How to judge the quality of a tea?

Generally speaking, the quality of tea can be judged by examining tea, smelling tea fragrance, tasting tea taste and distinguishing tea residue.

1. Tea tasting (tea tasting)

Looking at tea is to look at the shape changes of dry tea and tea after boiling. The so-called dry tea is not brewed tea; The so-called soup making is to brew dry tea with boiling water to make tea soup.

The shape of tea varies with different kinds, including flat, needle, spiral, eyebrow, bead, spherical, hemispherical, flake, arc, orchid, sparrow tongue, chrysanthemum and natural arc. , all beautiful posture. After the tea leaves are cooked, the shape of the tea leaves will change, fast or slow, just like a beautiful dance, until the original shape is revealed and pleasing to the eye.

Observing dry tea depends on the dryness of dry tea. If it is a little soft, you'd better not buy it. In addition, it depends on whether the tea leaves are neat. If there are too many leaf stalks, yellow tablets, slag foam and impurities, it is not good tea. Then, it depends on the shape of the dry tea. The rope is the shape of tea, and all kinds of tea have their fixed shape specifications. For example, Longjing tea is sword-shaped, frozen top tea is kneaded into a hemisphere, Tieguanyin tea is tightly formed into a sphere, and fragrant tea is cut into thin strips or broken strips.

Due to different production methods, different varieties of tea trees and different picking standards, the shapes of tea leaves are very colorful, especially some exquisite famous teas, which are mostly handmade, and the shapes are more colorful and varied.

(1) acicular-round and straight as a needle, such as a silver needle.

(2) Flat-straight, such as West Lake Longjing, Maoshan Qingfeng and Anji Baipian.

(3) Strip shape-slightly curved, such as Ziyang Maojian, Lushan cloud, etc.

(4) Spiral-the shape is curled like a snail, such as Biluochun.

(5) Blue in appearance, such as Taiping Monkey Kui and Orchid Tea.

(6) Sheet-like, such as Liu 'an claw sheet and Qishan business card.

(7) Bundle shape-Bundle shape is formed on the outside, such as Jiangshan Green Peony and Wuyuan Moju.

(8) Pearl-shaped like pearls, such as Quangang Bai Hui and Yongxi Huo Qing.

In addition, there are half-moon, curly and single-bud shapes.

Check the color

Tea tasting means observing tea color, soup color and background color.

(1) brown

Tea leaves are divided into six categories by color (dry tea): green tea, yellow tea, white tea, green tea, black tea and black tea. Due to the different production methods of tea, its colors are different, such as red, green, blue, yellow, white and black. Even if the same kind of tea is made by the same technology, there will be some differences in color due to the differences of tea varieties, ecological environment and picking season.

Such as exquisite high-grade green tea, the color is light green, green and green; High-grade black tea, bright and moist in color.

(2) Soup color

After making tea, the color of the solution in which the ingredients are dissolved in boiling water is called soup color. Therefore, different tea colors will have obvious differences; Moreover, there are some differences between different varieties and grades of the same tea. Generally speaking, all excellent tea leaves are bright and shiny, specifically, green tea soup is light green or yellow-green; Clear but not turbid, bright and clear; Black tea soup is black and oily. If a golden oil ring is formed around the tea soup, commonly known as the golden ring, it is the top grade. White tea, the soup is light yellow, with green in the yellow and bright.

Put a proper amount of tea in a glass or rinse it with hot water in a transparent container, and the tea will slowly spread out. You can make several cups at the same time and compare the quality of different teas. Among them, the tea with smooth stretch, the most exuberant tea juice secretion and the softest and elegant tea shape is the best tea.

Depending on the tea soup, it should be timely. The color of tea soup will also show different shades because of the different fermentation degree and baking temperature. But there is a common principle that no matter whether the color is dark or light, it must not be gloomy. Clear and transparent is a necessary condition for a good tea soup.

(3) background color

Is to appreciate the color of the bottom of the leaves after the tea leaves are brewed and the soup is removed. In addition to the color of the leaf bottom, you can also observe the old, tender, rough and even of the leaf bottom.

In general, as the temperature of the soup drops, the color of the soup will gradually become darker. At the same temperature and time, the color change of black tea is greater than that of green tea, big leaf species is greater than small leaf species, tender tea is greater than old tea, and new tea is greater than old tea. The color of tea soup can be observed within 10 minutes after brewing and filtering, which is more representative of the original soup color of tea. But remember, when comparing, you must compare the same kind of tea.

