End of Spring – Garance, AM#13 from Belgium
From all of the adventures of spring, it felt to me like the one that I spent the most time doing was “shaping”.
It is interesting to think that something so niche (relatively) could take up so much space. Completely absorbed by this process, I now consider an art form, the weeks flew by. Why shaping? Without thinking too much about it at first, I decided to learn as much as possible on this step of processing during this year’s spring harvest. Although I had had the chance to shape one batch of Akky-san leaves last year as an intern (alongside Katrina thankfully) this machine still seemed mysterious. So, basically just curious at first I started trying to understand the technique behind the needle shape present everywhere here at Obubu. Indeed, our Oolong, Black Gyokuro and even Wakoucha is needle shaped.
First, I was quite shy, asking “too dry? okay? finish?” at every change possible, I quickly understood that I had to gain independence and learn by doing. Quite daunting. If you mess up, can you even save your batch later on? The answer is yes, if you have been doing it for 30 years. I realized that during a friendly samidori shaping competition between Katrina, Akky-san and I. Akky-san batch had been getting a bit too dry because of the heat, he – unbothered – realizing this step back had completely turned off the fire and left the shaping happen at a small pressure setting for 20 minutes, saving the leaves and even giving them a nice shine. Katrina and I looked at each other with a mix of interrogation and amusement.
Anecdotes like this, I have maybe a thousand to tell from staying at night at the factory. A very small price to pay for all the knowledge I was able to gain by watching over and over the slightly changing processes. The leaf of the day being a bit more dry, the harvest happening a bit too late, the steaming being slightly short, the air through the rough rolling machine being pumped a bit too intensely,.. I also learned the excitement, joy and gratefulness that comes with a good harvest. The instant smile coming up on our faces when smelling the fresh and beautiful leaves grabbed from the cooling containers.
Standing over these machines for hours has brought me a lot of happiness. I cannot count how many times I reached to grab a handful of leaves being shaped. Paying attention to the smell, the texture, the colour, the shine, the moisture, the temperature, how much they would pock the palm of my hands. I am not an expert still but I can clearly see how much I have learned. It is also super interesting to now be able to compare techniques with the staff members around (i.e. I tend to make long needles versus tight ones). The sounds that the machines make are also extremely important, telling you at which point of the process the leaves are. I am aware that this could be more automated but I am very glad it is not yet in this factory. I will also answer a question that I have been asked a lot, “no there is no exact recipe”. In my opinion, that is what makes it special.
Now in hindsight, I understand why shaping must be the first step to learn in the factory. It does take a long time to master but this is not the main reason (in my opinion). It is crucial for it to become a second nature, totally instinctive. This, in order to have time to take care of everything else. Our legs telling us to go check the shaping machines once every few minutes, at the right moment, not to have to make a second trip costing us attention on the other steps. I now have even more respect for Akky-san to be able to always walk up to this section at the right moment, changing the pressure and maybe temperature of three different batches in less than 30 seconds.
A big lesson that I learned during this month is not only that getting to know all those sounds, textures and techniques is hard but to do all of this with such consideration to time and consistency is incredible.
