Tea is the earliest drunk beverage in the world, has the largest number of drinkers, has a long history, and is the most beneficial to health. Tea is a specialty of our country. It has the functions of quenching thirst, reducing swelling, promoting digestion, facilitating urination, stopping diarrhea, and detoxifying. There are many varieties of tea, including green tea, scented tea, oolong tea, and compressed tea. The quality of tea is generally good when it is fresh and inferior when it is stale. There are good and bad teas. It is very important for us to learn to distinguish them. Only when good tea is matched with good water can good tea soup be easily brewed.
So is there a standard for good tea to judge the quality of tea based on that standard? For most people, there is indeed a simple way, that is, to judge the quality of tea by observing its appearance and internal quality. Although it may not be completely accurate, it can already meet the judgment needs of most people.
1. Appearance
Generally, tea with a high appearance value will not be of poor quality. We can’t say it must be good tea, but at least we can say that the vast majority of it is good tea.
Then what types of tea have a high appearance value?
We all know that most tea leaves are composed of three parts: “buds”, “leaves” and “stems”. Among them, the charm of buds is greater than that of leaves, and the charm of leaves is greater than that of stems. Among many types of tea, spring tea is the most precious, followed by autumn tea, and summer tea is the least valuable.
The picking period of spring tea is around the three solar terms of Vernal Equinox, Pure Brightness, and Grain Rain. Among them, the tea before Pure Brightness is the highest quality, and it is basically bud tea. Take white tea as an example, the tea before Pure Brightness mainly includes Silver Needle, Peony King, and Premium Peony.
Silver Needle is made from plump single buds, while the characteristic of White Peony is that the buds and leaves are connected, and the shape is mostly one bud with one or two leaves. The reason why Silver Needle and White Peony are treasures among white teas is that the more and thicker the buds are, the more precious they are. Therefore, Silver Needle, which only has buds, is more expensive than White Peony.
The method of identifying the value of white tea is also applicable to most types of tea. Tea with buds is naturally more expensive than tea without buds. Buds are the essence of tea. If the buds are thick and plump, it indicates good tea quality. If the buds are thin and short or there are no buds, then the quality of the tea will be average. Of course, there are no absolutes. The selling point of some teas is not the buds. For example, Lu’an Guapian from Anhui Province is a tea without buds and also without stems.
So how do we distinguish the quality of teas without buds?
If the tea leaves have no buds, we can judge them by the tenderness of their leaves. Tender leaves indicate good tea quality, while coarse and old-textured leaves indicate mediocre tea quality. The appearance of tea leaves can often directly show the quality of the tea, so the appearance of tea leaves can reflect its superiority or inferiority.
2. Judging from the color of tea leaves
Whether the color of tea leaves is bright can also to some extent indicate the quality of the tea. The color of tea mainly includes the color of dry tea, the color of the tea soup, and the color of the tea leaves at the bottom of the cup. We can distinguish the quality of tea from these three points.
First is the color of dry tea. For example, the color of dry Baihao Yinzhen tea is silvery white. Then if you see a gray or darker color that is relatively lackluster, it indicates that the quality of this tea is not good. Generally, after brewing Baihao Yinzhen tea, its soup color is light apricot yellow and clear and bright. If you see a dark yellow color and the soup color is also dull, then the quality of this tea is not good.
Finally, let’s take a look at the color of the tea leaves at the bottom of the cup, which are also known as the tea dregs. When we finish drinking tea, remember not to pour out the tea dregs immediately. We can observe the shape and color of the tea dregs.
If the color is bright and plump and tender, then it indicates that the quality of this tea is very good. If the leaves at the bottom of the cup are not evenly bright and not plump and tender, then it indicates that the quality of this tea is average.
3.We can distinguish the quality of tea by smelling the aroma of tea and tasting the flavor of tea:
The simplest judgment is to smell the aroma of the tea to see if it has a pungent smell or a smell that makes you uncomfortable. If it is moldy and deteriorated tea, then we can naturally smell the abnormal aroma of the tea at the first moment. Because for tea with normal quality, even if the aroma is not distinct, at least it will not be unpleasant or pungent.
Generally, tender and fine tea leaves have a tender aroma. If this aroma is absent, it indicates that this tea may be old or coarse tea. In addition, we can distinguish the quality of tea from the remoteness and persistence of the aroma.
There are many methods to distinguish good tea from bad tea. For example, professionals can analyze the nutrients in tea through equipment specifically designed to examine the components of tea to see the content of substances such as tea polyphenols, theanine, caffeine, etc.
However, having said that, no matter how many methods there are, it’s not as good as drinking the tea yourself. We can’t just talk the talk. Because practice leads to true knowledge. Only by drinking more tea can we accumulate a lot of experience.