Longjing teas on the market are regionally divided into West Lake Longjing, Qiantang Longjing, Zhejiang Longjing and other Longjing.
West Lake(Xihu) Longjing, as the name implies, is Longjing tea within the production area of West Lake District of Hangzhou City. Among the production area of West Lake District, it is again divided into primary district and secondary district. The primary district includes the area of Shi Feng, Longjing Village, Yun Xi, Hu Pao and Mei Jia Wu. Long Wu is located in the secondary district, the Longjing tea from Long Wu is definitely West Lake Longjing tea, although it is not from primary district.
Ironically, only countable people have chance to taste the Longjing tea from the primary district because of the low yield. A portion of the primary harvest has to be officially imposed, and rest of it is really really pricey, not a regular individual can afford it.
It is not that secondary tea quality cannot be comparable to the primary quality. The fact is that some West Lake Longjing teas from secondary areas have better taste than the some from primary areas, it is because they are in the same city, in the same municipal district, West Lake District. Can anyone tell the difference of the climate and the environment in a same district of a city? For sure that the difference is insignificant in human palates.
Qiantang Longjing refers to the extension in the West Lake District of Hangzhou, but still in the Hangzhou area, such as Fu Yang, Jian De and including counties of Xiao Shan, Yu Hang and etc. Qiantang Longjing is an extension of West Lake Longjing tea, its shape and taste is still somewhat different from the West Lake Longjing, because of the minor environmental change and the tea making process factors.
Zhejiang Longjing of course refers to the Longjing tea from outside of hangzhou area, but still in the Zhejiang province. (Hangzhou is capital city of Zhejiang province) Since the different terrains of these places, their Longjing teas are slight various, and each of them has its own characteristics and relatively confusing. Dafo Longjing tea from Xincang and Wu Niu Zao Longjing tea is relatively characteristic, their shapes are very beautiful, short and strong looking, but light in taste. Of course, according to the quality, they are superb, but the taste cannot compete with West Lake Longjing tea.
Other Longjing tea refers to any other Longjing teas from outside of Zhejiang Province. Nowadays, there are many farmers started to raise Longjing #43 in other regions outside of Zhejiang, due to the popularity of Longjing tea, imitating the Longjing tea making process from Zhejiang.
In the southwest of Hangzhou, there is a hidden source of exotic place – Long Wu Scenery. The million acres of vast tea farm is screened by clouds and fog all year-round, with the rolling terrains, ridge upon ridge. People drink Longjing green tea recognize Mei Jia Wu or Shi Feng, but very few people recognize Long Wu. In fact, Long Wu is one of largest West Lake Longjing tea source reserves in Hang Zhou. In spite of the price of West Lake Longjing from Long Wu is relatively less expensive than from Mei Jia Wu, the quality is roaring.
Long Wu is a little distance from the downtown of Hangzhou city, about 15 kilometers. The western side of Long Wu Village is mainly covered by the Natural Forest Preservation of Da Dou Mountain and Xiao Dou Mountain. The south and north are a large area of tea farms that covers about the area of 14,000 acres. The total spring tea production of past years reaches 180 tons averagely in Long Wu. It is known as the largest tea village, is a preserved “West Lake Longjing” tea farm by Hang Zhou municipal government, and it is also an important part of the Bai Long Tan Scenery of Long Wu Town in West Lake District. In November 2005, Long Wu was awarded a demonstration point for rural tourism in Hangzhou By the Hangzhou Tourism Commission.
Tea from West Lake is very reputable out there. Here, Long Wu, the tea trees are all over in this area, the air is surrounded by the fragrance of natural tea. Longjing #43 and Old Longjing cultivars are majorly farmed in this huge land from fields to mountainsides and mountaintops. The Old Longjing, the most traditional and original cultivar of West Lake Longjing tea, is sprouting later than Longjing 43, has stronger flavor, dryer and longer sweet lasting, is the most preferable Longjing to those sophisticated Longjing lovers.
Every year from late February, tea gathering workers are assembled and waiting for the first flush tea gathering fight to start. Longjing 43 is usually started to sprout at this time, and it grows quite quick. Time is very important to these workers, they are seemingly racing with time, because if they gathered sprouts one day later, the tea leaves would be valued less expensive.
Long Wu, here with lesser tourists, not prosperous and busy as Mei Jia Wu and Longjing Village, but has only tea farms all over fields and mountain sides in a clean natural environment. Stars in the dark sky are even brighter than the other side of the city. Here is also an ideal place for hiking, camping, fishing or barbecue during the holiday trips from city.
Long Wu Village retains the original ecological forest resources, near Xishan National Forest Preservation Park. In recent years, characteristic local living exploration is opened to public, that people visiting for explanation live with local farmers to experience and enjoy their lives under beautiful sunrise and sunset. In this exotic land, people have chance to explore the living of being tea farmers. Not only we can pick our own tea, but also can explore the local farmhouse daily living.
Long Wu is in unparalleled beauty on drizzling days. People going by are feeling like moving objects in a phantom picture looming ahead through the haze. It is so relaxing with a cup of tea in such beautiful day. Long Wu is born for West Lake Longjing tea to serve our public.
]]>We will be using tea nuggets for Lao Cha Tou in the rest of this post.
In spite of uncommon of tea nuggets, they are still favored by most advanced pu erh tea lovers, because people understand that good quality tea nuggets are better than other pu erh teas in quality and cost much cheaper than other pu erh teas. That because during the pile fermentation, any possibly conglutinated tea leaves should have richer contents in pectin and sugar, yet the stronger and tenderer tea leaves normally have the richer contents of pectin and sugar. Furthermore, tea nuggets have a special flavor that compressed pu erh teas do not have. The sweet taste of tea nuggets is so fabulous. Tea from tea nuggets becomes stronger and thicker after each brewing. It could last about 30 times.
Tea nuggets are small tea-leaf lumps picked from discarded products resulted from the fermentation process of ripe pu erh tea. Tea nuggets in normal fermentation range have relatively richer contents compared to loosen form pu erh tea, in other words, nuggets tea is stronger and thicker. They are long-lasting for brewing. Tea nuggets are hard to get separated even they are being steeped to last.
Ripe pu erh teas are being manually water sprayed for pile fermentation. During the fermentation process, the temperature of the tea pile starts to increase that causing fermentation through enzymes contained in tea leaves themselves. That is how ripe pu erh teas are converted from the very beginning. Also, the tea pile has to be manually flipped again and again in a short period of time to even out the temperature in case to avoid overheated from the center. After repeated and continuous flips during fermentation, the tea leaves will secrete pectin, which has a sticky property that conglutinates some tea leaves into small lumps.
When the pile fermentation process is done, these small lumps will be loosened by staff bare hands one by one and placed back to the tea pile. Some of these small lumps are indeed conglutinated very tightly. Constrainedly loosen these small lumps will tear up and lose the value of these tea leaves. So, these small lumps are placed separately from tea pile, and individually become nuggets tea later. Tea nuggets were not offering for sale on the market at the beginning years.
Most nuggets teas have aged aroma in mahogany color, with partial rich taste, smooth and sticky mouthfeel, and sweet ending. The brewed tea leaves look in dark brown with a feel of lively texture.
When it comes to choosing tea nuggets, the more loosened nuggets would be considered as better quality. The hardened tea nuggets felt like small rocks can always be ignored because they are hard to be brewed thoroughly. The profile of tea nuggets has to be clear, identical and clean. Although tea nuggets initially were discarded products, it does not indicate that tea nuggets are junk. Well-Stored tea nuggets could be excellent in quality.
Aged Tea nuggets can barely be scattered even after numerous steeping, but the tea strips and evidence of fermentation can be obviously seen and noticed. Any muddy sign is an indication of the impropriety of the quality that we should never recommend it.
Tea nuggets may last about 30 steeps, is a really amazing tea that other teas cannot compete with. It is called tea nuggets because of nugget shapes of tea. Tea nuggets can be manually broken into smaller portions before steep. The only cons of doing this is it will damage tea leaves making too many fannings. Or tea nuggets can be steep directly after a rinse without breaking them. Bold aged tea nuggets are suggested to be rinsed once. And new tea nuggets are suggested to be rinsed twice or extend double rinsing time. Each steeping time takes about 20 to 30 seconds according to the condition of the hardness of tea nuggets. It is recommended to steep with hot boiling water in any type of gaiwan or teapot. Tea is relatively light at the beginning, but it gets stronger and richer after every steep. The steeping time can be controlled upon personal preference, and it is suggested to shorten steeping when tea gets stronger afterward.
There are a few ways to prepare tea nuggets:
To make a cup of good tea, there are few tips we should not ignore. Have you ever noticed that drinking tea in a tea house always has better taste than you making your own tea at home? Even though you prepare a same tea bought from the tea house, you cannot accomplish to such a delicious flavor like the taste in the tea house. This happens because of ignorance of some inconspicuous tea brewing tips.
We should learn to get used to warm tea wares with hot water before preparing any type of tea. Rinse teapot and tea cups with hot water will help to boost tea flavor. In addition to that rinse tea sets again with very first-pot tea is necessary (explain later).
There is no standard requirement for how much tea is suggested for brewing. However, there is an implication of proportion between water and dry tea leaves. We generally brew about 5-8g of dry tea in a teapot with a capacity of 120ml. Every tea has its own property, we have to figure out by trying it few times to reach the best brewing result for ourselves. Most tea shops provide brewing guide that helps, also is a best starting point to play with.
What if we feel too lazy to weigh tea? No problem. According to the form of tea leaves and capacity of teapot, we can, by bare eyes, estimate the approximate amount of dry tea leaves is proposed to be used. Here is a reference of general preparation rule for common teas;
There is no doubt that steeping time has direct effect to the taste of tea. Steeping time not only represents the time tea being steeped, but also include the pouring time. Since steeping time of many types of teas are counted by second. The transient pouring time which includes pour-in and pour-out is very significant to the taste of tea.
Normally, subsequent steeping time is increased gradually. But it only counts from 2nd steep. We use 1st steep to rinse tea which will also help to moisten the tea. When tea is moistened after first steep, it discharges components quicker than before, so the time increase for subsequent steeps is only applied to 2nd steep and after, in another words that time for 2nd Steep should be shorter than first steep.
The time tea streaming out from teapot is slower than from Gaiwan, steeping time should be shortened properly, as well as amount of dry tea should be reduced.
In addition, more scattered or loosened tea require lesser time to steep due to its quicker discharge of tea components. So, to avoid bitter taste, we should shorten steeping time for these types of tea. For compressed tea, we should increase time for first steep to get tea moistened thoroughly.
Every type of tea requires different brewing temperature for best taste. Lower water temperature is suggested to brew good quality green tea and white tea. Black tea only requires hot enough water about 200°F of water should handle the job whereas dark tea including ripe pu erh tea and aromatic oolong tea should use boiling water to prepare.
There is a new type of tea kettle on the market specially designed for tea brewing which has indication button to set water temperature for brewing different types of tea that make brewing tea much easier than ever.
What is water pouring methods? It is the way how we pour water into teapot. It is tricky to pour water into teapot, not as simple as what you think it is. If we want to enjoy the ultimate taste of a tea, this trick should be a part of our concern. The distance from kettle spout to teapot, the direction, and how quick we pour water into teapot are a key not only affecting the temperature of brewing tea but also the thickness of tea. That is where the pouring methods are created for different types of tea. Some teas require to pour water straight into while some teas require to go along with cup wall to avoid direct impact with tea leaves. And some other teas require more complex showing method such as rotating or nodding.
