Just after winter, the gloomy sky outside gradually darkened, and young office workers walked out of the office buildings, the street lights were still on, and the light rain was scattered. When they get home, they boil a pot of hot water and brew a mild cup of black tea - sweet, warm, and the unique aroma of flowers and fruits fills the mouth, regaining sensation after a numb day...
A cup of hot black tea in early winter hides a lot of sweetness and warmth
Photo by Wu Xuewen
In most people's impression, the warmth and coziness of life can always be associated with black tea. Why black tea?
You know, since it spread to Europe in the 17th century, black tea has lived a "social trump card" look, and drinking black tea has gradually become a symbol of "life ritual" in thousands of drinks around the world. There is a British proverb: "When the clock strikes four times, everything in the world stops for tea in an instant." ”
Until today
In the famous British afternoon tea, black tea is still the protagonist
Photo/Visual China
Nowadays, black tea is not only the most consumed tea in the world, but also captures a number of old tea customers with the characteristics of "sweet alcohol", and is also endowed with the charm of "diversification" - whether it is used as a tea base for various new tea drinks, or with fruits, dried flowers and even ginger, it makes more young people shout "delicious"!
This is the charm of black tea.
Whether it is taste or appearance, black tea is online
Photo by Wu Xuewen
Compared with green tea, which is crisp and refreshing in nature, black tea is more mature and mellow, full of warm atmosphere... How did this young shoot, which started from China, conquer the world and evolve into the winter "temptation" of ordinary people?
This time, we will take you to reveal the secret of China's "black tea universe" from the four dimensions of "origin representative", "production method and variety classification", "quality characteristics" and "brewing method and multi-sample drinking" of Chinese black tea.
Map/Sun Lu
Chinese black tea, all over the East and West
Which is your favorite?
China's black tea family lineup is strong, Fujian has pine tobacco aroma, cinnamon soup Zhengshan small varieties; Anhui has the Qimen Gongfu with the aroma of apple in the aroma of honey; Yunnan has gold and a high fragrance of Yunnan red; Guangdong has high-flavored, large-scale British and German black tea; In the rest of the tea-producing provinces, there are Sun Moon Lake black tea, Sichuan red, Lake red and Yihong and so on.
In the black tea universe in China
There is a wide variety of varieties
Photo by Wu Xuewen
In China's rich and diverse black tea universe, from bulk blending raw materials to home-cooked daily drinks, and then to niche high-end tastings, the quality and price range between different black teas are relatively large. Therefore, there are always some black teas with excellent quality, unique flavor, or high cost performance that have become a very representative "national black tea".
They are distributed all over the country, under the "blessing" of different varieties and craftsmanship, the aroma and taste have their own characteristics, and they also present a variety of tea forms...
The most representative 7 shapes of black tea
Design/Jiuyang
When it comes to the representative of Chinese black tea, I have to say that the small species of Zhengshan produced in Wuyi Mountain, Fujian. It won "plagiarism" overseas hundreds of years ago - it was introduced to Europe in the seventeenth century, brought to the English court, and gradually conquered European countries, and finally swept the world. For a long time in the Qing Dynasty, the vast majority of black tea exported from China was a small variety of Zhengshan.
Zhengshan Xiaochong is the "orthodox inheritance" of Wuyi black tea, the originator of black tea, because it is made with local pine branches burned and dried, so the finished product has pine smoke aroma and cinnamon dry aroma, and the quality is unique. Nowadays, in order to meet the taste of more consumers, some Zhengshan small varieties have also cancelled the smoking process and become "smokeless small varieties".
On the basis of the small seed process of Zhengshan, the Wuyi mountain tea people chose the young leaves of single buds, and innovatively integrated the "high-end model" of contemporary black tea - Jin Junmei, opening up another perspective of high-end black tea.
Golden Jun Mei ferments lightly and has no smoke
Clear on the palate
There is a high sharp aroma of floral, lemon and plant essential oils
Photo by Wu Xuewen
Black tea is particularly particular about aroma, and as one of the "world's three high-fragrant teas", Keemun Gongfu is a strange flower of Anhui black tea. Its aroma is high and mellow, and in many authoritative records, Keemun incense is called a synthesis of black tea aromas. Therefore, Mr. Zhuang Wanfang's "Chinese Famous Tea" described Keemun Xiang: "In the aroma of Chinese tea, the fragrance of spring is found".
