Roast tea over fire

Briefly roasting tea before brewing has been a practice since the Tang dynasty. However this form of art is lost in the main stream tea culture, but still practiced by minority groups in rual parts of China. There's a little bit of revival here and there today.

This is a Chao Zhou method of pre-roasting utilizing what's on hand. Paper made roasting platform/Cha He.

Use a 11"x8" clean white paper, fold as in picture blow.

Cut off the excess trim, leaving a square piece of paper.
Fold one corner of the square with seam line up with seam, then fold part of the folded corner backwards, see picture below.

Fold paper in half again along seam, hold the "tail" with thumb and index finger as in picture below.
You can now place tea on paper made Cha He, place over fire to preheat/pre-roast. Fire source can be gas stove (low fire), electric stove (medium to low), or charcoal (low flame). It only take a few minutes, when the aroma starts to show, keep roasting for another 2 minutes. Cha He should be placed 3 to 4 inches above fire. MAKE SURE THE FLAME IS NOT HIGH!!! DON'T CATCH A FIRE!!! And don't suit me if you did catch a fire! :P
Closing the top can keep the heat even and consistant within the Cha He.
Finally, when the tea is ready, you can pour tea directly into teapot as a real Cha He. Whoa La!

Have an aromatic and flavorful cup of tea!