劉丁睿

Shancheng (Mountain City Chongqing) Tuo Tea,

Chongqings Tea Gift to the World

By Liu Dingrui/The World and Chongqing

The shape of the tea is like a small bowl with a pitch-black and glossy look and a mellow and sweet taste...In the 4th “Chongqing Gifts” Tourism Commodities (Cultural and Creative Products) Competition, the Magic Tea Box Series launched by Chongqing Yifeng Tea Leaves Co., Ltd was listed as “Chongqing Gifts” for Foreign Affairs. On March 20, Lai Bingkun, Marketing Director of Chongqing Yifeng Tea Leaves Co., Ltd., was exclusively interviewed by the journalist, sharing the past and present of Chongqing Tuo Tea from its inheritance techniques to its innovative production.

Named from the Tea-Carrying Ship Docking at River Ports

It can be dated back to the Western Zhou Dynasty when Chongqing began to produce tea and bring tea as a tribute. According to Chronicles of Ba, Huayang State, “After King Wu defeated the Yin Dynasty, he enfeoffed the Ba State, the ancient Chongqing area, to his royal court, and delegated official positions...cinnabar, raw lacquer, tea, and sugar...were all brought as tributes.”

“The compressed tea boasts a long history. According to historical documents, Shuinan Tribute Tea, Duru Gaozhi Tea, Moon Rabbit Tea, etc. were born in the Song Dynasty, and the tea-making atmosphere flourished in the Ming Dynasty,” said Lai Bingkun. He also said that at the end of the Qing Dynasty, Chongqing people imitated the making techniques of Yunnan Puer Tea in Chongqing, one of the origins of tea in China, and steamed soft, kneaded, sun-dried or baked and stored a large number of tea leaves, giving birth to the tea leaves with fermented flavors, which is the predecessor of Chongqing Tuo Tea.

It looks like a steamed bread of corn and a steelyard weight (砣, which is pronounced as Tuo in Chinese), so it was initially called “Tuo（砣） Tea”. Water transportation took a major part in Chongqing then, and most tea-carrying ships docked at Shuiwan Ports. The names of many Chongqings Shuiwan Ports include the Chinese character “Tuo（沱）”, like Li Jia Tuo （李家沱）, Tang Jia Tuo（唐家沱）, etc. Therefore, tea transported from other places and locally produced tea were all gradually called Tuo（沱）Tea and were passed on to the present.

Winning the First World Gold Quality Award for Chongqing Tea

With the increasing market demand for Tuo Tea, the Southwest Tea Company set up the Chongqing Tea Factory in 1951 to adjust the initial tea-making techniques. This action greatly enhanced the quality of Chongqing Tuo Tea and realized mass production. In 1983, Tuo Tea researched and produced by the Chongqing Tea Factory won the Gold Quality Award at the 22nd Monde Selection held in Rome, Italy, representing the first world golden prize for Chongqing tea.

In 2004, the Chongqing Tea Factory was reformed and restructured into Chongqing Yifeng Tea Leaves Co., Ltd., and launched “Shancheng” serial tea, including Shancheng Tuo Tea, Shancheng Laoying Tea, Shancheng Black Tea, Shancheng Flower Tea, Shancheng Green Tea, etc., starting a new story chapter of Chongqing Tuo Tea.

Lai Bingkun said that Shancheng Tuo Tea adheres to the perseverance of craftsmanship, and uses the materials of middle-upper level sun-dried, baked and fried Gross Tea provided by Chongqing Banan Tea Production Demonstration Base, achieving the best qualities of different strains through complicated blending technologies.

Meanwhile, Tuo Tea is also renewing itself, creating new flavors of rose and tangerine peel based on the original flavors, winning great attention since its birth. In August 2019, Shancheng Tuo Tea of Chongqing Yifeng Tea Leaves Co., Ltd. was rated as a time-honored product of Chongqing.

Innovative and Inheritance Bringing Tuo Tea to “Bigger Market” and “Go Global”

The long 70-odd years have witnessed the endurance of the Chongqing Tuo Tea. In the view of Lai Bingkun, innovation is the key to inheriting it.

“To attract a wider age range of consumers, we have paid efforts to package and explored cooperation with other products besides diversifying tastes.” said Lai Bingkun. He shared that they are now working on developing serial products facing youngsters, like the Magic Tea Box series that combines factors of social medias popular city and leisure culture, building a new city name card integrating the beauty of Chongqings mountains and waters and the strong flavor of Tuo Tea. By cooperating with Chongqings famous hotpot brand, a new experience in catering has been born owing to the convergence of Shancheng Tuo Tea and hot pot, thus turning tea to be a flavor representing Chongqing that can be taken away. “We hope that Chongqing Tuo Tea can be welcomed by more youngsters, and inherit and pass on Tuo Tea culture to a wider range of groups.”

Chongqing Tuo Tea also represents a significant carrier of culture. Recent years have seen Chongqing Yifeng Tea Leaves Co., Ltd. try to bring Tuo Tea to go global. Tuo Tea of Shancheng series was exhibited in events such as the 2018 Belt & Road Brand Expo Chongqing, the World Food and Agricultural Expo (Shenzhen) 2023, the Chongqing-Russia Economic and Trade Negotiation and Products Exhibition and Trade Fair, winning a wide range of attention and affection.

“We will continue to strengthen the inheritance and popularization of Chinese tea culture, and strive to build the memory gift representing Chongqings culture, thus enabling Chongqing Tuo Tea to be the first strong fragrance for friends at home and abroad to learn Chongqing,” said Lai Bingkun.

