--- --- # Master the art down to a tea  _This content was paid for and prepared by China Daily, an official publication of the People's Republic of China. The TIME editorial and advertising departments were not involved in the creation of this content._ Local farmers harvest tea leaves in early April in Hangzhou, a city in Zhejiang province known for its Longjing (Dragon Well) tea. LONG WEI/FOR CHINA DAILY By YANG YANG About 1 pm on an early April Friday, at a studio in Tongwu village, one of the planting regions of Longjing (Dragon Well) tea in Hangzhou, East China’s Zhejiang province, nine men and a woman were sitting before a shiny steel wok, each with one of their bare hands rhythmically stirring fresh tea leaves that were picked earlier that morning. Fan Shenghua, 64-year-old inheritor of the West Lake Dragon Well Tea Picking and Processing Techniques, a national-level intangible cultural heritage item, was instructing the woman on his right while his left hand continued stirring the tea leaves in his wok. He started learning tea roasting at 13\. His hands are testament to this. His fingers have large knuckles, and his palms are thick, covered with calluses, almost a badge of honor after five decades of continuous tea roasting with bare hands. “Authentic West Lake Longjing tea consists of two essential elements: the Longjing tea cultivar and the traditional manual stir-frying techniques. If the leaves are machine-processed, they cannot be called West Lake Longjing tea,” he emphasizes. Hand-roasted tea has a richer, more lasting aroma and a more mellow taste compared to machine-roasted tea, he says. “It’s because tea is ‘alive’. Roasters can use different hand movements and temperature to stir-fry tea leaves in different states, which is what unified machine modes cannot achieve,” he says. In 2022, China’s traditional tea-processing techniques and associated social practices were added to UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Since around the 3rd century, tea has been drunk in China, initially among the upper class as an elegant spiritual enjoyment and art, and later becoming popular in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) as Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang reformed the method to make tea.The Dragon Well is said to have been discovered during the Three Kingdoms period (220-280), known as one of the three famous springs in the West Lake areas. Longjing tea, originating from the Dragon Well area during the Song Dynasty(960-1279), gained popularity over the centuries, becoming a renowned commodity by the Ming Dynasty.According to Fan, West Lake Longjing tea has four unique characteristics: sweet taste, beautiful appearance, green color and a rich fragrance reminiscent of orchids.Longjing tea was historically classified by the tenderness grade of leaves: single bud, one bud with one leaf and one bud with two leaves. Now, West Lake Longjing tea is produced only in spring, and it is picked according to the standard of one bud with one leaf or one bud with two leaves. The best tea is made from the newly sprouted leaves measuring between 0.5 and 0.6 inches. Gradually the leaves will grow to as long as 1.4 inches and their flavor profile will decline accordingly. Tea roasters’ skill plays another crucial role in deciding tea’s quality. The roasting of standard Longjing tea involves nine meticulous steps, including spreading, primary wok-frying, shaping, rehydrating, final wok-frying, sifting and so on. Particularly during the wokfrying process, ancestral tea masters had developed a distinctive technical sequence known as the “10 essential hand movements” of West Lake Longjing tea processing, such as grasping, shaking, pushing, smoothening, pressing and so on. The taste of tea is closely related to the rolling and kneading hand movements. To properly roll and knead the tea leaves, one must have a good grasp of the pressure applied by the hands. If too much pressure is exerted, the tea stems and leaves may break, affecting the appearance. If too little pressure is applied, the tea leaves may not release enough moisture, resulting in a bitter and astringent taste, he says. In the end, tea quality depends on each master’s unique sensory calibration of temperature, individualized hand techniques and meticulous observation. “This craft requires intuitive mastery. Every practitioner’s experience remains fundamentally nonreplicable,” he says. As more people are using machines to roast tea, Fan has long been worried about the quality of West Lake Longjing tea, as well as the passing on of the techniques. “It takes years for one to really master the craft,” he says. Now, in addition to the six apprentices in the studio, he also teaches at Hangzhou Tourism Vocational School and Hangzhou West Lake Vocational High School, with over 100 students. “My father is willing to share his expertise with all people who want to learn, even his peers. He does not keep the techniques to himself; instead, he wants people to know that they are not complicated. It’s just about constantly improving to achieve excellence,” says Fan’s son, 32-year-old Fan Xuesong. Fan Xuesong graduated from university majoring in hotel management in 2016\. Now, apart from learning tea roasting, he is also running the family’s tea business, which ranges from the popularization of tea culture, training of tea-roasting techniques, to sales and study tours. 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