After the first month passed, it was soon time to pick and make Sheqian tea, the so-called Sheqian tea is the earliest Ming Qian tea in the modern spring tea, this kind of tea collection in ancient times is generally between 41 and 50 days after the "beginning of spring", the weather under Baiyun Mountain is colder, the growth of tea is slower than other green tea producing areas, Xiao Nan since the first month, every day into the tea garden to observe, until February 15, Xiao Nan only found the faint signs of budding of the tea tree. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

After observing this situation, Xiao Nan immediately invited a number of school-age girls from the village to pick tea with their hands and feet, let them go up the mountain to pick tea on February 18, Xiao Nan's 100 acres of tea garden, this year is the fifth year, the tea tree grows very strong, after five years of careful care, it is now the season of official harvest, this year's Qingming is the third day of March, February 18 this day of mining, this time is the best time to make the first batch of snow buds.

On the morning of February 18, Xiao Nan took the Lin family and several girls in the village into their own tea garden, the temperature of the tea garden in early spring was only about ten degrees, and the dark green tea branches were swaying in the breeze, and it seemed that they could not bear the chill of this early spring.

Xiao Nan pointed to the dotted shoots and said to the girl beside him: "Don't pick leaves, only pick the tips of the buds, all the bud tips that can be seen, pick them down, if they become leaves, don't do it, focus on it lightly when picking, don't pinch it with your fingernails, just pick it off with two fingertips." She said as she picked a few tightly wrapped sprout tips for everyone to demonstrate.

The girls who can be selected by Xiao Nan are all famous and clever girls in the village, everyone read it once, and soon understood that they each went to pick tea with Lanzi, and after these girls left, Lin said to Xiao Nan with some hesitation: "Auntie, we have picked such a little tender core, this, what else can there be behind this?" ”

Last year, because of the first tea of the first year, Xiao Nan was afraid of hurting the tree, and it was not until Gu Yu that he picked a batch of hair tips from those trees that grew well.

"Mother, don't worry, after these are picked, the follow-up will slowly grow, Xinyang tree, the main collection is Maojian tea, the economic value of the coarse tea behind is very low, the first batch, we only pick three times, once every two days, where you can see the bud core of the emergence, all pick it down, the second batch of Maojian, wait until after the Qingming Festival and then start picking." Xiao Nan patted Lin's shoulder and comforted.

Lin only came to see, she didn't go to pick with those girls, not that she didn't want to, but Xiao Nan told her that the first batch of hair tips before the Ming Dynasty was very small, and the requirements were very high, and many processes were very particular, for example, this picking was best done by unmarried girls, because the tips of the buds were too delicate, and any trace of delicate breath that did not match their aura was easy to destroy the quality and taste of the finished tea.

In ancient times, there was a virgin who picked tea with her lips, which is of course not true, and it is a joke made up by many good people in order to satisfy the desire of ancient masculinity, but it is indeed a fact that the best spring tea is picked by the slender hands of unmarried girls, which is mainly because the pure breath and aura of unmarried girls are close to the essence of the first tea, so as to ensure the original taste of the first tea to the greatest extent.

(Note, this is not the author's fabrication, the tribute tea in the ancient spring tea, such as Maojian, Maofeng, Longjing, etc., can indeed only be picked by unmarried girls, not only the picker requires unmarried girls, but also requires the picker to have no peculiar smell, the fingers are delicate and soft and clean, married women, because of the addition of another male breath, the ontological aura is no longer pure, and the first tea is too delicate, a little unstable breath, it is easy to cause a big difference in quality, as for the tea after the first tea, The quality requirements are not so high, and the process requirements are naturally not so exquisite. ）

At this time, there are not many bud tips that can be picked in the tea garden, including Xiao Nan, a total of eight girls, it took most of the day to pick all the bud tips that emerged in the 100 acres of tea garden, and took them back, but a little more than four catties, Xiao Nan was not surprised, the first time, it is considered a lot, and it can be picked twice later, and it is good to pick three catties of fresh buds each time.

Like the owner of Ouyang Zhuang in Luyang Village, there are 10,000 acres of tea garden in his hands, and the top snow buds every year are only a few catties, and he can produce a pound of top snow buds in his own 100 acres of tea garden, Xiao Nan is satisfied, the price of top snow buds is ridiculously high is not without reason, ordinary hair tips need about four and a half catties to five catties of fresh tea, and the top snow buds need about six catties of fresh tea.

More than six catties of sprouts, almost ten girls to pick a day, just the picking fee is hundreds of Wen, the back of the production, but also need the top tea maker to make, the cost of the top tea maker is also quite amazing, one process after another, a pound of top snow buds production cost dozens of taels of silver.

After the fresh buds are picked back, Xiao Nan spread them in the bamboo tea mat that has already been prepared in the auxiliary courtyard, and began to sift and pick up, in the autumn of the previous year, Xiao Nan has built an auxiliary courtyard on the east side of his own yard, which is specially used to make tea, the auxiliary courtyard has more than 180 square meters, built a four-room bungalow, and the remaining places are paved very flat with green bricks, and a door is opened in the middle of the current courtyard.

There are only more than four catties of fresh buds in total, Xiao Nan is looking for a little girl who he can trust and look at, everyone is very careful in doing things, the tea leaves poured on the tea cloth, the pieces are bright and tender, and there is basically nothing to pick up, but in order to make tea this time without accidents, Xiao Nan still picked it out very seriously, and finally picked out more than a dozen buds and leaves that are not so suitable for the eye.

After the selection is completed, Xiao Nan spreads them on the clean bamboo dustpan basket in turn, puts them in a ventilated place, and turns them over every quarter of an hour, about an hour and a half, and the buds and leaves become slightly softer, Xiao Nan is ready to make tea by hand, she has the written knowledge of tea making, but the hands-on ability is not good, fortunately, last year let Ouyang Zhuang help introduce a professional tea maker to come, she learned from others for a few days, and now there is no problem with hands-on.

In order to ensure that this time she can make the kind of top snow buds she wants, Xiao Nan only took about 200g of fresh leaves for the first time to try her face, she chose a delicate medium-sized iron pot specializing in roasting tea, the diameter of the pot mouth is 80cm, the raw pot is inclined about 35 degrees, the front of the pot is about 40cm high, easy to operate, the back wall is more than 1m high, and the wall fits, the firewood in the stove is the size of a finger, Lin was going to come over to help light the fire, but Xiao Zhen stopped his mother, and he came to help. (To be continued.) )