Page 96 - #61 English
P. 96
T Tea
Roasting tea,
not coffee
Unlike other types of tea, Wu Yi Rock Tea has its unique process of roasting. Coffee can only be served
by undergoing processing in its origin and roasting by roasters, so does Rock Tea.
Coincidentally, the earliest tea that people drank was fully-roasted, while the earliest coffee that
people were familiar with was dark-roasted one.
The harvest time for tea cultivated around Wu Yi Mountain is each year during April and May; nev-
ertheless the leaves are no longer tender shoots at that time. Picking first four or five leaves from the new
shoots of mature branches is how raw Rock Tea is collected. The whole branch has to be cut from a tea
bush, then it goes through sun-dry, repetitive shaking, fixation, rolling, drying process successively. After
98
