Sun-dried green Tea is well-known to many, recognized as one of the most famous local specialties in Yunnan province. However, few people are familiar with its production methods and processing procedures. Today, I will provide a detailed introduction on how sun-dried Green Tea is made.

How to Make Sun-Dried Green Tea

1. Picking: Completed in the morning, when the mist clears around 8 to 9 AM, with slight dew remaining. The fresh leaves picked at this time retain their tenderness.

2. Spreading Out: This process lasts between 6 to 8 hours, depending on the moisture content of the fresh leaves. The leaves partially lose water, becoming soft, and the stems lose their elasticity, preparing them for the next step and reducing damage.

3. Wilting of Fresh Leaves: Spread thinly (3-5 cm) for natural dehydration.

4. Kill-Greening: Iron pan kill-greening is a traditional method used in Yunnan tea regions. When the iron pan reaches a certain temperature, fresh leaves are added, with the key being to keep the leaf temperature below 60°C to 65°C. As the leaves are tossed, their moisture gradually evaporates, making them increasingly soft, losing much of their water content. The grassy aroma fades, and a tea fragrance emerges.

5. Rolling: After the kill-greening process, the tea leaves are spread out on bamboo mats and rolled by hand in the same direction with even pressure. Rolling serves two purposes: it breaks the cell walls of the leaves to increase the extraction rate during brewing and shapes the leaves into strips.

6. Drying and Re-Rolling: This is a crucial step that distinguishes sun-dried green tea from baked or stir-fried green teas. The tea is thinly spread under the sun until it is about 50% dry. When the color of the wet tea changes from yellowish green to dark green, it is manually re-rolled twice to loosen clumps and straighten the strips, then dried again in the sun. At this stage, an optimal cell destruction rate of 35% to 40% is ideal, which is significantly lower than that of high-quality green teas.

7. Sun Drying: After 3 to 5 hours of drying, when the moisture content is around 8%, the tea can be collected. It should not be too dry to preserve its activity and prevent excessive loss during transportation. At this point, the tea leaves feel slightly elastic, neither overly dry nor brittle.

8. Sorting: Manual sorting removes impurities and yellow leaves to ensure uniform appearance and aesthetic appeal.

What Type of Tea Is Sun-Dried Green Tea?

Sun-dried green tea is a type of green tea that uses sunlight for drying. Apart from a small amount used for domestic consumption and export, most sun-dried green tea serves as raw material for compressed teas such as tuocha, brick tea, cake tea, square tea, Kang brick, and Fu brick. Among sun-dried teas, those made from large-leaf varieties in Yunnan (Dian Qing) are of the highest quality. They are characterized by thick, robust, and plump strands with visible white down, a deep green and lustrous color, a rich and full-bodied aroma, astringency, and good durability when brewed. The tea broth is bright yellow-green, and the leaves after Steeping are thick and pliable. Sun-dried green tea is produced in areas such as Jinggu, Yuxi, Wenshan, Chuxiong, and Jianghe in Yunnan Province.

The Taste Characteristics of Sun-Dried Green Tea

After the fresh leaves have been processed through kill-greening and rolling, they are placed in the sun for final drying, resulting in sun-dried green tea. Its characteristics include a robust appearance, a deep green color, and a rich and full-bodied aroma.

Aside from a portion used directly for drinking, most sun-dried green tea is primarily used as raw material for producing tuocha and Pu'er compressed teas.

High-quality Yunnan sun-dried green tea features tightly bound and intact strands; a dark, glossy green color; a pure aroma; a rich and sweet taste; a bright yellow-green broth; and thick, pliable leaves with elasticity.

When used to make Pu'er tea, high-quality sun-dried green tea, after storage, exhibits rich, mellow, and sweet qualities.

Another important feature of Yunnan sun-dried green tea production is the need for further processing and storage. It often enters its best tasting phase one to five years after initial processing.