For example, some teas emphasize the thickness of tea, but the tea itself has more caffeine content. Therefore, it is very challenging to brew these types of tea, it requires relatively exclusive skill to have thick but lesser bitter tea. Water has to be poured along the wall of glass to avoid the impact to tea leaves. And cannot be too quick when pouring out the tea. So that can avoid excessive discharge of caffeine content which is original cause of dry and bitter taste of tea.
Here is another simple trick to know how to pour. Any tea featuring on aroma needs aggressive pouring method to bring out its aroma whereas others should go easily.
Preparing ripe pu erh tea requires additional tips for brewing. Airing Raw pu erh tea is not necessary if the raw pu erh tea is always being stored in an open environment. Click to understand the difference of ripe pu erh tea and raw pu erh tea for beginners.
Compressed ripe pu erh tea requires airing time before preparation that this will eliminate unpleasant note so it will taste richer and cleaner. To air out compressed ripe pu erh tea, we need to break it off to smaller individuals by using a special prying tool. Try not to break it too crushing. And store it in an odorless container such as ceramic type which we recommend to use. Generally, airing time takes from 1 to 2 weeks depending on the quality of pu erh tea.
Most of above tips don't have an exact explanation, because we truly believe that the best result is on how you handle your tea and how you like the taste from every single trick you use. A cup of perfect tea is a successful result from countless tentative testing. You will finally make yourself a cup of perfect tea after you read, watch and continuously practice on brewing and learning.
Tea ceremony is a perfect exploration from an imperfect life.
]]>Pu erh tea is always a mystery to beginners who do not know tea. Even tasting two different pu erh teas, beginners will not be able to tell the quality. With chaotic reviews all over internet nowadays, they are easily misled and confused on choosing a good quality pu erh tea. To find a good quality pu erh tea, we should basically do some homework for pu erh tea.
There are two main types of pu erh teas which are raw "sheng" pu erh and ripe "shu" pu erh tea. We previously talked about the difference between raw pu erh tea and ripe pu erh tea. Ripe pu erh is a pu erh being manually fermented to fasten fermentation time, but not raw pu erh tea.
Ripe pu erh tea is more suitable for beginners because the taste has no trace of bitterness, and is more likely to be acceptable. Raw pu erh tea is good for advanced drinkers, because only advanced tea drinkers can tell the charm of raw pu erh tea. I am truly believed that tasting raw pu erh tea is definitely a final destination of tea drinking.
Today we will talk about few tips for beginners before buying a pu erh tea. These are very basic information we want everyone to understand about buying pu erh tea.
Pu erh tea has the form of loose tea and compressed tea, old and new, raw tea and ripe tea from its appearance. There is also an option from light fermentation to heavy fermentation, of course they have different properties. These are the factors of differences of pu erh tea against its taste, efficacy and its price. According to the difference of shapes, ordinary pu erh tea is divided into Cake tea, Tuo tea, square tea, Brick tea and other several shapes. Any of these forms such as Brick, Cake or Tuo do not in themselves make a significant difference in the conversion. In the past years, compressed teas were mostly selected from higher quality raw ingredients. They were more delicate which was one of main factors effecting conversion quality, not the shape of tea.
According to previous standards of tea making, level one and two of tea ingredients were used for loose leaf pu erh tea, level three and up were used for compressed teas including Tuo tea, Cake tea, the topper level ingredients were used for brick tea. The higher-level ingredients are considered as better quality. But currently, all of these standards have been harassed.
Robust, thick, earthy are the features of ripe pu erh tea. Then what is taste of authentic fine quality pu erh tea? Superb quality pu erh are exceptional from here.
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Pu erh tea is from very remote mountain area where only small bumpy trails built for man carrying and horses. Compressed tea was originally made for ease of transport. One horse could only carry 50 kilograms of loose form tea at that time, but compressed tea made a bigger load which save 40% on transportation expense. Later, compressed tea was found not only good for transport, but also easy to store, and even more fragrant after time stored. That is the primary reason why pu erh tea is compressed into shape tea.
In Qing Dynasty, due to ease calculation of tax levied on amount of each tea, Qing government proposed Yunnan tea to be packaged Qi Zhi Tea (7 sons) that packaged seven tea cake in one wrap. The odd number 7 was also a luck number, symbolized prosperity of posterity (7 sons) in the old time.
The standard requirement for each exporting box is 30 kilograms in old time. According to the international customary rule, 12 wraps were packaged to one exporting box, and 7 pieces in a wrap. Here is the math: 30/12=2.5kg, 2.5/7=357g
So after, the weight of each pu erh cake was standardized to 357g and 7 cakes per wrap.
Imperial pu erh is a name for a top quality of ripe pu erh tea grading.
Ripe pu erh tea was first made to fasten producing time. In the earlier 1970’s, pu erh tea demanding to Hong Kong increased greatly, 800 tea houses in Hong Kong comsumed 1600 tons pu erh tea in one year. Traditionally pu erh tea should take years to naturally convert and age. The small limited production never reached its tremendous demands from Hong Kong. In 1973, the chairman of Kun Ming pu erh tea manufacture, Wu Qi Ying proposed a new idea that fasten aging time with manual fermentation. In 1974, the new tea, ripe pu erh tea was born.
The codes of pu erh tea basically designate processing recipe, tea quality, ingredients and manufacturer.
The core production region of pu erh tea includes three areas; XishuangBanna, Puer and Lincang. Among these areas, Xishuang Banna is located in the most south end of Yunnan, where the most primitive and most famous ancient arbor tea is coming from including the king of pu erh tea, “Lao Ban Zhang”. And, this area is the only rainforest preservation in China.
There are two types of pu erh tea among quality. One is made of only one single type of leaves while the other one is blended from different leaves. The blended pu erh tea may be made with two or more types of leaves from different regions, or from different seasons. Single ingredient pu erh tea could be ingredients mixed from same region and from same season.
Pu erh tea can be stored for long time and has no expiration. The more aged tea, the more expensive, and the better taste. It is known as “drinkable antique”. People buy new made good pu erh tea and convert their own pu erh tea by storing pu erh under specific controlled room for itself conversion and resell it after years for much higher price.
The first infusion taste relatively lighter like water, while second infusion is more like tea. The prime cup is from third and fourth infusions, and fifth and sixth are not bad either. Seventh and eighth has remaining aroma and flavor, as well as ninth and tenth infusions.
Fishy pu erh, normally specifically indicate a unique flavor of fermentation result of ripe pu erh tea from Meng Hai tea region. Because of the special geologic environment, Meng Hai native water used for ripe pu erh fermentation will bring up fishy flavor, it has nothing to do with leaf quality. Good manufacture will handle properly to lighten out the fishy flavor with enough airing time after pile fermentation. Generally, fishy taste pu erh is an indication of low-quality tea, not leaf quality, but processing quality, because of short airing time after fermentation or improperly storage condition. If you unluckily, bought a fishy pu erh, save it to consume after years storage and don’t forget to pry it off to small pieces to air out for two weeks before use. Time will help to lighten out this unwanted flavor.
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There are two separate jobs needed to pay attention to for Yixing Clay teapot maintenance; an initial care and daily care. An initial care is one-time job that has to be done before first use of a new teapot. Daily care is the care after each time use of teapot.
A new teapot is recommended to have some initial care done before first use. There are few common ways to process initial care. The initial care is basically a series of work that teapot is needed to be boiled in the hot water and continuously heated to eliminate natural mud smell and other bad properties.
Here is two common ways to do the initial care:
It is not necessary to have all these steps done. Some only have first and last step done for initial care (in this case, these two steps can be done together. After water is boiled, set fire to simmering and add tea leaves into it), and some only have done first, second and last steps. If it is not able to find old tofu and sugarcane, these steps can be skipped.
Now, Yixing Clay teapot is time back to normal work after initial care is completed.
A new teapot is recommended to use after initial care, but the most important part is how you are taking care your teapot every time after you use it. Yixing Clay teapot is needed to be well taken care, especially good quality teapot. After years maintaining, a well-cared Yixing Clay teapot looks glossy, like glazed with a layer of polishing oil, natural and luster.
The method of daily pot care is even more varied. The basic principles are no exceptional of following six points:
It is not as complicated as what you think it was. It is all about cleanness after every single use. To maintain teapot in good condition, a few helpful tips need to be watched and specified.
Shower whole teapot with hot boiling water from outside to inside before each use, it is known as “moistening teapot”. It helps teapot for better breathing. There are some types of teas needed to be rinsed. Rinsed tea can be used to shower teapot instead of hot water.
Clean up teapot right after use. Use a pot brush to clean teapot gently (some good and expensive Yixing Clay teapot comes with pot care accessories). Do not remain tea in the teapot overnight. Otherwise, tea stain will be accumulated on the surface of teapot over times that implicitly affects the appearance of teapot.
Make sure teapot is mopped with cotton towel (tea towel) after wash. Never have any contact with oil or greasy hands.
Not only moving-life creatures need break time after work, Yixing Clay teapot also needs a little time to rest after a few times of use. Normally, leave it to dry completely, in about 3 to 5 days rest.
Furthermore, there are some misunderstanding about pot care that we need to avoid. Pot care takes times, there is no short cut can be achieved.
It is recommended to have one Yixing Clay teapot only and specially used for one type of tea. Yixing Clay teapot absorbs tea flavor, if one teapot is used for many different types of teas, it will affect the tea tasting. Try the best not to mix up. If you follow all of these basic requirements, your Yixing teapot will maintain in good shape and lustrous year after year. And of course, all of these are based on how good the Yixing Clay quality is.
]]>In the United States, Pu erh tea is normally heard only when eating in Chinese restaurants. Pu erh teas served in the restaurant are mostly inferior quality, and tea is being brewed again and again which is really weak and tasteless. And restaurant staffs do not even understand how to properly make good tasting tea. But people are still shockingly impressed by this roughly brewed tea. I cannot imagine how people going crazy when have a properly brewed good quality pu erh tea.
Before we going straight to today's topic, some basic pu erh tea knowledge has to be explained. We previously posted information about varieties of pu erh teas and health benefits of pu erh teas. Today, we decide to do some brief introduction for how to get into pu erh tea.
Pu erh tea is mainly grown and produced in Yun Nan province where the altitude is located above 1000meters. You never understand how primeval this land is if you had never been here.
Some of counties in Yunnan grows good quality teas. They mainly produce raw(sheng) pu erh tea and ripe(shou) pu erh tea which are the two major types pu erh teas. Raw pu erh tea is made by primly selected quality leaves. Those fresh leaves not qualified for raw pu erh are finally used to make ripe pu erh. They taste totally different due to how these pu erh teas fermentation processed.
Ripe pu erh tea
Earthy, robust. This tea is being through man-made wet-heating pile-fermentation to fasten oxidation which is new process developed after 1970s for massive demanding from pu erh tea enthusiasts. Although this post-fermented tea can be consumed earlier than raw pu erh tea, still, the aging time will mellow and smooth out the tea.
