Chu Youjia is a municipal-level Inheritor of Intangible Heritage of Lu’an Gua Pian (Sunflower Seed) green tea, and organizer of the Xianghongdian Cooperative. He is dedicated to furthering the lives of farmers, maintaining sustainable farming techniques, and preserving traditional tea processing methods.
Chu was born in 1963 in Jinzhai County, deep in the Da Bie Mountains. Growing up, Chu learned the traditional techniques of making Lu’an Gua Pian, such as frying tea leaves by hand in iron woks and Lu’an Gua’s signature aggressive roasting process, called la lao huo (high heat firing). He continues these traditions, despite how labor intensive they are, because of the profound effect they have on the character of the tea compared to machine made teas. This dedication to traditional techniques has earned him the position of being an Inheritor of Intangible Heritage.
Although Chu is dedicated to traditional methods of roasting Lu’an Gua Pian, which involves passing a heavy basket of tea leaves over an aggressive fire more times than we can count, he’s equally dedicated to teaching and making tea making more accessible and available for others to learn. Chu Youjia worked with a team and patented a new roasting technique that does not require manual labor and reduces breakage in tea leaves. This machine makes it possible for smaller farms and families to produce larger amounts of Lu’an Gua Pian green tea at a higher quality.
Lu’an Gua Pian is an especially unique and distinct tea, made with so much dedication and thoughtfulness for the community it comes from.
Read more about Lu’an Gua Pian’s unique process.