丨 This article was originally produced by Xiao Chen Tea
丨 First published in the headline number: Xiao Chen Tea Affair
丨Author: Village Gu Chen
《1》
Late autumn is the season to eat persimmons.
When I recently went to Taimu Mountain, I saw orange-red persimmons hanging on the branches, a cluster, bright and vivid.
Add a touch of color to the loneliness of late autumn.
If a persimmon is eaten into the mouth when it is not ripe, it will only get a mouthful of astringency.
For a time, a grainy sensation appeared on the surface of the tongue, a brief loss of taste, and the tongue was numb.
It's really uncomfortable.
At this time to eat, it is not easy to step on the pit, eat the persimmons are sweet, with honey.
Sweet as it is, it is said that it is the flavor of this time.
Persimmons can also be made into persimmon cakes, which are sweeter.
Peel off the skin of the hard persimmons, leaving short fruit stems, which are spread out on a breathable rack to dry.
It takes about half a month to dry, and the persimmon cake is ready.
Raw persimmons and persimmon cakes, the taste is completely different.
Fresh persimmons taste watery, the juice will explode in the mouth, fresh with sweetness.
The persimmon cake is processed to become softer and sweeter.
Some people like raw persimmons, and some people prefer persimmon cakes.
It's not just talk.
《2》
In the tea circle, new tea and old tea have always been on opposite sides.
Some people say that tea leaves with a low degree of fermentation should be drunk fresh, and if they are stored as aged tea, they will become worthless.
When it comes to less fermented teas, green, yellow and white teas come to mind.
Green tea is an unfermented tea, yellow tea is a light fermented tea, and white tea is a micro-fermented tea.
Green tea and yellow tea, it is true to drink fresh, left for too long will become worthless.
The reason is mainly because green tea and yellow tea have the process of killing green tea.
The concept of killing the youth has actually been mentioned in previous articles.
Simply put, the use of high temperature to destroy and passivate the oxidase activity in tea leaves, the enzymatic reaction of fresh leaves will be inhibited.
Tea leaves that have experienced greening, the substances contained inside have basically lost the value of transformation, and long-term storage will only promote seedlings.
Once drank a green tea at a friend's house that had been on hold for two years.
The green tea had a disorganized aroma with a stale smell that could be smelled when you walked into an old house in disrepair.
And that smell stayed in the mouth for a long time, and it didn't go away for a long time.
At this time, just think of drinking more boiled water to wash away the bad smell and make yourself comfortable.
Its soup is also very weak, like drinking a cup of boiled water with a miscellaneous smell.
Green tea that has been left for too long, there is really no need to drink.
After experiencing the greening, the tea polyphenols in green tea are relatively intact, and such substances are easily oxidized.
In order to avoid its oxidation rate too fast, people usually use low temperature to make its flavor stay longer.
Most of the green tea on the market on the outer packaging, are written shelf life of 12-18 months, in order to avoid missing the good tea flavor, it is advisable to drink it in time.
If you are facing green tea and yellow tea, it is not wrong to say that they are stored as aged tea without value.
However, this statement is placed on white tea, which is obviously not true.
《3》
It is no secret that white tea can be stored for a long time.
It belongs to the micro-fermented tea, and the degree of fermentation is not high.
The tea friend above said that tea with a low degree of fermentation has no value in storing aged tea, and it is self-defeating in the face of white tea.
The so-called aged white tea refers to white tea that has been stored for more than 1 year and less than 3 years.
For white tea, it has not yet reached the most wonderful time, just a stage of transition from new white tea to old white tea.
In the tea circle, there are many tea customers who are eager for old white tea and are willing to spend thousands of dollars just to see the old white tea style.
The eyes of the masses are shining, and they do not pursue something for no reason.
It can be seen that the value of old white tea is recognized by everyone.
The reason why white tea can be stored for a long time is that it is inseparable from the process in the final analysis.
The process of white tea is mainly withered and dried.
Withering is the process of natural dehydration of tea green, and while the water is lost, some bitter substances will also leave together.
Drying, on the other hand, is to use a low flame to slowly dry the moisture content of white tea to less than 8.5%.
Under the simple process, the nutrients in white tea are preserved relatively completely.
During the storage process, the nutrients contained in the tea will constantly react with trace oxygen molecules to produce new substances.
Therefore, in the process of aging white tea, the aroma substances and taste substances will change.
For example, the herbal aroma of the new white tea period will gradually age into the aroma of rhizome Chinese medicine.
For example, the fragrance of new white tea is similar to the smell of wild bracken, wild reeds, and wild dog tail grass.
Under the precipitation of the years, the fragrance will gradually mature into the aroma of rice, corn boiling water, and sorghum nests.
Time is actually very gentle for white tea.
It is said that time is a pig-killing knife, however, it is not reflected in white tea.
With the passage of time, white tea will only become more and more stable, more and more introverted, and the years have given it only rich experience.
《4》
All white tea has value after it is stored for a long time?
Not necessarily, this statement is too absolute.
Products, there are excellent quality, there are general quality, naturally there are also bad quality.
White tea is no exception.
Poor quality white tea, stored for a long time does not give it a bonus.
As mentioned above, white tea can be stored for a long time because the nutrients it contains will constantly react with trace oxygen molecules to form new substances.
Among them, the rich nutrient content is the basis for the long-term storage of white tea.
If a white tea is of very bad quality and the nutrients contained in it are very scarce, how long the tea is stored will only stagnate and be worthless.
Let's say white tea with a bad process.
The process in place can retain the nutrients contained in white tea intact, allowing it to provide power for later aging.
And if there is a tea, the process is bad, the pile is piled up, the exposure is exposed, the nutrients in the tea green are exhausted, and storing it for a long time is equivalent to useless work.
In addition, the water content requirements of white tea are very high.
If a tea maker is not skilled and does not follow the requirements when drying, the water content of the tea made does not meet the standard.
In this way, the moisture content in the tea is too much, and it encounters a certain temperature in the process of storage, which is prone to over-fermentation.
The nutrients in the tea leaves will gradually be lost, and finally reduced to inferior tea.
In order to ensure that the quality of tea is not affected by the external environment, more attention needs to be paid to the packaging of tea storage, and it is necessary to meet the requirements of sealing, drying, moisture-proof, cool, light-avoiding, and odor-free.
If some elements are neglected, the tea leaves are affected by the external environment, and the nutrients contained inside will slowly decrease over time.
White tea without rich nutrients, storing too long is a waste of precious time.
The production area is not good, and the tea leaves are naturally not rich in nutrients.
Poor process will cause the nutrients in white tea to be depleted, resulting in a large amount of loss.
Improper storage, external dangers will continue to erode white tea, making it an inferior tea.
White tea without adequate nutrients, without good storage, is worthless for long-term storage.
Buying high-quality white tea requires a good production area, good craftsmanship, and good storage, which is indispensable.
《5》
Sometimes, people tend to be partial.
The degree of fermentation of green tea and yellow tea is low, and there is no doubt that long-term storage has no value.
It's just that white tea, as a micro-fermented tea, does not have this statement.
Being careful with anything is the standard by which individuals do things.
To treat most things in a very broad term is not right.
It's like, someone eats an orange and thinks it tastes sour.
So he began to preach that all oranges were sour and not a little sweet.
As everyone knows, it is a big mistake.
With partial generalizations, it is easy to get wrong conclusions.
Based on reality, practice is the only criterion for testing truth!
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Xiao chen tea village gu Chen, columnist, tea industry original new media "Xiao Chen tea matter" chief writer, has published a white tea monograph "White Tea Tasting Notes", 2016-2020 has written more than 4,000 original articles.