Tea processing full oxidation and producing "Gongfu" black tea (工夫紅茶). When there was insufficient sun and temperatures were low, the withered leaves would be processed indoors in warmed rooms and allowed to fully oxidize, then smoked dry over pine fires thus producing lapsang souchong. According to oral traditions of the region, the discovery of lapsang souchong processing was due to military troops passing through a Wuyi's tea factory during the last years of the Ming Dynasty, causing delays to tea leaf processing thus resulting in a completely oxidized leaf that the producer salvaged by drying over a fire built from pine branches.
What Is the What writes: "Over the course of many years, Dave and I have collaborated to tell my story... I told [him] what I knew and what I could remember, and from that material he created this work of art." The book is typical of Eggers' style: blending non-fictional and fictional elements into a non-fiction novel or memoir. By classifying the book a novel, Eggers says, he freed himself to re-create conversations, streamline complex relationships, add relevant detail and manipulate time and space in helpful ways—all while maintaining the essential truthfulness of the storytelling. However, not all critics were impressed. Lee Siegel sees