This article is originally written by the White Tea Family, and is not allowed to be reproduced without permission!
Text | White Girl
01
Outside the window was a torrential winter rain.
The raindrops jumped, splashing the heavens and the earth with moisture.
Although it is cold, it is wrapped in wet, intoxicating freshness.
So Xiao Bai, who wrote the article, brewed a cup of tea, quietly listened to the Xiaoxiao winter rain, and was as quiet as water in an instant.
Most of the literati and inkers like to "have a hundred flowers in spring and look at the moon in autumn, and have a cool breeze in summer and listen to snow in winter."
Rare depictions of winter rain.
Winter rain is like the first soup of white tea, with its own refreshing beauty.
However, like the winter rain, the first tea soup of white tea is not appreciated by some people.
They call it washed tea, or refuse to drink it simply because the first flush has a light taste.
So, is the first soup of white tea worth leaving? After reading these 5 questions, the answer is naturally known.
02
1. What is tea washing?
As the name suggests, it is to wash the tea leaves.
There are not many tea friends who have the habit of washing tea, and there are many ways to wash tea.
A common way to wash tea, with boiling water to brew fast water, directly pour out the first tea soup without drinking.
After blanching the cup, soak the tea leaves with water and pour them out slowly after a few seconds, which takes slightly longer to produce soup than the first method.
There is also a way to brew it in warm water for a few seconds and then pour out the tea leaves.
The purpose of these practices is nothing more than to wash the tea leaves.
But can it really be washed clean?
not necessarily.
Like the most daily laundry, if you just stack the clothes and soak them in water, then add laundry detergent, and finally pour out the water.
Without manual scrubbing or washing machine operation, will the washed clothes be clean?
In the same way, so is white tea.
Although the production process of white tea is simple, after withering and drying, not kneading or twisting, the state of tea leaves is relatively stretched, but not every piece of dry tea is fully unfolded like a specimen, and there will still be leaves overlapping together.
When washing tea, the water only touches the surface of the white tea, which can wet the tea leaves.
Even if the inside of white tea is really not clean, washing tea does not play a role in thorough cleaning.
03
Second, why does high-quality white tea not need to be washed?
Like the alpine tea garden of Taimu Mountain, the ecological environment is good, the air is fresh, and it is far away from people.
There is no disturbance of reinforced concrete, and there is no pollution of car exhaust, and the tea plant is always clean.
It is no doubt that bacteria on the hands will come into contact with tea leaves when making tea.
At the moment, there are many microorganisms floating in the surrounding air, and only a vacuum environment, or an artificially sterilized environment, can be truly spotless.
In daily life, work, study, food, clothing, shelter and transportation, hand is an indispensable existence, you are reading this article, you also need to use your hands to read.
Handmade tea, in order to ensure the quality of white tea, you have to use your hands.
Even in today's mechanized era, tea has a special production line to ensure quality and quantity.
But machinery also requires the assistance of the hand.
In Taimu Mountain, white tea is picked, and the terrain causes mechanical tea picking to be less fast than manual tea picking.
Speaking of sunlight withering, tea farmers need to pick the tea green, evenly thin spread in the sieve, in most small and medium-sized tea factories, withering is mainly done manually, after the white tea withers, the excess impurities will be picked out, so that more perfect white tea is displayed to tea friends.
It's all something that needs to be done by hand.
In the process, the ultraviolet rays of the sun are enough to destroy most of the small bacteria, and the low temperature drying in the later stage can also eliminate some bacteria.
Therefore, high-quality white tea does not have to worry about not being clean, washing tea is just a superfluous move.
04
Third, the first tea soup is not delicious?
Some tea friends believe that the first soup of white tea is tasteless, so they simply do not drink it.
In fact, the nutrients contained in the first tea soup of white tea are very rich.
Although the aroma and taste have not yet been fully released, resulting in a slightly lighter flavor of the tea soup, the dense pekoe in the tea soup is the most favorable proof.
Pekoe is the best protection for tea plants when they grow.
On the one hand, it keeps the bud head cold and warm, and on the other hand, it is protected from insects and ants.
After the tea is made, the rich pekoe on the bud head and leaf back are the substances that provide fresh taste to the tea soup.
The tea soup has a thick and smooth taste, and the white is indispensable.
However, after all, it is the first tea soup, and the cell walls of white tea have not yet been fully opened.
The release rate of endoplasm is slow, and the flavor is naturally slightly weaker than that of the second, third and fourth tea soups that follow.
However, directly abandoning it and not drinking it is inevitable that it is a waste of white tea endoplasm.
The first soup is more like a preparation for the aroma of the appearance later.
It is like the plot of a novel, laying the groundwork, controlling the rhythm, and gradually.
If the beginning is the ending, the reader may have less interest in continuing to read.
Similarly, if white tea is the first punch, it will release the taste with all its strength, but it will make people lose the elegance of tasting.
05
Fourth, can you still see the quality of white tea in the first soup?
A high-quality white tea, under the correct brewing, the taste is naturally fresh and mellow.
Tea soup, clear and translucent, yingying soup water makes people just want to taste a taste.
On the contrary, the quality of white tea, after brewing, the tea soup is likely to appear turbid, peculiar and so on.
Many tea lovers see this situation and have the idea of washing tea is not surprising.
But it also means missing out on opportunities to spot tea quality issues.
Have tea lovers ever come across a tea shopkeeper who enthusiastically suggests washing tea?
In the name of it, it is cleaner to wash it and drink it more assured.
But this is the lack of confidence in the quality of their own white tea, how to say this?
Because they do not dare to guarantee the quality of their tea leaves, whether there is really impurity dust, whether there will be odor.
It can be said that Schrödinger's tea leaves can only be covered up by recommending tea washing to cover up possible bad situations.
The tea keeper who gives his own tea leaves one hundred and twenty very confident will only think: washing tea is too wasteful.
It can be seen that the existence value of the first tea soup is not only to wash the tea.
It can make good tea more luminous and hot, so that inferior tea is exposed.
06
Finally, for good tea, every punch is worth cherishing.
If you want to drink a tea, you must take one step at a time and feel it personally.
Instead of sloppy and sloppy taste.
Feel the process of tea soup from shallow to deep, undulating.
This wonderful experience can only be understood as indescribable.
Therefore, firmly resolve not to wash the tea and taste the flavor of each tea soup.
Washing tea for white tea is to take away its precious taste and waste its rich pekoe.
Good white tea, no need to wash tea!
Welcome to pay attention to the [White Tea Family] to learn more about white tea!
Copyright notice: This article is originally written by the white tea family (baichajiazu), any media without permission shall not be reproduced, welcome tea friends forwarded to the circle of friends.