welcome to Wenshan Baozhong tea

index

Evaluating tea

	The categories of tea		How to find tea

	Evaluating tea		Storing tea

	The composition and functions of tea		Tea tree species

	Simple tea tasting utensils		Introduction to the teapot
	Small teapot tea tasting utensils		Basic tea brewing knowledge
	Tea and health

Evaluating tea

Knowing tea” is an important part of tea art; it is also a part that is not easily learned. If the tea quality can be determined, then the basic tea characteristics can also be understood, this is a way to grasp the important elements of brewing a good pot of tea. There are five tricks to evaluating the quality of tea, they are described as below:

Observing the appearance

1. The surface color of the tea leaves: For the color of the tea leaves, it is better if the color is bright with a slight oily shine, the color must be even and show the standard tea color of the particular type of tea. If the color is dark and unobvious, or the color is not even, then it is not a good quality tea.

2. Strand shape: The tighter the strands are the better, because the more delicate the fresh tea shoots the tighter the strands are after being kneaded and the heavier the tea body; if the strands are loose and crumbling then the tea quality is not good. Besides the looseness of the strands, attention also needs to be given to the curls of the strands and whether the curls are orderly and fulfill the standard strand shape.

3. The moisture in the tea stems and leaves: Dry leaves can better maintain their original qualities and are easier to store, tea leaves that are not dry enough are the opposite.

4. Sub-tea and amount of irrelevant particles: Tea will all have some sub-teas or irrelevant particles mixed within, the less the amount of irrelevant particles, the better the quality and hygiene of the tea.

5. The amount of tea tips among the leaves: The amount of tea tips that appear among the tea leaves signifies the amount of delicate leaves in the tea, so teas with more tea tips are more expensive; especially high-quality Oolong, black tea, Xiangpian, and Longjing, the quality is all decided by the amount of tea tips.


A-Fu that accompanied us while we searched for tea.	The demonstration tea garden.

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Smelling the aroma

1. The types of aroma: The more obvious the aroma the better, such as the ripe fruit aroma of Oolong and the floral aroma of Baozhong. Among the tea aromas, pure and clear aromas are the best, usually having a slight grass smell is not bad either, but if there is a burnt smell, musty smell, smoke smell, or even greasy smell then it is not good quality tea.

2. The level of aroma: The thicker the aroma the better, the longer the aroma can be maintained the better, aromas that can go directly into the nose into the head and cause a clear comfortable feeling are the best.

The way to smell dry tea is to place the tea leaves close to the nose, slowly blow air out of the mouth, and then slowly smell the aroma. When smelling the tea it is better to sniff lightly and drink only a little, allowing the aroma to go from the nose into the head. The tea can be smelled directly, or the lid can be taken off the teapot and smelled after pouring out the tea, smelling the lid allows the aroma to better suffuse.

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Observing the tea soup color

1. Clearness: The tea soup is better if it is clear and sparkling, if it has too many tea residues, after brewing, the tea residues will drift in the tea causing the tea soup to be cloudy and unclear.

2. Brightness: Tea soups with brighter colors are better, on the other hand dull or cloudy teas are not good.

3. Naturalness: The color of tea leaves with additives will result in the loss of natural tea soup color.


Early tea production methods	The Chairman Wang of Wang’s tea explaining the tea production procedure.

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Tasting the tea

1. The thickness or strength of the flavor: If the tea that enters the mouth is smooth, sweet, flavorful it is better; if it is bitter, heavy, and has little flavor then it is not good.

2. The sensations of the tea flavor: If the tea can cause reactions in the nose, throat, and tongue after drinking then the tea is good tea.

3. The purity of the flavor: If the tea enters the mouth and has a green smelly taste, or it is mixed with other flavors then it is not good.

4. The throat aftertaste (returned sweetness level): The thicker and sweeter the level of throat aftertaste the better.

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Tea dregs

1. The speed the leaves open: The slower the leaves open (or level of opening is smaller) the better, because the kneading level of thick old leaf strands are looser, so they open faster.

2. Observing the age and completeness of the leaves: For newly produced tea, the tea dregs will have a bright clear leaf color, old tea leaves will have dregs that are yellowish beige or a dark black; tender leaves will have complete leaf dregs, old leaves will show many shredded leaves; also if the tips are complete and the branches are connected, it is good tea.

3. The thickness of the leaves: Spring tea leaves are thicker then summer leaves, this represents the tea quality is rich.

4. The water retention of the tea dregs: If the tea dregs are bright that represents the water retention is low, if the water retention is high (also called wrapping water) then the color will be dark and dull.

5. See if the fermentation level is adequate and suitable: Different teas have different fermentation levels, for non-fermented teas it is better if the leaves are clear, for semi-fermented teas it is better if the leaves are serrated and have red edges, for fully-fermented teas the leaves are mostly reddish copper.

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