Compliment your posture.

In the process of brewing, tea leaves spread out after water absorption and infiltration, such as bamboo shoots, or finches, or orchids and chrysanthemums. At the same time, in the process of water absorption and infiltration, tea will also have a sense of movement due to the action of gravity. When the tips of Ziyang Maojian stretch, each piece is in full bloom. Such a beautiful scenery, hidden in a glass of water, has a feeling that tea is not intoxicating.

Smell incense

The appreciation of tea fragrance generally needs three smells. One is to smell the aroma of dry tea (dry taste), the other is to smell the original aroma of tea (hot taste), and the third is to smell the persistence of tea aroma (cold taste).

Smell the dry tea first. Some dry tea is fragrant, some sweet and some burnt, and it should be made before brewing. For example, green tea should be fresh and refreshing, black tea should be rich and pure, and scented tea should be fragrant. If the fragrance of tea is low and heavy, those with burnt, smoky, sour, musty, stale or other peculiar smells are defective.

The way to smell incense is mostly wet. According to the different kinds of tea, 1 ~ 3 minutes later, send the cup to your nose and smell the tea in the tea noodle soup. If you use a cup with a lid to make tea, you can smell the fragrance of the lid and the fragrance on your face; If you use a fragrant cup as a transitional container (for example, people in Taiwan Province Province brew oolong tea), you can also smell the fragrant cup and noodles. In addition, with the change of tea soup temperature, tea aroma can be divided into hot taste, warm taste and cold taste. The focus of hot smell is to distinguish whether the aroma is normal, what is the type of aroma and the level of aroma; Cold smell can judge the durability of tea fragrance; Wen Wen pays attention to distinguishing the elegance and vulgarity of tea fragrance, that is, the advantages and disadvantages. Generally speaking, green tea is fresh and refreshing, and even has fruity and floral fragrance. Black tea is characterized by fragrance, floral fragrance and strong and lasting aroma. But pure scented tea is the best.

There are three ways to smell the fragrance: one is to smell the fragrance from the dense water vapor, the other is to smell the residual fragrance on the lid of the fragrant cup, and the third is to slowly smell the residual fragrance at the bottom of the fragrant cup with a scented cup. For example, Heping Cuifeng has a strong chestnut fragrance after brewing, black tea has a sweet fruity fragrance, and green tea has a faint fragrance. In addition to the fragrance of tea, scented tea has different natural floral scents. Tea fragrance is related to the tenderness of raw materials and the quality of production technology. The more tender the raw material, the more aromatic substances it contains, and the higher the aroma.

The cold taste is carried out after the tea soup is cooled, and then other smells in the tea that were originally covered by the aroma can be smelled.

taste

Refers to the taste of tea soup. The taste of tea soup is a comprehensive reflection of sweet, bitter, astringent, sour, spicy, fishy and fresh tea. If their quantity and proportion are appropriate, they will become fresh, mellow and delicious, with endless aftertaste. The taste of tea soup is best with bitterness and sweetness. Good tea tastes sweet, strong and lively; After drinking, the feeling of wet throat lasts for a long time.

It is generally believed that green tea tastes fresh and cool, black tea tastes strong, thick and cool, and peace tea tastes mellow and sweet, which is an important symbol of excellent tea. Because different parts of the tongue have different feelings about the taste, it is necessary to let the tea soup circulate on the tongue when tasting the taste, so as to correctly and comprehensively distinguish the taste of tea.

When tasting, the posture of the tongue should be correct. After the tea soup is sucked into a person's mouth, the tip of the tongue is pressed against the upper root, the lips are slightly opened, and the tongue is slightly lifted, so that the tea soup is scattered in the middle of the tongue, and then the air is slowly sucked from the mouth through abdominal breathing, so that the tea soup rolls slightly on the tongue, and the taste can be distinguished after two breaths. If you feel the bitterness of tea soup for the first time, you should raise your tongue position and press the tea soup on the root of your tongue to further evaluate the degree of bitterness. For tea soup with smoke smell, after the tea soup is delivered to the crowd, the mouth should be closed, the tip of the tongue should be pressed against the maxillary plate, and the mouth should be inflated through the nostrils to make the air fully contact with the tea soup, and then the air should be released through the nostrils. Repeat this for two or three times, and the discrimination effect of cigarette fragrance will be clear.