Raw pu erh tea
If you like original eco tea, raw pu erh tea is best one to collect. Raw pu erh tea is a pu erh tea not being through pile-fermentation, but steam compressed and naturally aged. Raw pu erh tea has strong and irritating properties, new made tea and insufficient time aged tea taste bitter and sharp. New tea is relatively lighter in color, and it is very irritating, not recommended to drink when stomach is empty, especially to people who have stomach problems.
The natural aging of raw pu erh tea is quite slow. It takes years to convert its property, depending on the conditions of aging environment. The color of dry tea will turn from green to browner year after year. After years aging, tea will become more soothing and richer. Many pu erh tea lovers buy valuable new tea, properly store new tea at home and control tea aging by self, because good aged raw pu erh tea always costs more than improper aged tea. In another words, the price of good aged pu erh tea is higher than new tea.
Year:
Reference of pu erh tea in the shop
Not every expensive tea is right for you, sometimes less expensive and little fame tea isn’t bad though, nevertheless, not something extremely cheap. You don't have to go after those expensive genuine Lao Ban Zhang or Bing Dao which costs hundreds US dollars and up, per 357 gram tea cake. Because you have no idea what you are buying.
Mostly, ripe pu erh tea cakes are firmer compressed than raw pu erh cake. So after you receive a tea brick, you will need a prying tool to break pu erh tea. If you get a ripe tea, you will need to break it off a week before brew it. These type of tea need to be broken into small pieces and aired out evenly for a ultimate taste of pu erh tea. We don't have to be so serious about raw shaped pu erh, because it is compressed moderately in tightness. It can be easily picked off sometimes. But it does not apply to all of raw pu erh cake. Older aged raw pu erh cake is a kind of tight pressed, it depends on the manual skill by each farmer or manufacture. Anyway, the tighter pressed shape tea, the longer air-out time is necessary.
It is really overwhelmed when you have no clue how to find a pu erh tea. With this helpful routine, you will not be strayed again.
Commonly seen fake pu erh teas are some most famous brands such as Lao Ban Zhang and Bing Dao. Vendors only fake famous and expensive teas for profit. Bing Dao tea was getting popular after 2006, and the price leaped. The genuine teas of these two brands are extremely expensive, and their prices are out of your imagination.
Location
Lao Ban Zhang is about 35 km north from Bu Lang Mountain township, and about 60km southeast from Meng Hai County. Lao Ban Zhang, Xin Ban Zhang and Lao Man E are all in the precinct of Ban Zhang Village Committee.
Lao Ban Zhang pu erh tea has reputation of “king of tea”, is particular about vigor of tea. The tea vigor of genuine Lao Ban Zhang is the most powerful one in pu erh tea category. Also, Lao Ban Zhang has stronger wild charm of nature because they are from older arbors and growing in better ecological environment. Lao Ban Zhang tea is typically belonged to “big leaf” tea family, so it has strong strips with downy and fatty bud heads that no other tea can be compared. Any Lao Ban Zhang pu erh tea sold under hundred US dollars per 357gram tea cake are obviously fake tea. Although Lao Ban Zhang old arbor tea is expensive, yet, more expensive tea has nothing to do with genuineness.
The photo showing that some Lao Ban Zhang pu erh tea current prices in Chinese retail market in RMB, 1USD about exchange to 6.7RMB. Again, no one can guarantee genuineness of these high priced tea.According to study, Lao Ban Zhang old arbor tea farm only occupies 4700 acres and produces 50 tons raw tea leaves annually. There are numerous Lao Ban Zhang pu erh enthusiasts. Genuine Lao Ban Zhang pu erh teas are mostly prior collected by these enthusiasts at higher price, only few genuine Lao Ban Zhang are reached in the market. Then, where are those countless and various priced fake Lao Ban Zhang coming from? In fact, except those few genuine Lao Ban Zhang old arbor tea on the market, the rest fake Lao Ban Zhang are roughly split into three different types.
There is a famous Bangma Big Snow Mountain in Shuang Jiang County, located in Lin Cang city, with an altitude of 3,200 meters. The top mountain is covered with snow all year round and surrounded with clouds. “Big leaf” ancient tea trees are scattered throughout this dense primeval forest in this deep mountain. On the halfway up of northern section of Bangma Mountain Range, there is an ancient Yi Village named "Bing Dao" where the Bing Dao pu erh tea is produced. Bing Dao Village is in the precinct of Meng Ku Township, about 33km north from Meng Ku, administered five tribes including Bing Dao, Nan Po, Nuo Wu, Bei Wai and Di Jie. Teas from these tribes all have similar characteristics, but only the ancient arbor tea from Bing Dao tribe is considered genuine and the best Bing Dao flavor tea. The closest taste to Bing Dao tea is the ancient arbor tea from Nan Po tribe. Ancient arbors in Bing Dao are quite old, their quality is superb, so Bing Dao tea is honored “the queen of Yunnan pu erh tea”.
Bing Dao not only produces ancient arbor tea, but also small tree tea, arbor tea, wild tea, shrub tea and new farmed tea. The ancient arbor tea (old arbor) is the most famous tea most people admired. When someone talks about Bing Dao tea, it generally indicates the old arbor tea.
It is not easy to identify what mountain the tea is coming from. We can only guess from our accumulated experiences. The Bing Dao flavor can be duplicated from other tea which means Bing Dao flavor can be made from any other Meng Ku “big leaf” teas. The fake Bing Dao tea are mostly made from these types of teas. Some better-quality fake Bing Dao teas are made from other four tribes of Bing Dao Village. More expensive tea could have possibility of genuine Bing Dao old arbor raw leaves blended. The genuine sweet flavor of Bing Dao pu erh tea is not only the sweetness from tea, but also endless sweet remaining in the palate. Sweet secretion is formed in the mouth after tea is swallowed as if it is covered with a thin layer of rock sugar.
The characteristic of genuine Bing Dao pu erh tea is its long-lasting sweet return, tastes thicker and smoother than other tea. It has downy bud heads and fatty strips, looks oily dark brown. Tea is relatively bright golden, unique rich aroma. Sweet, but less bitter taste. It lasts long for brewing. Recent years, speculation of Bing Dao tea has caused chaotic market prices. But the reputation is gained from consumers, of course it should have its own distinctive charm.
Beside these types of fake tea, some vendors fake the production year. It is commonly known that the more aged tea the more expensive and has better taste. These fake teas are stored in wet or humid condition to shorten the fermentation time so that tea would be conversed faster. That is why people like to collect new tea rather than aged tea.
We all love bargain. We love to get good quality tea at the best price. But the reality is you get what you paid for. Although genuine Lao Ban Zhang tea is the king of tea, the rareness pushes the price to the peak. We only have very small chance to have it. There are bunches of good quality tea on the market for much lower price. Fake tea sometimes isn’t bad tea, they are just not as expensive as genuine one. Why we should have to hook on genuine tea! Get another way out, find our own favor tea is what we needed to. If price isn’t matter, we should also purchase with care.
]]>A bunch of questions come up to the head at the beginning. Multifarious answers from online blogs are overwhelmed completely. Every answer sounds reasonable. Even someone gives suggestion to have, let’s say Longjing green tea, a publicly well-known good green tea, but finally realize that it isn’t the best(your favorite). Of course, famous tea is acceptable by most group of people but not against every one.
Everyone knows Lapsang Souchong, it is very popular tea in the world. Chinese Tea Research Academy had created a new tea based on Lapsang Souchong years ago and gave it a new name Jin Jun Mei, also known as Golden Eyebrow. It is basically a refined Lapsang Souchong tea. Most Chinese tea enthusiasts accept this tea and like it more than original Lapsang Souchong, but this tea is barely mentioned in the West. Obviously, they like two different teas. This circumstance strongly proved our answer.
Feel happy only you have suffered sorrow. Happiness also has completely different definitions with age. In different age cycle, things are handled with different points of views. You will like different type of tea at a different period of time. When people are starving, they expect for food, any food. Food is most important to them. A branded clothing is helpless to them. When people are getting rich, they demand quality living. That’s a normal implicit rule of our human being.
Everyone loves spicy food, but we all know that spicy food is not as healthy as plain food. People are fascinated by its taste. although both spicy and plain food contains its original flavor, spice is an additive seasoning that make food more flavorful based on its original flavor. Same as tea, new sprouting bud-head tea is alike plain food which has its tea flavor what it supposed to have, but more delicate. When tea leaves grow older, more contents are absorbed that makes older tea leaves more flavorful and stronger taste. If you feel satisfied with spicy food, why you need to turn away. “I am pretty happy with old green tea, because I love the robust taste.” The only thing makes people changing mind is “getting tired”. One day, you feel enough to the spicy food, and now you like to have something mild, or you concern about your healthy status and you want to try something plain now. After you switch to a new flavor, you may get used to it, and like the new taste more than the one you liked before. That is the time you move from coarse quality to finer quality.
Your first understanding of right and wrong will constitute your future judgment of right and wrong, as well as tasting tea. If your first impression of Lapsang Souchong black tea is a smoky note, then you must firmly believe the smoky flavor is the most authentic Lapsang Souchong. Don’t get misled by your first impression. Due to tea processing, there could be different taste on a same type of tea. Every few years, new teas are developed and created, named with a suffix after original name, but we cannot deny that they are not authentic. They are same tea but made with new processing technique to improve the taste.
Old tea enthusiasts always keep switching teas every few days. No one drink one type tea for whole life. Maybe one day you feel “oh today is oolong day”, you want to feel the aromatic floral notes from your favorite oolong tea. And another day, you like to enjoy the delicacy of Bi Luo Chun green tea. In this situation, can you define which is the best tea, oolong or Bi Luo Chun? Of course not, they are two different types of teas. Each variety of tea has its unique flavor. So, if you are still here, I believe you will never ask same question again. No one can answer such a pointless question. If someone gives a positive answer, you probably want to get in touch with durian fruit which not everyone likes it, nor everyone dislikes it. People love durian fruit can express countless words of how good it is. On the contrary, people hate this fruit would knit brows and fly away immediately when they sense the smell.
Certainly, among the quality, there are good and bad quality teas. To taste a good tea, you will need to savor with your heart, feel every sip with your tongue in the palates. The most affordable way to try other teas is to try tea samples in this case you will not waste money on those teas you don’t like. Believed me nothing is the best, only your favorite tea is your best tea, but your best tea could be out of your favor one day.
]]>Authentic Longjing 43 and Wu Niu Zao Longjing tea are very difficult to be distinguished, but experienced Longjing regulars will never be confused by these two similar looking green teas. It's really hard to distinguish between the Wu Niu Zao Longjing and Longjing 43 on the appearance. But differences can always be found in comparison. There are opportunities for both to be cleared and understood what the differences of Longjing 43 and Wu Niu Zao Longjing.
Color difference: the overall color of the Wu Niu Zao Longjing dry tea leaves are basically green, and the Longjing 43 tea leaves are relatively yellowish green. The color of Old Longjing dry tea leaves is brown and the tea is freshly yellow.
Fragrance: Wu Niu Zao Longjing is somewhat little grassy compared to Longjing 43, the taste is relatively lighter. "Longjing 43" is mellower, smoother and sweeter.
Shape: the tea buds of Wu Niu Zao Longjing are short, plump and thick, which the shapes are looked more beautiful. The bud head of Longjing 43 is slender and stretched. (The early Longjing 43 bud head is also thicker and stronger) Longjing 43 also has another unique sign, the end of tea stem has a red tip.
