Basic Introduction to Guzhang Maojian
Guzhang Maojian, a type of green tea and a renowned tea from ancient times, is named after its place of origin, Guzhang County in the Wuling Mountains of Hunan Province. The county features towering mountains, deep valleys, dense forests, a network of streams, and beautiful landscapes. Among the lush mountains, besides vast cedar forests, there are also the evergreen trees like Dianxia and Red Torreya, ornamental trees like Bailing and Davidia, as well as economic forests like oil trees, tea plants, and nutmeg, which add charm and scenery to this forested region.
Nutritional Value
Enhancing Health
Guzhang Maojian contains rich proteins, amino acids, alkaloids, tea polyphenols, sugars, organic acids, and water-soluble minerals. It has functions such as quenching thirst, clearing the mind and brightening the eyes, refreshing the spirit, removing greasy food, inhibiting arteriosclerosis, preventing cancer, treating scurvy, and protecting against radiation. Drinking Guzhang Maojian regularly can lower blood pressure. The caffeine and catechins in tea can relax the walls of blood vessels and increase their effective diameter, maintaining certain elasticity in the vessel walls and eliminating spasms in the arteries. The amino acid GABA in Guzhang tea has a more significant effect on relaxing the blood vessel walls; drinking tea can lower cholesterol levels in the blood. The catechins in tea significantly reduce total cholesterol, free cholesterol, total lipids, and triglycerides. Regular tea drinkers have about one-third lower cholesterol levels than non-tea drinkers.
Promoting the Transformation and Absorption of Lipid Substances
Due to the presence of purine alkaloids, adenine, and other bioalkaloids in tea leaves, these substances can form nucleotides with phosphate and pentose. Nucleotides like ATP and GTP play a crucial role in lipid metabolism, especially in the decomposition and transformation of nitrogen-containing compounds into soluble absorbable substances, thus achieving fat reduction. Tea has the function of purifying human digestive organs. The flavanol in tea can relax the digestive tract and purify harmful microorganisms and other substances in digestive tract organs, performing special purification functions for the stomach, kidneys, and liver, not only helping in the digestion of fats but also preventing diseases of the digestive organs.
The higher the content of tea polyphenols in tea, the stronger the anti-cancer effect.
Product Characteristics
Guzhang Maojian is meticulously processed, with slender, straight, tight, and pointed buds revealing white down, a glossy emerald green color, a fragrant aroma, a mellow and fresh taste, and a sweet aftertaste. Guzhang Maojian, either curved like a fishhook or straight like an arrow, is known for its emerald green color, visible white down, clear yellow-green liquor, mellow and refreshing taste, sweet and long-lasting aftertaste, high fragrance that lasts, and excellent brewing durability, and has been famous for a long time.
History and Folk Customs
Guzhang Maojian has a long history, originating in the Eastern Han Dynasty. According to the county annals: “The tea of Guzhang Town, picked before Qingming and Guyu, is fragrant and full of aroma, comparable to that of Dongting Junshan.” In the Tang Dynasty, Xizhou presented tea sprouts as tribute, later becoming a royal tribute during the Qing dynasty. Historical records show that during the Eastern Han Dynasty, Guzhang was already listed among China's famous tea-producing areas. In the Tang Dynasty, Xizhou presented tea sprouts as tribute, which later became a tribute to the Qing imperial court.
Guzhang Maojian is meticulously processed, with tight and twisted leaves, some curved like fishhooks, others straight like spears, distinguished by its emerald green color, visible white down, clear yellow-green liquor, mellow and refreshing taste, sweet and long-lasting aftertaste, high fragrance that lasts, and excellent brewing durability, and has been famous for a long time. In 1929, Guzhang Maojian won the International Famous Tea Award at the Paris International Exposition. In 1957, it was exhibited at the Leipzig International Fair and achieved small-scale export to West Germany that year. In 1982, it was awarded the first prize for high-quality tea in Hunan Province and was included in the list of China's top ten famous teas. In 1983, it received a certificate of honor from the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation and was listed as a high-quality export product. In 1988, it won the gold medal at the First Beijing Food Expo. In 1999, it received the title of “Famous Product” at the 1999 China International Agricultural Products Fair, was recognized as a “Hunan Famous Brand Product,” and won the titles of “Brand with the Highest Market Share in Hunan” and “Hunan Consumers' Preferred Brand in 1999.”
Manufacturing Method of Guzhang Maojian
Guzhang Maojian is one of the earliest types of tea. The practice of drying wild tea leaves for storage can be considered the beginning of the broader sense of processing Guzhang Maojian, dating back at least three thousand years. However, true Guzhang Maojian processing began with the invention of steaming green tea in the 8th century and then the invention of stir-frying in the 12th century. The processing technology of Guzhang Maojian has since become relatively mature and has been continuously improved upon to this day.
The processing of Guzhang Maojian can simply be divided into three steps: fixation (killing the green), rolling, and drying. The key step is the first process in preliminary processing, fixation. Fresh leaves undergo fixation, which deactivates enzymes, and various chemical components within them undergo physical and chemical changes due to heat without the influence of enzymes, forming the quality characteristics of Guzhang Maojian.
Fixation (Killing the Green)
Fixation plays a decisive role in the quality of Guzhang Maojian. By applying high temperatures, the characteristics of enzymes in the fresh leaves are destroyed, stopping the oxidation of polyphenols to prevent the leaves from turning red. At the same time, some of the moisture in the leaves evaporates, making the leaves softer and creating conditions for rolling. As the water evaporates, low-boiling-point aromatic substances with a grassy scent in the fresh leaves also evaporate, improving the aroma of the tea. Except for special teas, this process usually takes place in a fixation machine. Factors affecting the quality of fixation include temperature, leaf quantity, type of fixation machine, duration, and method of fixation. These factors are interrelated and influence each other.
Rolling
Rolling is a step in shaping the appearance of Guzhang Maojian. Through external force, the leaves are broken and rolled into strips, reducing their volume and facilitating brewing. At the same time, some of the tea juice is squeezed out and coats the surface of the leaves, which is important for enhancing the flavor concentration of the tea. Rolling Guzhang Maojian can be done cold or hot. Cold rolling refers to rolling after the fixed leaves have cooled, while hot rolling is performed immediately after fixation while the leaves are still warm. Young leaves should be cold-rolled to maintain a bright yellow-green liquor and tender green leaves, while older leaves should be hot-rolled to achieve tighter strips and reduce breakage. Currently, except for specialty teas that are still hand-processed, rolling of most Guzhang Maojian is mechanized.
Drying
The purpose of drying is to evaporate moisture and shape the appearance, fully developing the aroma of the tea. There are three forms of drying: baking, stir-frying, and sun-drying. The drying process of Guzhang Maojian generally involves baking followed by stir-frying. The moisture content in the leaves after rolling is still very high, so if they were directly stir-fried, they would clump together quickly in the stir-frying pan and stick to the pot wall. Therefore, the tea is first baked to reduce the moisture content to a level suitable for stir-frying.
Awards and Honors
Guzhang Maojian tea, with its superior quality characteristics, has gained the affection of many people and has received numerous awards.
In April 1929, Guzhang Maojian participated in the West Lake Expo and won a quality award. It subsequently participated in the International Exposition in France and received the International Famous Tea Award. During the 1930s, Guzhang tea was particularly favored by officials and became a fashionable gift, with drinkers praising