"Keemun Xiang" is famous all over the world
The unique compound aroma is rich and long
Photo by Wu Xuewen
In the southwestern border of Yunnan, tea plant resources are quite abundant. Today, when Pu'er tea is popular, Yunnan Hong still has its own "right to speak" in Yunnan. It has a wide range of production areas, including Lincang, Baoshan, Dehong, Xishuangbanna and other places. Yunnan red has the characteristics of the rough appearance of big tree tea, but it has a high aroma and strong flavor, and the style is simple and distinct, which can be described as unique in China.
Coming to Guangdong, which is the "favorite tea", there is the most easily mistaken British and German black tea as "foreign tea". It is produced in Yingde City, Guangdong, and the cane sweet orchid rhyme is full of the fragrance of ripe fruit, which is inexhaustible to the tea rhyme of Lingnan. The excellent quality of Yingde black tea, in addition to having a superior natural environment, is also related to the selection of Yunnan large-leaf varieties suitable for black tea as the main body, and the cross-breeding of high-aroma phoenix daffodil varieties, thus laying the material foundation of "Yinghong" with high aroma and strong flavor.
At the same time, Yingde black tea is particularly suitable for mixing with milk, sugar, etc., so it is very popular abroad, and has earned a lot of foreign exchange for the mainland.
Yingde black tea breeding and processing technology are exquisite
There are diverse germplasm resources
The aroma is fresh and fragrant
It is the dominant variety in British and German black tea
Photo by Wu Xuewen
Across the strait, in the high mountains of Baodao, Sun Moon Lake black tea shines. Because its selection variety is Taiwan Tea No. 18 (red jade tea), so some people directly call it "red jade", it was born in the blue water sparkling Nantou Sun Moon Lake area, each tea leaf is full of forest fragrance, but also has a unique and melodious mint aroma, and mellow taste, is the representative of Taiwan's top black tea.
Sun Moon Lake black tea uses large-leaf tea plants
Sweet and warm, sweet throat
Photo by Wu Xuewen
China's "black tea universe" is vast and diverse, and almost every tea-producing province has its own representative black tea. This diversity is inseparable from the unique production skills of black tea...
Why is black tea called Black Tea?
Let's start with fermentation
If you want to talk about the global popularity among the six major tea categories, black tea ranks first. However, until now, some people still think that the difference between green tea and black tea is the use of different tea varieties...
Actually the same tea tree variety
You can make both green tea and black tea
Photo/Visual China
In fact, the differences between the six major tea types are in the production process rather than the tea tree variety. In the tea-making process, the degree of fermentation is an important indicator. There are unfermented green tea, semi-fermented oolong tea, etc., while black tea belongs to the fully fermented tea category.
The fermentation of black tea is an oxidation process
We can see this process in a lot of everyday foods
Photo/Visual China
Through the miraculous process of fermentation, grain can flow out of fine wine, while tea leaves can produce floral, fruity and woody aromas. Different fermentations allow the same material to produce kaleidoscopic results. Our tongues benefit greatly from this.
The fermentation of black tea not only makes the aroma special - it generally has the taste of some ripe fruit, or like apple, or like orange; It also makes most dry tea have a dark brown luster, so black tea is called "Black Tea" abroad, and "latecomer" black tea can only be called "Dark Tea".
It is worth noting that although black tea is called "fully fermented"
But the degree of fermentation is not 100%
Most black tea fermentation degree is between 80%~90%.
Design/Jiuyang
Nowadays, black tea production in different regions mostly follows the same basic process. And by slightly adjusting some of the processes, they have produced more diverse and rich black tea types. These black teas were divided into three categories: small black tea, gongfu black tea, and black crushed tea in the previous official classification.
Small black tea is the world's earliest black tea, also known as the originator of black tea, with a special process of "passing the red pot (killing)". The main production area is Wuyi Mountain in Fujian, which is divided into small species of Zhengshan and small species of tobacco. Zhengshan small varieties are produced in the area of Tongmuguan in Wuyi Mountain, and the tea using the small black tea process in the adjacent areas is collectively known as "tobacco small seeds".
To cater to the consumer market
Nowadays, some small varieties of black tea have begun to abandon the smoking process
Figure/Bug·Creative
Gongfu black tea, evolved from small varieties of black tea, is called "gongfu" black tea because of its fine production. Its initial production stage is mainly withering, kneading, fermentation and drying, and the refining stage includes wool screening, cutting, winnowing, picking, renewal, piling and coloring.