The differences of Longjing 43, Old Longjing and Wu Niu Zao Longjing
Major cultivars of Longjing(Dragon Well)
Old Longjing tea tree is the earliest variety of Longjing tree. It belongs to natural reproduction and must be cultivated with tea.
Longjing No.43 is cuttage plant, cultivated from some of the primarily selected and earliest germinated Old Longjing trees. The shapes of dry tea leaves are neat, fine and tender, looked more beautiful, greener than Old Longjing. Longjing 43 has a red tip, which is more slender and beautiful. The buds look straight and tight. Longjing 43 retains the excellent quality of Old Longjing, which is more fragrant and elegant, and is more acceptable to everyone.
Wu Niu Zao is mainly produced from a tea cultivar in Wu Niu Town, Wenzhou. Due to its early germination, it is named Wu Niu Zao("zao" means "early" in Chinese). Wu Niu Zao Longjing has a cultivation history of more than 300 years. Its biggest feature is the "zao". Under normal circumstances, West Lake Longjing and Dongting Bi Luo Chun come a month after Wu Niu Zao Longjing tea. Because of the early germination, there are more and more tea farmers around Hangzhou have started to cultivate Wu Niu Zao. If no hazard weather occurred, and proper managed, Wu Niu Zao tea can be harvested right after Chinese Spring Festival. Otherwise, natural disasters (freezing spring weather) could have produced no harvest.
If someone sells the first flush of Longjing at the very early of spring, like what we just said the time after Chinese Spring Festival, it should be the Wu Niu Zao Longjing. The West Lake Longjing has not yet been picked at this time. We previously wrote about category of West Lake Dragon Well. As we all know, due to differences in conditions such as origin, climate, temperature, etc., new tea is marketed mostly in proper order from south region to north region every year. Wu Niu Town is about hundred miles south from West Lake Production Area that definitely has no doubt the first flush Longjing tea is ready on the market a month earlier than West Lake Longjing.
]]>Tea container on the market are roughly divided into few types by its materials: Yixing Clay(zisha), porcelain and ceramic, glass, bamboo or wood container, stainless steel or iron container. Ceramics are the collective name for pottery and porcelain. These include materials of the most famous five kilns(Ru Ware, Jun Ware, Guan Ware, Ding Ware and Ge Ware) and Longquan celadon. For the convenience of statistics, they are classified as ceramic. However, the effect of storing tea leaves will vary depending on the material of the container.
A good tea container generally has the following characteristics, such as sealing, moisture proof, anti-odor, anti-oxidation, light protection and other practical conditions can be regarded as a good tea container. Now we can easily analyze the advantages and disadvantages of the following tea containers of various materials so that everyone can avoid wasting their good tea in the process of daily tea storage.
Yixing Clay jar: Because the material of Yixing Clay jar has a double venting structure, it has better light and moisture resistance, so that the odor of new tea can be eliminated during the time of storage, and that also keeps the tea natural and clean. Yixing Clay jar is always loved by advanced tea enthusiasts.
Glass jar: Glass jar is not sealed tight enough unless they are equipped with a rubber ring. It is generally used to store herbal tea. The main group of glass jar user is young female tea enthusiasts. When storing tea in a glass jar, It is important to realize that the jar must be tight sealed. Otherwise, herbal tea is the most likely to attract bugs.
Bamboo or wooden container: generally the prices of these containers are relatively cheaper. the sealing is not quite well performed and not moisture proofed. It is a very modest container that can be used for cheaper tea storage. These containers are getting excluded on the market day by day now.
Metal canisters: metal cans are including stainless steel can and iron can, have better sealing performance. It is moisture-proof, light-proof, also it is cheaper than ceramic jar. Metal cans are great for storing green teas. The prone of metal can is it gets rusted easily. So green tea is usually sealed in a foil bag before placed in this type of can. Metal cans are durable and convenient for shipping, it is widely used by tea vendors for packaging.
Tin: it is recognized as one of top choice container that seals tight, and met with all the conditions of good quality tea containers. the price is quite high, but acceptable. It is a good choice for storing varieties of precious teas.
Ceramic and Porcelain caddy: The tightness of the early made ceramic jars can only be said to be modest. But now the cover is greatly improved the sealing tightness, and has the functions of moisture proof and light protection. The disadvantage is that the ceramic jars are generally smooth and there is a danger of being broken. the ceramic jar has an ornamental use, especially hand-painted type of ceramic jar from Jing De Zhen. A lots of Jing De Zhen porcelains are exquisite works and really expensive.
When choosing a appropriate tea container, we have to be clear what the container needed to be used for. We may need container for convenience only, or for purpose of tea storage, or container for pu erh tea conversion. Therefore, when we choose a tea container , we need to consider the following aspects:
If any type of tea has to be tightly sealed?
For teas that need to be converted later, such as Pu erh tea and Fuding white tea, ceramic tea jar or Yixing Clay tea jar are recommended due to their better permeability. Some freshly baked new teas can also be stored in such tea jars for short periods of time.
Most other teas (such as green tea, black tea, oolong tea, etc.) do not need post conversion, so they should be tight sealed and stored, to avoid the tea aging and the loss of aroma. Sealed tea containers made of non-permeability materials such as porcelain or metal are recommended for these types of teas. These containers are high density and tight, have good effects on resistance of moisture, oxidation, light and odor. Green tea is best stored in a porcelain jar and stored at a low temperature.
Newly ceramic tea containers normally have special muddy odor. It is recommended to steam new ceramic tea containers with in water for 5 to 10 minutes before initial use. Therefore, clean it and let it dry before use. You can also put a little cheaper tea in the new container to absorb and clean the odor in the beginning; except for a few teas that need to be refrigerated, all the tea containers should be placed in a dry, ventilated and room temperature environment. A good storage environment allows the tea to perform the magic of time after time passes
The reason why tea is fascinating is probably because it has unpredictable beauty, always leading to exploration and patience. The tea that has been stored over time often contains a rich trace of life and breath. the mystery of time is hidden here for us to interpret.
As we talked about different varieties of tea containers above, you should now somehow understand how to get an appropriate tea container to store your tea. Especially good quality teas need to be paid extra care for storing. After you have learned what container for tea storing, you also need to understand what is the best way to store loose leaf tea.
]]>Most of us start to drink tea beginning with green tea or black tea. That is where we first contact and get to know about tea. Some of us stay with beginning tea, enjoy the taste and get into more knowledge about the tea. But there are always a group of people like to experience, keep trying out something new. These people are just like Christopher Columbus who eventually found the new land.
Which is the best tea? This is a very wide question, has different answers to each person. Green tea lovers always persist in the aromatic nutty flavor while others may prefer smoky aroma oolong or earthy Pu erh.
Every tea has its own characteristic and unique flavor. Green tea has clean nutty and vegetal notes, tastes brisk with little sweet flavor and feels peaceful nature. The color of loose leaf green tea looks clear transparent, some with a touch of greenish impression, unlike matcha or other artificial teas which have vivid green tea and straight strong taste.
Compared to green tea, oolong tea tastes richer, more like “tea”, and has fresh floral aroma. Tea color appears deeper, varies from light golden to deep golden due to its fermentation process. Some heavily fermented oolong even tastes smoky, such as the iconic Da Hong Pao Rou Gui. Phoenix oolong is the tea tastes between green tea and oolong. It has both flavor of green tea and the aroma of oolong tea.
Black tea is more closed to dark tea; the fully fermented tea still has floral notes with mellower taste. Some of them have sweet finish, and some of them with smoky ends. The color of black tea looks dark brownish red or bright red. According to study, the better quality black tea should have the sign of bright red tea liquor.
Comparing to all other teas, Pu erh tea is more advanced level, rich and strong, especially ripe Pu erh. There are two types of Pu erh teas we basically need to understand. Pu erh tea is divided into ripe and raw type. We have to be clear what Pu erh before buying it. Some tea vendors may specify ripe as “shou”, meaning “ripe” in Chinese, and raw as “sheng”, meaning “raw” in Chinese.
Ripe pu erh has stronger and darker tea which tastes earthy, musty, mixed with special unique notes. The lower quality ripe Pu erh tastes either fishier or sometimes plainly stale while good quality pu erh has richer and smoother taste, and has so much flavor to discover when savoring seriously.
Raw Pu erh tea is a complete different tea to ripe Pu erh, although it also carries slightly earthy note. Raw Pu erh tea looks greener or light, but it has no meaningful to the taste. If you ever had liquorice or licorice, you probably understand more thoroughly what it tastes like. The taste of raw Pu erh tea is very similar to the way liquorice tastes, which leisurely brings natural sweetness back and retains between palates. New raw Pu erh tea tastes more irritating than aged raw Pu erh tea, because of its fermentation time not yet being well developed. When the fermentation time passes through, raw pu erh tea becomes softer and richer, and less irritating.
There is no specific indication telling which the best tea is, only when you endlessly trying something new you will reach your final destination. Of course, you can stay where you are if you satisfy with what you currently have. There are so many things to discover in every destination that we cannot deny. The routine we have to follow that we cannot take short cut.
Personally, the taste of Pu erh tea has so many flavors to experience, especially raw tea which other teas cannot compete to. Rather than saying it is best, infinite discoverable taste would be preferable words for Pu erh.
]]>How to differentiate raw or ripe pu erh tea
The new-made raw tea and ripe tea are very different, and can be distinguished from the color of the appearance: the raw tea looks dark green, while the ripe tea looks dark red, chestnut red or even chestnut black color.
The main difference between raw and ripe pu erh tea is that the ripe pu erh tea is being through moderately pile-fermentation, that ripe tea is made to be consumed right after short time. The tea cake is dark black, the tea color mostly in reddish brown but bright.
Raw pu erh, also known as Sheng pu erh, is a relatively traditional processed tea. Raw tea is directly pressed into a cake, it is not manually fermented. It relied on the natural fermentation by passage of time. Generally, 5 to 10 years aged tea is best. The color of the tea is golden yellow, relatively bright, is full of domineering. It plays the role of reducing fat. It is not recommended to drink before meals.
It is more difficult to differentiate the raw tea or ripe tea upon the long aged pu erh tea.
Appearance; aged raw tea looks dark but with little green effect, while aged ripe tea has black color with little red effect. However, the color of ripe pu erh cake is deeper than the raw pu erh cake overall.
Aroma; aged raw tea (dry stored) has a strong fragrance of Aging, but the fragrance of aged ripe tea is lighter. Ripe pu erh tea is divided into aroma of jujube, ginseng, woody, lotus and many other flavors.
Brewed leaves: the brewed leaves of aged raw tea look bright green of dark, and have apparently better looking strips. Brewed ripe tea leaves look bright dark brown, but messy leaves like dregs not having a good looking.
brewed raw pu erh tea leavesbrewed ripe pu erh tea leaves
Keemun Xiangluo black tea, the new variety tea of Keemun black tea, is the most innovative product in Keemun black tea category, is originated in Qimen County, Anhui Province. The process uses the special fermentation process of Keemun black tea and wood rolling, combined with the process of Huangshan Songluo tea, to form a new black tea category that looks like Songluo tea. The refined Keemun Xiangluo tea has greatly improved the original quality.
