Before our research trip to Wuzhou, Guangxi, the production process of Liu Bao Tea was a topic that even the professional tea group found challenging to explain.

“Because when you combine all black tea processes, they only take up two pages in the entire textbook on tea-making!” complained a member of the professional team at Cha Yu Wang. As a special type of black tea, not many people have had the chance to taste Liu Bao tea, let alone understand its production process.

After learning about the complete process of making Liu Bao tea, we developed a deep respect for both the tea and the skilled tea makers behind it. Even though their audience is much smaller compared to Pu'er or Oolong teas, they never slack off in terms of their own standards and requirements for the production process.

Today, we will go through the Liu Bao tea production process in detail. Understanding the hard work involved will give you a new appreciation for high-quality Liu Bao tea. Beyond its Health benefits, it also deserves your thoughtful enjoyment.

Initial Processing of Raw Tea

Picking – Fixation – Rolling – Piling – Drying

1. Picking: Freshness is Key for Good Black Tea

The picking season for Liu Bao tea is long, from the Spring Tea season in March until November, with different grades and characteristics of Liu Bao tea available (for example, Lao Chabo is made from coarser, older leaves harvested around the time of the first frost). However, for truly high-grade and rich-flavored Liu Bao tea, the best raw materials are selected during the spring and summer months.

During the spring tea picking season each year, villagers pick different grades of tea leaves, ranging from one bud and one leaf to one bud and two, three, or four leaves.

Like all tea production, this is a race against time as the tea must remain fresh. The leaves are picked and processed on the same day, entering the initial processing stage for raw tea—

2. Fixation: Inactivating Enzymes and Preserving Characteristic Aromas

▲ Mr. Chen Bochang, a local tea expert, demonstrates the rough processing of raw tea.

The freshly picked leaves are spread out to allow moisture to evaporate before proceeding to “fixation.”

While the method appears similar (primarily pan-firing, with some steaming), the purpose of fixation for black tea differs from that of green tea. Green tea is not a post-Fermented tea, so enzymes must be completely inactivated during fixation. For Liu Bao tea, however, which undergoes further transformation, the goal is to merely blunt enzyme activity.

This level of fixation requires significant experience. If it's too low, there will be a grassy, bitter taste; if too high, it will result in a burnt flavor, reducing the potential for future transformation. Therefore, it's crucial to achieve a soft texture, a dark green color, slightly sticky leaves, and a fragrant aroma.

In this step, important characteristic aromas of Liu Bao tea begin to form and are locked in. The freshness is also moderately preserved.

3. Rolling: Releasing Tea Juice and Shaping

The rolling of Liu Bao tea is primarily for shaping, with a technique that starts light and becomes heavier. This breaks the cell walls of the leaves, allowing tea juice to flow out and increasing the concentration of the tea infusion. However, the cells aren't fully ruptured to maintain steeping endurance while also shaping the leaves into a compact form.

4. Piling: The First Stage of Micro-Fermentation

“Piling” is one of the earlier steps in the Liu Bao tea process. In the past, people noticed that after rolling, tea that was piled for a period of time and then dried had a milder taste and less bitterness, making it more acceptable to consumers. Thus, the piling process gradually became established.

Although some casual tea-making methods today skip this step, it is essential according to national standards. During piling, the leaf color changes from yellowish-green to dark yellow with a brownish hue, and the tea dough develops a sticky texture. This process is necessary for the raw tea to develop a red liquor and a milder taste.

The thickness, humidity control, and turning to dissipate heat during piling require significant experience. If the conditions are not well-controlled, the pile can overheat, causing the leaves to turn black and the taste to become weak.

5. Drying: Two Rounds of Drying to Set the Raw Tea Flavor

Traditional drying methods and modern mechanical drying are still used concurrently in Liu Bao tea production. Traditional methods include sun-drying, pan-drying, and wood-fired drying (including the Seven-Star Stove method). Whether done by hand or machine, there are two stages: preliminary drying and final drying.

When initially drying, the heat should be high to dry the tea to about 50% dryness, after which the heat is gradually reduced to avoid burning. For the final drying, low heat is used for an extended period to control the moisture content to around 10%.

Once the drying is completed, the raw tea flavor is set, and the basic processing steps are finished. However, for Liu Bao tea produced by factories (referred to locally as “factory tea”), the refining process has only just begun.

Refining: A Typical Sample of Refinement by a Large Factory

Inspection – Sieving and Sorting – Blending – Cold Piling – Pressing – Aging in Cellars – Final Product Preparation

When the last step of raw tea processing is completed, the tea is sent to the refining factory in sufficient quantities.

To obtain a typical sample of refinement in Liu Bao tea, we visited the oldest and most representative company in the industry—Wuzhou Zhongcha. Surprisingly, the first action taken by the refining factory upon receiving the raw tea was inspection.

1. Inspection and Evaluation: A Self-imposed Troublesome Step

The term “surprising” is used because not every company conducts such rigorous self-inspections and sends samples for testing upon receiving raw materials. However, for Wuzhou Zhongcha, which has strict requirements for its suppliers, this is a mandatory step when the raw tea arrives at the warehouse.

Upon arrival at the Wuzhou Zhongcha refining factory, raw tea typically goes through the following process: first, the outer packaging is checked for damage. If any damage is found, there will be corresponding inspections or reminders to the supplier. Then, samples are sent to qualified authorities for testing multiple indicators, including pesticide residues and heavy metals, as well as conducting self-inspections (evaluation).