Pu'er - Tuocha
The reason why the shape of Tuocha has a concave circular socket at the bottom and a gap in the middle like a bowl is to stack, store, prevent mildew during long-distance pack transportation, and reduce the loss and quality during transportation. Tuocha is steamed and then kneaded into a tufted shape. If there is no room for ventilation in the middle, it will be easy to retting, just like the "wowotou" tightly pressed with tea leaves, which is beneficial for the caravan to carry it in the long-distance transportation of the sun and rain. Guarantee the quality of tea.
The market of Tuocha in Tibet is particularly strong, and Tibetans like "Xiaguan Tuocha" far more than Sichuan Maojian. Xiaguan Tuo tea is exported to Tibet, and it is the "Tea Horse Road" that has been traveled for nearly a thousand years since the Song and Yuan Dynasties. One enters Tibet from Deqin in Zhongdian, the other enters Tibet from Kangding, or enters Tibet all the way from Myanmar and India, all of which are thousands of miles away, with high mountains and rivers. The freight of the caravan often exceeds the value of the tea.

Tea produce process
Most of the labor required to make Tuo tea is spent on the sorting and grading of tea leaves. Workers rely on their eyesight and fingers to pick and only get a few kilograms per day.

1. Raw material processing:
Pu'er Tuocha is made from Yunnan big-leaf sun-dried green tea. After the raw tea enters the factory, it is re-evaluated after acceptance, graded and returned to the heap for processing. The procedure is the same as that of ordinary green tea (screening, air selection, picking, etc.), and then refired to keep the moisture content at about 12%.

2. Weighing and steaming tea
After each weighing, pour it into a round tea steamer with many small holes at the bottom, and steam it for 10-20s through steam until the tea leaves become soft and the water content increases by 3%.
If the tea is steamed for too long, the tea leaves will be too watery, causing the tea leaves to be yellow and ripe, the aroma will be reduced, and mildew will be caused. If the steaming time is too short, the steam is insufficient, the leaf quality is not easy to soften, and the molding is difficult, that is, delamination is easy to occur.
The steam passing through the leaf layer is not only convenient for pressing and molding, but also promotes the transformation of sugars, polyphenols and pigments in tea leaves.

3. Knead the bag to apply pressure:
Pour the steamed tea leaves into a small triangular-shaped round bottom cloth bag, pinch the mouth of the bag with the left hand, hold the tea with the right hand, gently knead and turn it on the workbench for a few times, place the bag in the center of the tea ball with the bottom of the bag facing up, and then use The small cylindrical wooden stick is held up, the wooden stick is taken out, the tea bag is placed on the bowl-shaped steel mold, and the pressure is formed by lever force.

4. Styling and drying:
The pressed Tuocha needs to be cooled and shaped for 30 minutes. After the heat of the tea mass is dissipated, the bag can be removed. After removing the bag, wrap the tea with high-standard paper in time, put it on the baking tray, and prepare to dry.
The tea leaves are cooled on the baking tray for 8-10 hours, and then sent to the drying room. The temperature should be controlled below 70°C, preferably around 50°C, and the drying can be achieved after 30-50h.
 
Tea Information
1. Mainly produced in Yunnan
2. In order to facilitate the transportation of the caravan, several tea buns wrapped in oil paper are usually connected together, and the straw is outsourced to make a long straw handle.
3. The quantity of tea lumps is much smaller than a tea brick, making it easier to buy and retail.

Tea History
Tuocha is a kind of pressed tea made into a cone-shaped head. The main place of production is Yunnan. It is generally made of black tea. grass handle. Because a tea lump is much smaller than a tea brick, it is easier to buy and retail. Tuocha looks like a round bread from the top, and looks like a thick-walled bowl from the bottom, with a concave middle, which is quite distinctive. The types of Tuocha are divided into green tea Tuocha and dark tea Tuocha according to different raw materials.

Tea Map
Mainly from Yunnan

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