The famous Keemun Xiangluo was created in 1997 by Tea Research Institute of Anhui Agricultural Sciences Academy by using a combination of national standard tea cultivar and unique processing techniques, and was inspected and tested by Ministry of Agriculture Tea Quality Supervision that was qualified for the standard quality of fine Keemun tea.
Keemun Xiangluo tea is picked from the original Qimen tea tree and grows in the original ecological Qimen villages. It is located in the mysterious estuary of the north latitude 30° line at an altitude of 600-800 meters. The forest coverage rate of this area is over 97% with extremely high negative oxygen ion content. The water quality is excellent, and the air is pure and moist, so that the vegetation is well preserved, and it contains moderate minerals. Qimen County is a sandbar land formed from the impact of ancient floods. The tea plants grow on the unique fertile soil of rotten stone. The tea trees grow by the water in the deep and fertile soil. The native Qimen tea tree is noble and has few mixed trees around its growing area, often accompanied by precious tree species such as ginkgo, yew, and native bodhi. The tea garden is surrounded by mountains and dense streams or rivers, pictured with blooms and lingered by clouds and mists all year round. The climate is warm and humid with adequate rainfalls. In this superior natural environment of thriving lush land, the outstanding quality of Keemun tea is bred by these unique natural conditions. Keemun tea garden is the largest organic tea plantation in China currently certified by the European Union.
Qimen tea tree is a good quality and high-yield variety. The dark green leaves are fat, slightly uplifted and large, but tender. The ability of its neat germination is efficient. It is a great variety for producing black tea and green tea.
Process of Keemun Xiangluo tea
Keemun Xiangluo is being finely processed, and the process can be roughly divided into three main steps: picking, initial process and refining process.
Picking: Keemun Xiangluo is being processed as soon as the tea leaves are being picked from selected spring tea leaves during Grain Rain, to preserve the effective ingredients of fresh tea leaves.
Initial process: The process of making Keemun Xiangluo tea is very fine, and the picking standards are very strict. After withering, rolling, and fermentation, the buds turn from green to copper red, emitting the aroma, and then simmer to dry.
and aromatic.Refining process: After the initial preparation, it must be re-simmered, fanned and packed. The final finished Keemun Xiangluo tea looks curly and blooming black with soft sweet taste.
Keemun Black Tea is the first of the world's three most famous black teas. In the production of Keemun black tea, it can be divided into two major essences. One is combination of industrial machine made and hand-refined, called crush(“sui”) series, which is the production of modern mechanical processing, which also increases the production of Keemun black tea; The other one is fully hand processing, mostly innovate Keemun black tea for famous brand products. This processing method preserves the oldest processing method of Keemun Black Tea and is the most traditional processing method. Keemun black tea processed in this way is known as handmade tea, which retains the original taste of Keemun black tea. All the top quality Keemun Black Teas are handmade tea, which must be clearly identified at the time of purchase.
]]>Brewing oolong tea needs a unique skill, and it has some fun during in the process of tea steeping.
To make a good oolong tea, you should first prepare tea. In general, it is best to understand the origin, variety, process, and manufacturers of the tea, and sometimes even the characteristics of tea making from the person who makes the tea should also be considered.
Choosing relatively good quality tea and using the amount of tea leaves(between 7 to 10 grams) is a prerequisite for a good oolong tea brewing.
Amount of tea leaves being used can also be determined according to the capacity of the tea pot. A tight hemispherical oolong tea needs amount of 1/3-1/4 pot of tea leaves, as a looser tea like Phoenix Oolong needs more than half pot of tea leaves.
A tea set often includes a tea tray, teapot, tea cups and other accessories is needed for tea brewing. It is advised that size of each tea set has to be matched, including the teapot size to the number of people and other factors. Select a good size tea set according to number of people tasting tea. For those who like to drink strong tea, it is recommended to use a small cup; for those who have a lighter taste, it is recommended to use a large cup. For a group of three to five people, you can use the Yixing clay teapot to make tea that the teapot size is between 120 and 150 ml, while a teacup is between 20 and 30 grams. From a practical point of view, tea pot and tea cup are the must needed tea sets.
To brew best tasting oolong tea, it is recommended to use natural spring water if possible. Otherwise bottle purified water is also good for brewing tea. Tap water is always last choice.
The first is to boil water, the water temperature that just reaching boiling point would be more appropriate. When the water is boiled, rinse the teapot(or Gaiwan) and tea cups so that it is cleaner and on other hand is to warm tea wares. Then place tea leaves in the pot.
Pour in with boiling water and immediately pour it out. The purpose of this is to wash away the dust on the tea leaves and other impurities.
Then lift the kettle and pour from the top into the inner side of the teapot that makes tea leaves rotating in the pot which is to emit the fragrance of oolong tea. Fill up boiling water fully, and then gently skim off the floating white foam or impurities again with the lid to make the tea fresh and clean. Cover the lid immediately.
*For using Yixing clay teapot: Continuously shower the teapot with boiling water easily during steeping.
After 45 seconds, pour the tea into the small tea cup or to a tea pitcher if you have one. (The steeping time should be appropriate, insufficient time will not fully emit the color, fragrance and the taste. On the contrary, over brewed will produce bitter taste.) When pour out the tea to tea cups, lower tea pot as close as possible to tea cups in case of scattering away the fragrance of tea.
The thickness of tea is needed to be shared evenly. The last left tea in the bottom of tea pot needs to be evenly dripped into each tea cup that the flavor and the thickness of tea are equivalent even. Using a tea pitcher will avoid this issue. When using tea pitcher, tea is transferred to tea pitcher entirely before split into each cup.
Once the tea is poured into the cups, it should be tasted immediately to avoid the loss of prime taste. Scent it before taste it, although it’s not much amount, but it really refreshes and sweetens your throat, and leave an unforgettable aroma in your palate.
Additional Note:
A good quality oolong tea, such as Tie guan yin, Taiwan Oolong and Phoenix Oolong, can still be fragrant after seven or eight times brewing.
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Gaiwan set has a unique shape and is made with exquisite craftsmanship. The top part is larger than the bottom. The lid is small, fitted inside the bowl rim that is not easy to slip off, and the saucer is used as the bottom support. It is designed to drink tea with lid on, leaving very small opening gap to filter out tea slowly, which is very pleasant. The saucer is designated to be held for stabilization and avoiding burn.
Gaiwan was originally a tea bowl that used alone as brewing pot directly served to guests after steep tea leaves and hot water into the bowl, or served with just filtered pure tea without leaves. Of course, it was used as the way tea pot did too.
Later, it is found that using Gaiwan as a tea pot also has its convenience. The tea leaves changing in the bowl can be appreciated directly, and the thickness of tea can also be easily controlled. It is more convenient to remove the impurities than using a tea pot. Therefore, Gaiwan has gradually evolved into a "brewing pot", acts as a combination of tea pot and tea cup.
Brewing with Gaiwan can be split into single use and group use, as using a small Gaiwan or a large Gaiwan. Available Gaiwan sizes in the market are from 80ml to 300ml, and most common sizes are from 120ml to 150ml.
Gaiwan was invented in Ming Dynasty(1368–1644 ), was once very popular in the middle age of Qing Dynasty(1644 to 1912). Nowadays, still in most areas where Han and Hui people live, there are customs of drinking tea specifically with Gaiwan. It is also very popular in some large and medium-sized cities in southwestern China, especially Chengdu. It has become a traditional tea-ware in local tea houses and other tea drinking places in Chengdu, Sichuan, Kunming, etc., and is generally used for treating guests. In southern area of Fujian, Gaiwan is often used to make tea as a tea pot. In the northern China area, it is more common to use as tea cup, directly brew and drink with Gaiwan.
Gaiwan was used for brewing flower tea and Tieguanyin tea in the past time, but there is no limit today. It can be used as a tea pot, or as a tea cup for tea. Gaiwan is specially recommended to use for brewing oolong tea. When tea experts reviewing the quality of a tea, they normally prefer to use Gaiwan to test, which is easy to see and judge.
The most common materials used to make the Gaiwan are porcelain, Yixing Clay, glass, etc., and the various hand-paint designed porcelain Gaiwans are more popular than others. According to the make and type, Gaiwans are divided into Ru ware (Ru Kiln) Gaiwan, Blue and White porcelain Gaiwan, Celadon ware Gaiwan, etc..
Making tea with Gaiwan has the advantages of being simple, easy to learn, none odor-absorbing, fast in heat conduction, practical, elegant and beautiful.
Lid, bowl and saucer should not be used separately; otherwise it is neither nice nor polite according to Chinese traditional manners. But it is fine when you taste alone.
When tea is ready to taste, after uncover the lid, appreciate and enjoy the aroma from both bottom of lid and the tea. Gently move aside the tea leaves with lid to make the thickness of the tea even. Place the lid back on the bowl and leave a gap that is large enough to drain the tea. Hold the lid and drink it directly.
For brewing a thicker tea, use the lid to gently push and turn the tea leaves rolling upside down. The more turning, the thicker tea to get, is a very wonderful design.
]]>White tea is a very light-fermented tea. It refers to tea that has been processed only after sun-drying or simmer-drying, and is not being through fixing or rolling processes. The property of White tea is cold type, it has benefits to clear and reduce body heat.
White tea looks white, because most of the tea leaves that picked are delicate tea buds with white trichome on the back of leaves. The white tea is not fried nor rolled during processing, but sun-dried or simmer-dried directly, which can make the appearance of the tea trichome completely preserved, which is why the tea looks white.
The main characteristics of white tea are the plump white silver color of tea leaves, the bright yellow tea and the fresh taste. There are many varieties of white teas. The main varieties are white silver needle, white peony, Gong Mei, and Shou Mei.
The benefits of white tea are mainly including anti-radiation, anti-oxidation, anti-tumor, and lowering blood pressure, blood fat and blood sugar. Also helps to nourish heart, liver, eyes, skin and mind. It also has a unique and wonderful health care benefits for discomfort of excessive smoking and drinking.
Benefits of white tea
Other health benefits of white tea
Drinking tea advice from expert: flower tea is good for spring, drink white tea and green tea in the summer can cool down body heat and prevent summer heat stroke. Drink oolong tea in the fall. Drink black tea and dark tea in the winter helps to nourish stomach.
The types of white tea vary according to the region, cultivar and standards of fresh leaf picking. We can divide white tea into two types: bud tea and leaf tea.
Bud tea: As the name suggests, it is a white tea made from the tea buds that picked from the top of the white tea tree. The quality of this tea is extremely good, such as white silver needle tea and Tai Lao silver needle tea.
Leaf tea: is made from the leaves of white tea tree. The varieties of these leaf teas include White Peony, Shou Mei and other new craft white teas.
White tea brewing
In the process of brewing, certain skills must be mastered in order to make a fresh and mellow taste of tea.
There are five ways to brew white tea, including using Gaiwan, tea pot, big pot, glass cup and cook brewing. The amount of water should be carefully controlled for white tea brewing. Generally, lighter white tea has better taste. 3 to 5 grams of tea leaves is good to make 150 ml of tea, and the water temperature is required to be 195°F to 212°F. In general, a cup of white tea can be brewed up to four or five times, and the brewing time for first infusion is about 5 minutes. Tea can be ready to drink after filtered into fair cup. The second infusion can be as long as 3 minutes. Just drink as soon as it is brewed.
