The fifth article in the tea culture series: had gone, a month before, to Fuliang to buy tea.

Fuliang tea is remembered by many people because of the well-known poem "who, prizing money first, careless how he left her, had gone, a month before, to Fuliang to buy tea" in Pipa Travel written by Bai Juyi in the Tang Dynasty, but how many people know about Fuliang and Fuliang tea?

In October p>21, my children and I came to yaoli town, Fuliang County, which is located in the northeast of Jiangxi Province and at the junction of Jiangxi and Anhui provinces. Fuliang is now under the jurisdiction of Jingdezhen, but historically Jingdezhen has been under the jurisdiction of Fuliang County for a long time, so Fuliang is known as the "source of the world porcelain capital". Things have changed, "thirty years in Hedong, thirty years in Hexi"!

The man who accompanied us in tea-seeking tour in Yaoli was Angkor from yaoli town. He was a forest ranger in his fifties, tall, loud, enthusiastic and knowledgeable. After learning our intention, he took us to Meilin and Wanghu in Yaoli to see the tea gardens. Most of the tea gardens here are in this mountain, and there are more than a dozen beads halfway up the mountain, which are almost in a free-range state. Next to the tea garden, there are either big trees or bamboo forests, with flowing rivers, clean and fresh air and beautiful natural environment.

Angkor accompanied us along a section of the ancient tea-horse road, and told us that after crossing the mountain at the foot, we reached Qimen County, Anhui Province. At that time, the tea trade, the waterway is along the Yangtze River to Poyang Lake, and the land is the mountain road at the foot of the horse.

Angkor told us that tea production in Fuliang has a long history, which began in Han Dynasty and flourished in Tang Dynasty, and became famous after Song Dynasty, enjoying the reputation of "the hometown of tea". Especially in the Tang and Song Dynasties, it was a rare major tea-producing trade area in China, accounting for a quarter of the country's trade share. "On Tea and Wine" written by Wang Fu, a native of the Tang Dynasty, has a poem "Floating beams and overflowing states, all nations come to seek".

I was amazed at Angkor's rich knowledge. He smiled and said that it was accumulated bit by bit, not only from tourists, but also from tea farmers, and from word of mouth in the countryside. Over the years, I learned a little.

As we are not in the tea-picking season, Angkor asked several familiar villagers to find some good green tea in Fuliang for us to taste. The green tea leaves in Fuliang are tight and thin, with a long-lasting fragrance, clear and bright soup color, mellow and fresh taste, and bright green leaves.

It is understood that Fuliang green tea is produced in 7% of mountainous areas, farmland and dry land in Fuliang County, and its varieties are divided into Grain Rain sharp tea, fine tea, coarse tea and so on according to different tea picking time. Fuliang Green Tea was awarded as "Famous Tea of Culture" in "China Hangzhou International Tea Culture Festival in 1991". Of course, there are also people who hold different opinions. In the Book of Tea, Pei Wen of the Tang Dynasty thinks that Fuliang tea is the "lowest".

In addition to green tea, Fuliang also produces a kind of black tea, called Fuliang Black Tea, or "Floating Red" for short. The appearance of floating red is tight and delicate, and the color is moist. After brewing, the tea soup has a red color, fresh aroma, rich and lasting fragrance, obvious sweet fragrance, and sometimes accompanied by rose fragrance. In London, England, it is listed as a "hero" in tea and is favored by royal nobles.

Yaoli is known as "the source of porcelain, the hometown of tea and the sea of forests". Angkor took us to visit Wanghu Ecological Tourist Area, enjoying the mountains and rivers in Yaoli, including majestic waterfalls, green bamboo forests and gurgling streams. Being in it, we were naturally relaxed and happy.

Angkor accompanied us to visit the ceramic theme park around South China. Here, we saw the ancient stone-crushing machine-Shuizi, and admired the wisdom of the ancients. We could design a stone-crushing machine with such originality.

good mountains and water make good tea. After leaving Fuliang Yaoli, I will ask Angkor to buy some Fuliang tea every spring. Many people know about Fuliang tea and Fuliang and come to Yaoli because of my introduction.