Handmade tea is a (tasty) luxury

The processing of most Chinese teas includes a heating procedure, which prevents the leaves from oxidising. Without this heating, all teas would eventually become black teas.  The Chinese term for this procedure is chao cha (炒茶), which means “stir frying tea”. It consists of two actions that are accomplished simultaneously: sha qing (杀青) and rou nian (揉捻). Sha qing  describes the heating itself in a kind of wok. Rou nian literally means rolling and twisting: it gives the tea leaves their ultimate shape.

Traditionally this is done by hand and requires skilled workers. Nowadays though machines are in the way of replacing humans and less and less people know how to process tea manually. According to some estimations two thirds of the famous Longjing (龙井) tea are processed by machines.

The machines have not completely suppressed the workers; but they have increased their output: a worker using a machine can process much more leaves per day than with using his hands only. Not only is processing tea manually very skill demanding and time consuming; it is also very hard work. It is not unusual for tea workers to get burn injuries to their hands. Therefore it is no surprise that many prefer to use machines. Especially when local governments have been subsidizing and promoting these machines.

The machines are considered a sign of modernity and a way to help tea workers to reach financial wealth. This is of course true. But to experts nothing equals the quality of manually processed tea leaves. Some are fearing that a well known tea variety like Longjing might loose some of its prestige, if it would completely abandon manual work. The same authorities who are subsidising the machines are now also organising classes in the art of making tea by hand.

An equilibrium between the quantity offered by the machines and the quality of handmade work has to be found: the very best and most expensive tea will probably always be processed manually; the more affordable and still very good tea will probably be made with the help of machines.

Chinese sources: 手工茶VS机炒茶 西湖龙井茶到底路在何方; 涧头手工炒茶技艺面临失传; 推广名优炒茶机