Of course, according to different drinking needs, the brewing of white tea is specified as:
Gaiwan: good for two people to drink, take 3g of Fuding white tea into the Gaiwan, and wash the leaves with 195°F of boiled water, which is also to warm and wet the tea. Then like Kung Fu tea brewing, the first steep takes 30-45 seconds, then decrease brewing time in subsequent brewing to experience the best fresh taste of Fuding white tea.
Big pot: good for group drinking. Take 10-15g white tea into a large porcelain pot, directly brew with 195°F to 212°F boiling water. Re-steep after finished. White tea is endurable for brewing, can be laid aside for hours, and the taste is still light and mellow. It can be used from morning to evening. It is a great tea for summer break.
Yixing Clay: Suitable for three to five people. Use a big belly Yixing Clay tea pot. Take 5-6g Fuding white tea into it, wash tea with about 195°F of boiled water. Drink after 45 seconds steep. Features: Very mellow and aromatic.
Glass cup: good for one person to drink alone. Use 200ml transparent glass. Take 3-5g of leaves with about 195°F of boiled water to wash the tea and getting it warmed. Then directly brew white tea with boiling water. According to personal preference, it is free to master the brewing time.
Cook brewing: is suitable for health care purposes. Take 10g of at-least 3 year-aged white tea with cold water, cook for 3 minutes until thick tea appears. Filter out the tea, and cool it to 160°F. And add rock sugar or honey to drink. It is often used to treat throat inflammation, fever, or discomfort of acclimatization treatment. The taste is mellow and striking. There is also a unique flavor after chilling in summer.
]]>Oolong tea is a kind of tea we drink every day. It has a seductive fragrance. Oolong tea not only has fascinating aroma, but also has great health benefits to our human body.
Oolong tea is a semi-fermented tea, its wide varieties including famous Tie Guan Yin oolong, Taiwan oolong teas and Dan Cong oolong teas which have distinctive characteristics among several famous teas in China. Oolong tea and green tea are both produced by a same tea tree. The difference between these two is fermentation process. Oolong tea is being made through processes of plunking, withering, shaking, fermentation, baking and other processes. It is a combination of green tea and black tea process.
Oolong tea colligates both quality and production of green tea and black tea. It has both the rich sweet flavor of black tea and the fresh fragrance of green tea. The biggest difference between oolong tea and green tea is the fermentation process. During the fermentation process, the catechins in the tea will combine with the increase of temperature. At this time, the color of the tea will change and the astringency will decrease. The combination of these catechins is the polyphenols of oolong tea. The catechins and polyphenols have a strong antioxidant effect. About half of the catechins are converted to polyphenols from oolong tea. Therefore, under the effects of catechins and polyphenols, oolong tea is much more beneficial than green tea.
To produce the best quality of oolong tea, the first is to select the fine quality of tea leaves as raw materials from strictly controlled tea leaves picking standards. Then, the extraordinary fine production processes are required after selecting tea leaves.
Oolong tea is a unique tea from China. According to tea origins, oolong tea is sub-categorized to northern Fujian oolong, southern Fujian oolong, Guangdong oolong, Taiwan oolong and etc. It is now mainly produced in the provinces of Fujian, Guangdong and Taiwan. In recent years, Sichuan, Hunan and other provinces also have a small amount of production.
This is the oolong tea produced in Phoenix Township, Guangdong Province. It is divided into three major levels: Dan Cong, Lang Cai and Shui Xian.
Wuyi Rock tea is one of China's top ten famous teas. It is produced from Wuyi Mountains area in the northern part of Fujian Province. Wuyi Mountain is located in the southeastern part of Chong'An, Fujian Province. There are 36 peaks and 99 rocks in the radius of 60 kilometers. There are tea trees growing on every rock, and the tea is named after the rock it grows on. It is known as the world’s best oolong tea.
The top variety of Wuyi rock tea, has a reputation of “the best of best tea”.
New created rock tea in recent year.
Dry tea leaves are in round shape, and has a bronze to dark brown color on it. Red golden color tea lingered with strong nature fruity aroma.
The tea grows at about 600-1000 meters above sea level in Lugu Township, Taiwan. Dongding oolong from the core regions consisting of village Fenghuang, yonglong, zhangya, is known as “a holy of teas”. It is known as the best of Taiwan oolong tea. This light fermented Bao Zhong oolong has similar style to Wen Shan Bao Zhong.
This is the famous tea from Taiwan. Because of its dense trichome on the tea buds, it is also called white oolong tea. It is a type of heavier fermentation oolong tea only produced in Taiwan.
The feature of this tea is the strong milky aroma from this tea.
A clear oolong tea, light bodied, is the lightest fermentation oolong tea in the Taiwan oolong category.
It is from Meng Ding Mountain, where produce famous green tea in Sichuan. This kind of oolong tea has the advantages of both black tea and white tea. It tastes fresh and mellow, pleasant fruity, and elegant lasting.
This oolong tea also has round shape, but looked small and more edged compare to Taiwan oolong. Tie Guan Yin tea belongs to oolong family and is representative of oolong tea, but there are still differences between them. Tie Guan Yin may not necessarily have all the characteristics of Oolong tea generally have, but oolong tea has all the characteristics of Tie Guan Yin tea.
It is named after its worth more than gold, features on its superb aroma.
It is mainly produced in Anxi County, Fujian Province, one of China's top ten famous teas. Tie Guan Yin is the best in oolong tea.
Oolong black tea
This is a contemporary tea product. It is made into a black tea with Xiao Zhong oolong including varieties of honey oolong black tea and honey black tea. After the oolong black tea is baked, it will emit a light honey scent, and it will taste refreshing with a hint of sweetness.
Red oolong
This is an emerging specialty tea created by oolong tea and black tea. It is a heavy-fermented, heavy-baked hemispherical oolong tea. The tea is amber orange red, just like black tea, but tastes like oolong tea which is mellow and round. It is durable for brewing. This type of tea is more distinctive for cold brewing rather than hot.
Fujian Wuyi Oolong, baking processed, the overall black and dark presented large twisted strips, taste a little bitter with smoky aroma, and feel hint of the floral fragrance.
Tie Guan Yin Oolong is native to Anxi, Fujian Province and is sought after for its unique vanilla scent. Good Tie Guan Yin tea has a fragrant aroma and its taste is elegant.
Taiwan oolong is characterized by aroma and taste, and is stronger than Tie Guan Yin, but less green taste.
Phoenix Dan Cong tea has the elegant aroma of Tie Guan Yin and the powerful taste of Taiwan Oolong.
Tea tasting is truly a personal point of view, and you have to taste it and feel it yourself. Any of others tasting notes are only for reference.
The pharmacological effects of oolong tea are highlighted in the aspects of fat decomposition, weight loss and beauty care. It is called "beauty tea" and "bodybuilding tea" in Japan.
Oolong tea has been very popular recently for weight loss. Because oolong tea contains tannic acid for weight loss, it can stimulate fat metabolism. The experimental results show that oolong tea can lower the blood cholesterol level, lower blood pressure, and lose weight.
Oolong tea is rich in minerals such as iron and calcium. Regularly drink a cup of oolong tea before and after three meals a day can inhibit the rise of cholesterol. Pair greasy food with oolong tea not only can remove fat, but also can feel fullness. Oolong tea can burn fat, stimulates digestive enzymes and decomposing fat components.
Oolong tea is half fermented tea, which is between green tea and black tea. Caffeine content of oolong tea is also greater than green tea and less than black tea.
Oolong tea is rich in organic chemical components. The main ingredients are: tea polyphenols, proteins, amino acids, vitamins, organic acids, sugars, enzymes, and plant alkalis. Oolong tea is beneficial to health care because of its rich nutrients.
Although oolong tea is helpful for human health, it also has some side effects.
Should not blindly drink oolong tea. It is best to drink hot without sugar, and should stop if you feel uncomfortable after drinking oolong tea, such as stomach pain or insomnia.
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Green tea benefits
Green tea has good weight loss and beauty effects, and it also has a certain effect on acne. Green tea contains tannins, catechins, vitamins C and E, it has anti-oxidant effects, which can make skin firmer and more elastic. Everyone knows that the skin should be protected against oxidation, UV rays and anti-plaque, even to a lively and lovely young girl. Instead of buying those expensive cosmetics, it is worth to try the wonderful moisturizing effect of green tea. It has rich vitamin C, caffeine and theanine, which can resist oxidation, neutralize the ions, and help remove dark spots and wrinkles. But only drinking green tea is not enough to make your skin smooth, you can also apply steeped tea leaves to your face as a facial mask is more useful than chemically made green mud.
The theanine in the tea can increase body’s ability to resist infection by five times. The tannic acid contained in green tea can kill a variety of bacteria, so it can prevent stomatitis, pharyngitis, and enteritis, dysentery, etc. that are prone to occur in summer.
Drinking tea can maintain the normal acid-base balance of the blood. Tea contains alkaloids such as caffeine, theophylline, theobromine, and astragalus. It is an excellent alkaline beverage. Tea can be quickly absorbed and oxidized in the extract, producing a higher concentration of alkaline metabolites, which can neutralize acidic metabolites in the blood in time.
Avoid heatstroke and cool down. After drinking hot tea for 9 minutes, the skin temperature dropped by 1-2 degrees Celsius, making people feel cool and dry, while the skin temperature dropped after drinking cold tea was not obvious.
Weight loss is one of benefits of drinking green tea, and is very concerned to women. Because of this temptation, many women start to have habit of drinking tea. Drinking tea should be a quality of enjoyment, but many women seem to just use it as a medicine for weight loss.
Although drinking green tea is healthy, there are disadvantages for women to drink green tea. Women’s physiology is different so that they need to use the benefits and effects of green tea according to their own physiology. This can prevent the disadvantages caused to women.
Green tea plays a particularly important role in human health, but there are certain dietary contraindications for even the healthier foods. For menstruating women, drinking green tea will NOT only be beneficial to health, but may also cause some trouble to the body.
Studies have shown that the thicker the green tea, the greater the barrier to iron absorption, especially after the meal. Menstruating women face a lot of blood loss, at the same time, the body’s important element of synthetic hemoglobin-iron is also losing, easily lead to iron deficiency anemia.
The caffeine, cocoaphylline and other substances in green tea have an exciting effect. During menstruation, the changes in neuroendocrine regulation function are often accompanied by different levels of stress, headache, breast pain and other reactions. Drinking green tea at this time will aggravate menstrual reactions such as dysmenorrhea, headache, and backache.
Women often have symptoms of constipation during menstruation. According to research, this is related to the secretion of progesterone. More tannic acid in green tea can also aggravate the symptoms of constipation. Because tannic acid has astringent effect, intestinal peristalsis can be slowed down, which in turn causes stool to stay in the intestine.
Although women at this time cannot drink more green tea, there are ways to fix them. Green tea can be used to gargle. Not only can satisfy tea addiction, but also can refresh the mouth, eliminate bad breath and protect teeth.
]]>Musty, earthy, robust, woody, lotus note or sticky rice aroma, these notes are mostly only tasted from pu erh tea. If you are new to pu erh tea, you may feel weird about these tasting notes, and can’t understand how people is crazy about these tastings.
