known as "frying green." De-enzyming makes the tea leaves soft. Knead them lightly with your fingers to make them roll tightly into a fried stick shape. This is called "kneading." Kneading is conducive to the leaching of tea juice when the finished tea is brewed, and at the same time reduces the volume of tea leaves, which is convenient for storage and transportation. Green tea is currently mainly produced in Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Anhui, Fujian, Sichuan and other places, among which the West Lake Longjing in Hangzhou, Wuzhou Juyan in Jinhua , Huangshan Maofeng, Taiping Houkui and Liu’an Guapian in Anhui, and Dongshan Biluochun in Jiangsu are the most famous tea.
The West Lake Longjing Tea originated in Tang Dynasty, became famous in Song, Yuan and Ming Dynasty and flourished in Qing Dynasty. It is mainly produced in Xihu District, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province. Longjing Village in the West Lake produces high-quality tea with a green color, strong fragrance, mellow taste and beautiful shape, so it is named "Longjing Tea."
The West Lake Longjing Tea is a famous Chinese tea, and the green tea represented by it is closely related to the daily life of Chinese people. Through long-term production practice, the planting and production of tea in the West Lake Longjing tea area has gradually formed a series of tea production experience such as breeding of fine varieties, diligent cultivation, fine picking, and scientific frying. Especially in the process of frying, a set of frying techniques with distinct technical characteristics, including the "ten techniques" of Longjing tea frying such as shaking, carrying, squeezing, throwing, straightening, stretching, buckling, grasping, pressing, and grinding, have been invented. The whole tea making process embodies the wisdom of local tea farmers and shows profound cultural connotations.
In 2022, the Green Tea Making Technique (West Lake Longjing) was officially inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity as an important part of the traditional Chinese tea production techniques and related customs.