Tonight we are drinking Liubao dark tea from the early nineties. Originally a lightly-fermented tea, today the leaves brew out a crisp, strong flavour. These flavours have come with time and age, developing into a unique tea laced with the flavours of the rice harvest.
今天晚上喝九十年代的多特利六堡，這款茶屬於比較輕度發酵的茶，入口爽朗有力度，最迷人的地方在於，自然陳化的稻花香和木質香。
I have early memories about straw. These days the rice paddies from my childhood have long gone, but back 20 years ago, just opening our front door and you could see them everywhere, spreading across the landscape. After harvesting, the straw would stand piled up like little mountains, basking in the summer sun, towering over us kids. When winter came, my grandma would lay a thick layer of straw on the bed, then cover it with a cotton sheet. In midnight, When you move, the dry straw would make a soft, scratching sound. That was the best bed I have ever slept in.
又是小時候的故事了，如今連我們那個小地方也很難找到稻田了，但在二十多年前的時候，門前屋後都是大片大片的稻田，收完稻谷之後，剩下的稻草會堆放在曬谷場上，快到冬天的時候，奶奶會在床上墊滿厚厚的稻草，再放上棉絮，夜深人靜的時候，一側身，幹爽的稻草會發出“次次”的響聲，那是我睡過的最溫暖最舒服的床了。
The tea brought me these memories. Just like the tea from back then had got deeper in flavour, my memories from childhood seemed to glow as I tasted the flavours of the field in the tea this evening. These days many teas are produced cheap and cheerfully, and while you can still get great tea, its somehow not quite the same. Its not tea that moves you, that takes you along on its journey of flavour and development. And I smile, sipping the flavours of the paddy fields from the nineties. My eyes are shining.
這款茶給我的感受，就似稻草一樣幹凈爽透有力度，由於當年發酵較輕的原因，如今喝起來層次豐富，有力量感。如今很多茶一味求快，制作快，轉化也快，雖然潤滑綿柔，但稠而不厚，失去了茶本該有的力度，也是一件憾事。
-the end-
written by Fang yaoyao
translated by Thomas Staniforth
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