The raw Pu’erh tea naturally tastes bitter, strong and sharp. However, after some years of natural aging, the bitter taste can be eliminated, and emerged with noticeable aging aroma. Ripe (cooked) Pu’er tea is a man-made fermented tea that arose only after 1973. As the name suggests, there is a special note in ripe (cooked) tea, which is different from raw tea. The taste and texture of ripe tea are constantly changing by the aging time. The musty note from fermentation is gradually eliminated by the aging time and converted to soft soothing and heavier texture.
The bitterness of Pu'er tea is mainly from the tea itself and chemical changes that occur in the manufacturing process. The bitter substances appearing in the tea itself include polyphenols, catechins, tea tannins, caffeine, etc. About 85% of caffeine contained in the alkaloids will be dissolved in the tea when brewing in hot water. The astringency of tea is from tea tannins. Most of Pu'er tea is made from big-leaf tea. The contents of Yunnan big leaf tea are richer than other teas, so the bitter taste of Pu'er tea is relatively heavier. But after years of natural aging, bitterness and astringency will slowly turn into smoother and sweeter.
In old time, wild arbor tea was extremely bitter that could not be drinkable. After being through the long cultivation by older generations, the "wild type" tea has transformed to "cultivated" tea today.
Good quality raw Pu'er tea often has the feel of “bitter in the mouth and sweet in the throat”. Tea with heavier astringency, bitter and astringent tastes are instantly felt by the taste buds, but disappear quickly, returning into sweet; tea with weak astringency, bitter and astringent taste are subsided slowly or not subsided at all. Good quality Pu'er tea will taste sweeter in the subsequent brewings.
As for the adjustment of the bitter taste of Pu'er tea, it is usually controlled by brewing time to make appropriate taste depending on the acceptance of bitterness to each person. Therefore, when choosing a Pu’er tea, try if the bitter and astringent taste can be subsided and transformed to sweet and pleasant, and taste how it changes after your tongue.
In fact, bitterness and astringency is the essentially exclusive taste of tea, yet, this unique and dramatic taste is the charm of Pu’erh tea.
Each of us have own favorite taste, some of us like robust, some like bitter and some like sweet only. Here we are going to describe the characteristics of pu erh tea from each of these old six major mountains. (Currently, Tea from these old six mountains has decreased production gradually. The major core production has already migrated to six new major mountains)
Mainly small to medium-leaf camellia sinensis plants, taste dryer and bitterer, but quick and vigorous sweet return, light fragrance with dark orange tea.
Overall is similar to Ge Deng Mountain, but currently is waned.
Is small-leaf type camellia sinensis, has quick sweet returning, well lasting. Its fragrance gives a hint of vanilla with dark orange color tea. Many tribute tea served to Qing imperial family were from here.
Is large-leaf type camellia sinensis, dark yellow tea taste bitterer but has powerful sweeter lasting with a sense of plum aroma.
Also named Yi Wu mountain, type of big-leaf arbor camellia sinensis. Tea taste slightly dry and bitter but very fragrant note. A vanilla note is lingered between plum and honey aroma. Tea harvested in the season of Guyu taste delicate noted like lotus, and well lasted with amazing sweetness. Tea from prime Yi Wu Mountain is famed by everyone including westerners in the history.
Primarily big-leaf arbor camellia sinensis. Very dry and bitter, but quick sweet return and well lasting. Tea looks light orange with plain aroma.
Following are new six major mountain teas, they are very common currently, these teas can be easily found from most tea stores. It may help you to get your favor tea in short time according to your own taste.
Tea from Nan Nuo Mountain(shan) are big-leaf type camellia sinensis, taste slightly dry and bitter. Tea looks bright orange with sweet lasting, disclosed with both honey and vanilla aroma. Summer tea has special slight lotus note. Nan Nuo mountain is a famous old arbor tea mountain in the history. There is still a cultivated-type thousand-year old tea tree thriving in the prime area.
Big-leaf type camellia sinensis, tea gives quick and strong sweet return but also dry and bitter. Exclusive aroma including plum, floral notes can be found from this bright orange tea. Tea from this region are favored and collected by many pu erh tea enthusiasts.
Big-leaf type tea trees grown in here are mostly cultivated-type and wild type trees. The most famous king of wild arbor, wild-type 1800-year old tree is still growing in the mountain near He Song Village. Tea from this region taste much dryer and bitterer, quick return sweet lasting, aromatic.
Meng Zhe Mountain, medium-leaf camellia sinensis, only scattered bigger trees in this area, more shrubs. Slightly sweet mouthfeel with poor aroma. Tea quality is mediocre.
Meng Hai Region, mid-leaf camellia sinensis, scattered large trees like in Meng Zhe Mountain. Dry and bitter mouthfeel, fairly sweet from unnoticeable return.
Big-leaf camellia sinensis, the largest big-leaf arbors are congested in this area in the 12 famous tea mountains. very dry and bitter, has powerful sweet return and lasting. There is a parasitic plant, natively named “crab leg” lived in these big-leaf trees. These parasitic plants are known as good to help stomachache and diabetes.
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Pu’er Tea: Pu'er tea is a kind of common concentrated tea in the world. Pu'er has the effects of weight loss and defecation, and it is very helpful for intestinal peristalsis. It is very suitable for people who like sweet and grease food. Drink a few small cups of pu'er tea after a meal can help digestion. However, excessively drinking pu'er tea will have a certain adverse effect on stomach, may also cause insomnia.
Honeysuckle Jasmine Tea
Honeysuckle can dispel body heat, detoxify, cool blood and reduce inflammation; and jasmine tea sedately relieves depression and cleanses liver.
3 gram honeysuckle
3 gram jasmine flower
Goji Berry Tea
Goji(wolf berry)known as “Red Treasure” in Chinese herbs, has the effect of relieving fatigue and strengthening the body's immune. The more important is it acts as a “cleaner” for liver, which can remove toxins from the liver and nourish the blood.
Boil and simmer five to six pieces of red dates and some goji berry after few minutes soaked in water. Simmer for 5 minutes with little rock sugar. Let the tea cool to below 40 °C, then add little honey to serve.
Chrysanthemum Tea
Chrysanthemum tea is also a kind of flower tea that is very common in daily life. Chrysanthemum has the effect of clearing away body heat and detoxifying and clearing liver in Chinese medicine, has the functionality of calming liver and improving vision. If you worry about the side effect of chrysanthemum tea, you can add some red dates and goji berry. It is a good blood supplement for females.
Prepare Chrysanthemum and goji berry 3 grams each. Steep with boiling water for 40 minutes to serve.
Rose Black Tea: Rose tea is a kind of flower tea with good beauty effect. It has the positive effect of protecting and treating stomach. It has the effect of relieving the dysmenorrhea, and also has the effect of eliminating fat and promoting blood circulation. It is a kind of detox beauty tea that has a very good effect for females. If you love your girlfriend, you can always brew a cup of rose tea for her.
1 gram of rose,
1 gram of jasmine,
3 gram of black tea,
small amount of rock sugar.
Steep with boiling water for 3 to 5 minutes. It has the effect of soothing liver.
Lemon Black Tea
Lemon black tea is a good beverage tea in summer. It can effectively remove the evil summer heat from body, and it is very helpful to reduce blood sugar and lower cholesterol. Adding some honey to lemon black tea is good for skin beauty. However, it is not advisable for females to have too much during menstruation.
There are more and more detox teas can be made and blended by self. Keep eyes on us. We will list other detox teas in later blogs.
]]>Anji White Tea
Anji White Tea is a green tea among the six major Chinese teas. Anji White Tea is a special white leaf tea variety which is a different concept to white peony tea from the white silver needles in the white tea category of six major Chinese teas. Anji white tea is different from traditional white tea. It is categorized to green tea.
The young shoots of Anji White tea in early spring are jade white, especially the forms of “one-bud and two-leaves” are the whitest. In the late spring tea, as the temperature rises and the light increases, the leaf color gradually turns to green. When the temperature exceeds 25 ° C in summer and autumn, leaves completely turn to green. Therefore, the picking time of Anji white tea is only about 20 days in earlier spring, and the annual picking production time is from QingMing to Grain Rain. High ammonia and low phenol is the biochemical basis of the aromatic flavor of Anji White Tea. In the winter, the low temperature in Anji County sustained around -8 ° C to -10 ° C for more than 20 days, that resulting in the loss of green pigment in Anji white tea.
The appearance of fine Anji White Tea buds look strong and straight, fresh and green touched with golden through. After brewing, the leaves are turned to pale white while leaf veins are revealed with green, which is the symbol for identifying Anji White tea.
Fuding White Tea
Fuding White Tea is one of the six major teas in China, is a local specialty of Fujian province. The main producing areas are in Fuding, Zhenghe and other surrounding places. The processing technique is simple but not easy, only withering and drying. Withering is the key process in the formation of white tea quality. Fuding White tea has the characteristics of complete buds, fully hair covered body, honey fragrance, clear apricot tea liquor, and light sweet tastes. It is a natural slightly fermented tea which is a special treasure of Chinese teas. Name of white tea is come from white hair silver needle because of its silver-like white hairy leaves.
Huacha No.1 Cultivar is a good variety of Fuding white tea. The tea bud leaves are covered with white velvet hair. It is a good raw material for making tea. People pick the young delicate leaves and the leaves with white hairy back. White tea is not being fried and rolled during processing, but only either sun-dried or simmer dried, so that the white hair is completely preserved in the appearance of the tea.
Moonlight White Tea
Moonlight White tea, in Chinese(Yue Guang Bai), is also known as Moonlight Beauty or Moonlight Tea. It is a specialty tea in Pu'er Tea. This tea is mainly produced in Simao area of Yunnan Province. Its picking method is unique and must be made in the moonlight. The each batch of coarse tea should be completed in one day. The name of Moonlight White is come from different sayings. One of saying is: This tea is made with special technique. The leaves surface of finished tea looks black, while the back of leaves are white, so that the leaves buds are alternated with white and black like a round of curved moon. The overall looking of one-bud and two-leaves looks like the moon in the night, hence named "moonlight white”. Another way of saying is: This tea is being picked as raw materials in the night, under the light of the bright moon. It cannot receive sunlight from beginning of picking to the end of processing, and dry slowly in the moonlight. Moreover, this tea is only picked by local beautiful young girls, hence named "Moonlight Beauty".
In terms of quality conversion, the floral fragrance and honey fragrance of Moonlight White is similar to the fragrance of oolong tea, the taste and tea color is even closer. However, the shelf life of moonlight white is relatively short compared to Pu'er tea. Moonlight white tea is generally stored up to 2-5 years, during the time which the aroma will gradually weaken. The Moonlight White tea should not be stored for long period of time. The aroma is weakened by the time passes. Unlike Fuding white tea which tastes differently by the time transformation.
Although Yunnan Moonlight White is called white tea, it is not the same as the nominal orthodox Fuding white tea. It is a kind of Pu'er tea. It uses a processing technique similar to Fuding white tea. The taste of the moonlight white is swam between in raw Pu’er and oolong tea, is a special variety of white tea.
Caffeine can be found in many natural plants such as coffee, tea or coca. Properly intake caffeine is good for body health. It can refresh mind, stimulate metabolism and impel brain to secrete dopamine. Caffeine is often being used for energy drinks or for an ingredient of weight loss products.
Since caffeine intake seriously affects the health of body, many tea lovers have questioned how much caffeine is actually contained in the tea. It is not as simple as those contents on the product nutritional facts label. If you search online for caffeine content in the tea, you would find something like this.