Photos/The Interviewee

茶形似碗臼，色澤烏黑油潤(rùn)，滋味醇厚甘和……在第四屆“重慶好禮”旅游商品（文創(chuàng)產(chǎn)品）大賽中，重慶益豐茶葉有限公司推出的魔方茶盒系列沱茶成功入選“重慶好禮”外事禮品。3月20日，重慶益豐茶葉有限公司市場(chǎng)總監(jiān)賴(lài)秉坤接受記者專(zhuān)訪，從傳承技藝談到創(chuàng)新生產(chǎn)，將重慶沱茶的前世今生娓娓道來(lái)。

沱茶因貨船?？克a頭得名

巴渝產(chǎn)茶，并將茶作為貢品進(jìn)貢，可追溯至西周時(shí)期?！度A陽(yáng)國(guó)志·巴志》記載：“武王既克殷，以其宗姬封于巴，爵之以子……丹、漆、茶、蜜……皆納貢之?！?/p>

“緊壓茶歷史悠久，根據(jù)史料記載，早在宋代就出現(xiàn)了水南貢茶、都濡高枝、月兔茶等，到了明代制茶之風(fēng)更盛?！辟?lài)秉坤介紹，重慶是我國(guó)茶葉的原產(chǎn)地之一，清朝末期，重慶人就仿照云南普洱茶制作工藝，將大量的茶葉蒸軟、揉團(tuán)、曬干或烘烤后保存，制出的茶葉味道陳香，這便是重慶沱茶的前身。

因其長(zhǎng)相像窩窩頭又像秤砣，最初被叫做“砣茶”。當(dāng)時(shí)重慶運(yùn)輸以水路居多，運(yùn)送茶葉的船只多?？吭谒疄掣蹆?nèi)，而重慶的水灣港地名多帶“沱”字，比如李家沱、唐家沱等，因此，不管是外來(lái)茶還是本地制作的砣茶，慢慢被通稱(chēng)為沱茶，延續(xù)至今。

獲得重慶茶第一個(gè)世界級(jí)金獎(jiǎng)

隨著市場(chǎng)對(duì)沱茶需求的日益增長(zhǎng)，1951年，西南茶葉公司成立重慶茶廠，對(duì)原有的制茶工藝進(jìn)行調(diào)整，極大地提高了重慶沱茶的質(zhì)量，并實(shí)現(xiàn)大批量投產(chǎn)。1983年，由重慶茶廠研制生產(chǎn)的沱茶在意大利羅馬榮獲第22屆世界食品博覽會(huì)金獎(jiǎng)，這也是重慶商品獲得的第一個(gè)世界級(jí)金獎(jiǎng)。

2004年，重慶茶廠改制重組為重慶益豐茶葉有限公司，陸續(xù)推出“山城”系列茶，包括山城沱茶、山城老鷹茶、山城紅茶、山城花茶、山城綠茶等，重慶沱茶的故事至此開(kāi)啟新篇章。

賴(lài)秉坤介紹，山城沱茶秉持工匠精神的堅(jiān)守，原料由重慶巴南茶葉生產(chǎn)示范基地供應(yīng)，選用中上等曬青、烘青和炒青毛茶，通過(guò)復(fù)雜的拼配技術(shù)，以實(shí)現(xiàn)不同品系的最佳效果。

2019年8月，重慶益豐茶葉有限公司山城沱茶被評(píng)定為重慶老字號(hào)產(chǎn)品。

創(chuàng)新傳承帶沱茶“破圈”“出?！?/p>

悠悠歲月七十余載，重慶沱茶經(jīng)久不衰。在賴(lài)秉坤看來(lái)，傳承的關(guān)鍵在于創(chuàng)新。沱茶不斷推陳出新，在原味的基礎(chǔ)上增加玫瑰花、陳皮等新口味，一經(jīng)面世便備受關(guān)注。

“為了吸引了更多年齡層次的消費(fèi)者，除了豐富口感，我們還在包裝上下功夫，并探索跨界聯(lián)名款產(chǎn)品?！辟?lài)秉坤說(shuō)，目前正著力開(kāi)發(fā)面向年輕人的系列產(chǎn)品，比如魔方茶盒系列包裝，融合了重慶山水和城市元素，富于美感，便于傳播。聯(lián)合重慶知名火鍋品牌，讓山城沱茶與火鍋碰撞出餐飲新體驗(yàn)，讓茶成為更多人可以帶走的重慶味道。“希望重慶沱茶更加年輕化，讓沱茶文化在更廣泛的群體中傳承與延續(xù)?！?/p>

重慶沱茶也是承載文化的重要載體。近年來(lái)，重慶益豐茶葉有限公司也在嘗試推動(dòng)沱茶出海破圈。山城系列沱茶在2018“一帶一路”名品展·重慶、2023全球高端食品及優(yōu)質(zhì)農(nóng)產(chǎn)品（深圳）博覽會(huì)、渝俄經(jīng)貿(mào)洽談暨產(chǎn)品展銷(xiāo)會(huì)等活動(dòng)上展出，廣受關(guān)注和喜愛(ài)。

“我們將持續(xù)加強(qiáng)中國(guó)茶葉文化的傳承與推廣，努力打造代表重慶城市文化的記憶禮品，讓重慶沱茶成為國(guó)內(nèi)外朋友們了解重慶的第一口濃香?！辟?lài)秉坤表示。

圖/受訪者提供