Gongfu black tea is particularly particular about refining technology
Photo by Thomas Fang
Black crushed tea is the largest traded product in the international tea market, tea tree fresh leaves are withered, kneaded and then cut into pieces by machine, and then fermented and dried to make, also known as "black fine tea". The tea juice of black crushed tea has a large amount of tea leaching and fast speed, which is suitable for one-time brewing and then adding milk and sugar to prepare and drink.
In some tea bags, you can see the minced tea
This is the black crushed tea using the CTC process
Photo/Visual China
In today's diversified black tea system, there are more black tea categories. How to distinguish the quality of a cup of black tea, we need to look for it from its aroma and taste...
Is "sweet potato flavor" good or bad?
How to count a good black tea?
Mellowness is the base note of black tea, and aroma is its highlight point.
Chinese black tea aroma is varied, and in recent years, we can often hear people describe the aroma of black tea, using the term "potato aroma (sweet potato flavor)", and even think that potato aroma is the quality characteristic of high-quality black tea, and some people are extremely disgusted with potato aroma.
The "soup feeling" of black tea is one of the most important evaluation indicators
And aroma is also a key point that cannot be ignored
Photo/Visual China
Is this good or bad, and what qualities should a good cup of black tea have? We need to understand the aroma characteristics of black tea first.
Under the black tea process, the most basic aroma is generally sweet and fragrant, requiring cleanliness and no miscellaneous taste. In the formation of black tea aroma, the varieties, climate, season, soil and cultivation methods of tea plants, as well as the production methods, will have a great impact on the content and composition of aroma components, so the formation of different varieties of their own representative aroma types.
For example, Fujian Zhengshan small varieties have a unique pine smoke aroma, and the three major Fujian gongfu black teas born under the influence of Zhengshan small varieties each have different representative aromas - political and gongfu flowers are rich; Tangyang Gongfu is fruity and sweet; Bai Lin worked hard with milli fragrance and honey sweet fragrance.
In general, among the different categories of black tea, the most representative aroma types are as follows.
Design/Jiuyang
Let's look at the formation of "potato aroma", in fact, in the production process, tea with high fermentation, when the roasting temperature is too high, the internal substances of the tea produce caramelization or Maillard reaction, combined with fruity aroma, forming an aroma similar to baked sweet potatoes.
In fact, potato aroma is not an absolute factor to measure the quality of black tea, a good cup of tea needs to find the richness and layering of aroma. Of course, if you can only drink a potato aroma of a black tea, then it is probably not a good black tea.
Everyone boils the kettle, try to drink a few more black teas, to savor the difference in aromas, maybe you will know and love black tea more.
People who are new to black tea
Most of them will be attracted by its rich sweet aroma
Photo by Wu Xuewen
Can be drunk, can also add milk, can also add ginger
How to drink a good cup of winter black tea?
To find a good black tea, you also need the right way to brew it.
The brewing of black tea also has a lot of attention
Photography / Yulik
Whether it is the proportion of tea, the mastery of water temperature, or the control of brewing time, it is related to the final quality of a brewed black tea. Regarding how to make tea, we wrote in our previous article "After reading this one, you can make tea better than Liu Yifei!" There is a comprehensive science popularization, interested partners can click the title link to enter the article to view.
The data in the above figure is for reference only
Tea lovers can also adjust it slightly according to their taste
Design/fish
Nowadays, Chinese tea is gradually integrating into the younger generation, and black tea, which is suitable for blending, is also a convenient entrance for this group of young people to understand Chinese tea.
Black tea is not only widely popular, but also inclusive and adaptable.
Since the initial popular "black tea with milk" in European countries, black tea has taken on the task of "tea drinking", lemon black tea fruit aroma is pleasant sweet and sour, rose black tea flower fragrant sweet and mellow, ginger black tea warms the stomach and drives away cold... If ice cubes are added, black tea can even react wonderfully with Sprite and soda.
Iced tea with lemon and osmanthus flowers
A special flavor
Photo by Wu Xuewen
Nowadays, whether it is brewed from raw leaves or blended, there are more abundant and diverse choices in the "black tea universe".
For example, witnessing the transformation of black tea from a "luxury" to a "daily drink" of hundreds of millions of people around the world is convenient and fast; Another example is all kinds of new tea drinks, lining all corners of the city, you can taste the "passionate collision" of black tea with milk, honey, lemon, etc. within minutes; Of course, the charm of traditional black tea pure drink is the ultimate pursuit of every black tea lover...
Text | He Ruqing
Edit | Ou Hantian, He Ruqing
Image editing | Wu Xuewen
Design | Nine suns, a fish
Head image photography | Figureworm Creative
Cover photography | Figureworm Creative
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