Generally, there is about 1.4% to 4.5% of caffeine contained in the weight of dry tea leaves, but it varies on the types of teas. Then you must be curious about which tea has more caffeine content. According to study, caffeine content in the tea are various in different types of teas, but have no unified trend to line up the amounts of caffeine containing by each type of tea. A half-fermented tea is about 1/2 caffeine content of full-fermented tea, and a non-fermented tea is about 1/2 caffeine content of half-fermented tea. Here we have got a basic parameter of caffeine content found in these types of teas.
Pu erh Tea: the process of making Pu erh tea is complicated and various by every tea manufacturer. It’s not easy to tell which Pu erh has more caffeine content.
Flower tea is a type of caffeine free tea that contains 0% of caffeine, while 6% of caffeine is found in matcha tea. White tea caffeine is least than all other leaf teas which is only 1.5%. Although black tea caffeine is more than any other teas, it is 2% less than matcha tea. There is 3% of caffeine found in oolong tea, and green tea caffeine is slightly just 1% less.
There are just for reference, the actual caffeine content is affected by a few factors we need to point out now.
leaves being used to produce teaWe know matcha contains more caffeine than any of other teas. Matcha is ground from tea leaves to tea powder, which means that your body is absorbing whole thing including leaves rather than just tea liquor. And the way matcha cultivated increases caffeine content too.
Then which tea contains more caffeine beside matcha? As we listed above, we cannot always say green tea has less caffeine content than oolong tea. It is depending on how the tea is brewed, the quality of tea and how the tea is processed. Based on the information we provided, you should have an idea how to roughly adjust the amounts of caffeine content in the tea.
How much caffeine can you intake for a day?
According to advice from American Gynecology and Obstetrics Association, caffeine intake for a pregnant woman cannot exceed 200mg. To most of people, 300mg of caffeine intake each day is allowed, but taking more than 500mg a day may cause harm to health. It is depended on personal health condition. We suggest consult your doctor if you are serious about caffeine intake.
ChaoZhou City is located in the east of guangDong Province, a part of South Subtropical maritime climate where the annual average temperature of 70.5 °F with adequate rain about average of 1685 mm rainfall year around, is very suitable for tea growing. Tea is produced here in four seasons.
Phoenix Dan Cong tea is harvested from a single plant. When the new tea buds are germinated to a small opening (emergence of new buds), that is time, according to picking standard of one bud, two or three leaves, the tea is collected on horseback and gently placed in the tea basket. There is also a rule for tea picking that not to pick tea in the strong sunny day, neither in raining nor in foggy day.
Generally, tea leaves are picked in the afternoon and processed in the same evening, and then tea is carried out at the same night. After drying green, fixing, rolling, baking and all other processes total of more than ten hours to finish tea.
The shape of appearance is thick and stout, upright and uniform, yellowish brown color mixed with cinnabar red dots. The brewing looks bright yellow, is lasted with unique natural orchid fragrance, and tasted strong and refreshing with a bit of sweetness.
Dan Cong tea is single plant tea finely selected from group of Phoenix Narcissus. As a result of differences of tea aromas, Phoenix Dan Cong tea is classified by its aromas into many types.
What are the types of aromas?
Phoenix Dan Cong tea is known for its floral fragrance. There are as many as rice flower aroma, yellow-mast aroma, apricot aroma, jasmine aroma, ginger flower aroma, pummelo flower aroma, and includes many types of vanilla aromas.
Shi Feng Production Area
Shi Feng Longjing teas are including Longjing teas from ShiFeng Mt. Longjing Village and QiPang Mt. as well as ShangTianZhu, the ancestral origin of Longjing tea. ShiFeng production areas are rich in loose soil, lush vegetation and misty clouds, forming the most suitable environment for the growth of longjing tea tree. The overall tea quality of ShiFeng longjing is the best of the five primary productions.
Longjing Produciton Area
These are including Longjing Mt. WenJia Mt. YangMeiLing, ManJueLong and BaiHeFeng areas. The environment of this production area is very similar to ShiFeng Production area; especially Longjing tea from BaiHeFeng area is definitely comparable to ShiFeng Longjing.
YunXi Production Area
These areas are ranged from YunXi, WuYun Mt. and LangDangLin in the south of five primary production areas. YunXi area is densely covered by bamboo forests where the soil is extremely fertile, temperature and humidity is very suitable for tea to grow. The quality of this tea is unique that the buds of longjing tea are plump, and rich in both nutrients and microelements.
HuPao Production Area
HuPao Production Area is including the area of HuPao, SiYanJing, ChiShanBu and SanTaiShan. A rumor was praised widely door by door since ancient times as “water of HuPao and tea of LongJing”. A good tea is born from good quality of water. The water quality in HuPao is best for tea that contains rich in potassium, zinc, magnesium and other rich minerals. Longjing tea from this area has features of pleasant aroma and outstanding fresh taste.
MeiJiaWu Production Area
Known as Village of Tea Culture, was original one of YunXi Production area. After PR of China was established in 1949, this tea production has expanded rapidly. Nowadays, MeiJiaWu produces one third of five primary West Lake Longjing teas. The characteristic of MeiJiaWu Longjing tea has an appearance of emerald green color and fresh fragrance from dry tea leaves.
Excluding the primary production areas, other Longjing teas produced in West Lake Production Region are all secondary production areas. These areas are included but not limited to LongWu Township, LiuXia Township, ZhuanTang Township and ZhouPu Township.
QianTang and YueZhou Production Region
QianTang Region produces about 30% of total production of longjing tea. The production areas include XiaoShan, YuHang, FuYang, LinAn, TongLu, JianDe, ChunAn and other areas.
YueZhou production Region produces 60% of total production of longjing tea. Its production areas include ShaoXing, ZhuJi, ShengZhou, XinChang, ShangYu, DongYang, PanYang, Tiantai, etc.
We are going to show the fastest and simplest way on how to brew green tea for the best result. Or learn to quick brew loose leaf black tea here.
The grandpa style is recommended for green tea brewing which is easy and best. Forget about Gaiwan, Yixing Clay, strainer or teapot infuser whatever costly and useless equipment others recommended, instead we are going on most affordable and easiest way to make perfect green tea. The only con side for using this method is that you have to sip wisely after the tea is ready because not all the leaves are settled down to the bottom after steeped at the beginning, there are always some leaves floating on top. But I don’t think that is a big deal. This is also the best way to make a good cup of green tea. It tastes more aromatic than other way brewing. Because when you get close to glass, the fragrance of tea brewed in hot water come straight up to your nose. The delicious smell increases tasting. Before starting, you will need to understand what type of green tea you are going to brew. Basically, you will need to be aware of how tender and what shape the tea leaves you are going to brew, that decide what water temperature to use. Which is actually meaning what water temperature used is depending on the quality of the tea.
You will only need a tall glass of about 180ml capacity and a kettle you can heat and boil water. The clear glass would be best so that you can determine how the color of tea liquor changes as well as the leaves. It is called “to appreciate tea”. Others usually suggest using natural spring water to brew tea for best taste. It is seemed not realistic to Americans. Tap water is fine because we have pretty clean filtered tap water which you can drink directly from it without boiling. The following two major points, water temperature and ratio of leave and water which you need to understand clearly before started.
Heat a pot of water to boiling point in your kettle. Easily rinse the glass with boiling water. (Boiling water temperature is used be dropped down to 185°F approximately in 1 minute after off the heat.)
For loose shaped tea (Bi Luo Chun, Lu’an Melon Seeds(Gua Pian), Huang Shan Mao Feng, Tai Ping Hou Kui, Longjing etc.)
The best time to taste tea is after the temperature lower to 115-130°F in a few minutes whenever temperature is comfortable when you hold it with your bare hand. Don’t forget to remain 1/3 of tea liquor for next brew in order to balance next infusion. Second infusion is used to be the best of all and most aromatic while third infusion is getting mild and tasteless compare to previous.
Test it with different amount of tea leaves and different water temperature to reach your own preference for any type of green tea, especially those teas you are not satisfied with. You may find a pro side if you make good use of brewing variously.
A good quality pu’erh tea generally formed or compressed in appropriate(moderate) tightness. If you have a really tight pressed or stiff tea cake such as ripe pu’erh, you have to be very cautious to use your tool when you pry it.
To break tea cake, you will need a strong and durable tool such as a professional tea awl or tea knife, as well as a flathead screwdriver which can be found in most of households. The tea awl is specially designed for prying tea cake that can reduce massive breakage or damage to tea leaves. Without these special purpose tools, the best recommendation to substitute is a flathead screwdriver. The smaller screwdriver the better. But make sure it is strong enough to do the job.
Another tool you may consider to use is pu’erh tea tray with a small opening corner which is designed to assemble scattered pieces from scraping. To my own opinion, tea tray is seemingly wasting money. A tea wrapper from 357 gram pu’erh cake, can handle the job. When you open up the tea wrapper, there is a plenty of room to hold up scattered tea. If you really love to own a tea tray, buy a large one instead (there are two common sizes on the market). The small tea tray is really useless.
Place tea cake on a large wide table so that you have enough room to fully expand the tea wrapper. There is an indentation on the opening side of most round tea cakes. It’s an evidence of pressure caused by a knot of molding. That is the tightest and stiffest part of whole cake. You should pay extra attention when you deal with it.
Look for a loose and an accessible point, and turn it to the right-hand side in order to work with awl on your right hand later.
Place your left hand on left side of tea cake, and hold it tight by pressing tea cake against table top. Make sure the cake won’t move when you pry on the other side of cake. Gently stab tea awl into cake about 45 degree from top toward down ahead. Lift and push awl handle to pry it off. Make sure that your left hand is far enough away from the blade point. Don’t poke toward your left-hand direction.
You can pry the exact amount of tea leaves every time you want it, or pry the whole thing off completely into small individuals. For best tasting result, pu'erh tea should be pried off and exposed to air for oxidation two weeks before brewing it, especially tightly pressed ripe pu'erh tea. If you drink tea regularly, we recommend to pry whole thing off and store it in a ceramic tea container for oxidation.
General speaking, many lower quality pu’erh tea are blended from two or more ingredients. They blend in better quality ingredients for crust, so that will increase the value of the tea. In order to have pu'erh tea taste evenly every time, we recommend to break it through completely. No matter the tea is blended or not, when you completely pry it off, the ingredients are mixed. You should no longer have any issue with uneven taste.
If you want to get better looking pieces of tea leaves rather than safety, you may try using following way to break and pry through.
For your safety, this method is not recommended for firmly pressed tea cake.
First, lift up tea cake as shown on the picture. Hold it firm, stab knife into from the side of cake straight downward. Or, press and hold the tea cake against table from the top, and stab tea knife all the way into from the side.
Then start prying it to make it little bit loose. Try a few times from different points from the edge side of tea until you can pick them out easily. And separate them into smaller individual pieces as possible and store it in tea container.
Some lower quality wet-storage ripe pu’erh tea from Meng Hai has musty or fishy taste. (Due to water quality and geographic position of Meng Hai County, it pu’erh tea has stronger earthy note than any other pu’erh tea, but good quality Meng Hai pu’erh tea should not have fishy flavor.) You may pry it off completely and leave it in a ceramic tea container for a period of time to air out, it will help to weaken any unwanted flavor.