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》
In late autumn, drinking a cup of warm black tea is the joy of life.
Leaning back in the afternoon on a recliner, wearing a thin cardigan, the whole person was bathed in the sun, only to feel smoky.
Over time, it seemed as if I was going to doze off, and suddenly I remembered to take a persimmon cake and eat it.
A cool sweetness that runs slowly down the throat and reaches the lungs.
Sure enough, the persimmon cake still has to be moistened, the taste is soft and sticky, the white frost covered on the outside is the condensed fructose on the surface of the persimmon, and there is a mouthful of loose heart lying on the inside, orange and yellow.
A bite of the dry flesh, the heart is instantly revealed, is a double enjoyment of taste buds and vision.
Taste over Hualin Fangti, color and Yangjing Shen Zhu. Lightly evenly wrap the wax in puff pastry. No more than the nectar of the world.
The natural flow of sweets and black teas are particularly well matched.
Therefore, the two of us who were afraid of cold, as if we had found a treasure, warmed ourselves with fresh tea soup.
When drinking tea, I remembered the question of a tea friend the other day.
According to the other party, he found a box of black tea under the bed at home, calculated the time, about 10 years ago a friend sent it, threw it away and felt pity, asked can you continue to drink now?
For people, years are a pig-killing knife, is it the same for black tea?
《2》
All domestic food products have a shelf life.
As the name suggests, it means that the food must be consumed within the specified date, otherwise it will expire.
In addition, in the "General Principles of Labeling of Prepackaged Food", it is also written in detail:
【Shelf life】The period for which prepackaged food is maintained under the storage conditions specified on the label. During this period, the product is fully fit for sale and maintains the unique qualities on the label that do not have to be stated or have been stated.
Even tea is not exempt from vulgarity, and it must be given a "shelf life".
Usually, the shelf life of black tea is about 2-3 years.
It does not have the potential to grow older and more fragrant, in other words, there is no need to store black tea for a long time.
Among the six major tea categories, the teas that deserve long-term collection are white tea and black tea.
The former belongs to micro-fermented tea.
The process is simple, not fried, not kneaded, not killed, and the contents can be retained in large quantities.
In future aging, polyphenol oxidase exerts its own activity, slowly exchanges with weak oxygen, and methodically generates new compounds to complete the flavor transformation.
The latter, belonging to post-fermented teas.
During the production process, it needs to be fermented in a pile, which requires a certain temperature and humidity.
In this way, it creates an excellent atmosphere for microorganisms, and the later aging is inseparable from the help of microorganisms.
Looking at black tea, in fact, like most teas, it is best to drink at the right time.
Each type of tea has its own unique process and drinking standards, which cannot be confused.
The tea friend at the beginning of the article, holding a 10-year-old black tea in his hand, did not deliberately do it, but put it under the bed and forgot.
Therefore, it is not really a tea storage.
Then again, 10 years old black tea has obviously exceeded its shelf life for many years.
Logically speaking, expired tea leaves, we do not advocate drinking.
Especially when black tea has emitted obvious miscellaneous taste, mildew, or other abnormal phenomena, it means that the tea has deteriorated and moldy.
Such tea, even if it is reluctant to give up, should be cut off in time.
After all, it is something that is drunk into the body, how can it be so sloppy?
Expired, and is expired for so many years of black tea, for the sake of their own body, or do not drink it is better.
《3》
In the world of tea, it is more important than the shelf life.
The drinking period refers to the time when a tea is most comfortable to drink and the aroma is the most abundant.
Simply put, it is the "golden age" when tea is delicious.
Like people, tea has its own life curve.
However, different tea leaves, the time they enter the drinking period sooner or later, and the length of time the drinking period lasts are also different.
For example, white tea can be more aged and fragrant, and the future potential is huge, which proves that its drinking time is very long.
Green tea advocates drinking fresh, it is best to drink it as soon as possible within 1 year, so the drinking period lasts for a shorter time.
For black tea that is not suitable for the elderly, that year or the following year is the "peak".
After that, it will continue to take the "downhill road" and will no longer have the glory of the past.
To this end, we also specially asked the local tea farmers in Tongmu, when is the best small seed in Zhengshan?
He said that the aroma of the new black tea is good, but the soup still lacks a little alcohol thickness, you can put it aside, and when you drink it again every other year, the soup will become more mellow.
Paulownia black tea has innate advantages, rich nutrition, and fresh and mellow soup.
The black tea of that year, the aroma is rich, the soup is mainly fresh, and put a year to drink, the tea has a redox reaction.
The soup feeling formed by the pulp is more in line with the preferences of some old tea customers.
But he went on to say that he still had to drink it early, and after 3 years, the aroma and taste had declined, and it was not good.
I see.
However, authentic paulownia black tea is so scarce, where is there enough to store old tea in large quantities?
In about a year or two, take advantage of the best tasting period, and drink it.
Some black teas have passed the drinking period but are still within the shelf life.
Can drink, harmless to the body, although the tea has not deteriorated, but the taste has become thin, the aroma almost completely disappeared.
Here, it is ≠ delicious to drink.
Missing the drinking period of black tea, like an out-of-body person, wooden and godless, with no aura.
If you want to appreciate its light and lively personality, and its fresh and bright flavor, you should enjoy it as soon as possible.
《4》
There are also tea friends who say that they have drunk very high-quality old black tea.
Even after four or five years, there is still no miscellaneous taste and peculiar smell, but the elegant aroma of tea wafts out, and the soup is mellow and plump.
There is no denying that such old black tea does exist.
However, very few.
Not only does it need a good production area and a good process, but it also needs professional storage so that black tea can always be dry.
Unless you are a well-funded tea collector, few people can have a delicious "old black tea".
Professional tea storage must achieve "sealing, drying, avoiding light, cool, no odor".
Just 11 words, it seems easy, but when it comes to real operation, it is not simple.
Take the example of tea friends, under the bed in the bedroom, it is not a suitable place to store tea.
First, the position near the ground, damp and cool, heavy water vapor.
And we usually store tea, we need to leave the wall and the ground, and properly raise it to avoid the intrusion of water vapor.
Second, it is easy to accumulate dust under the bed, which is a dead end for cleaning.
Many people will care about the cleanliness of the floor of the room, but they will not pay attention to whether the bed is clean every day.
What's more, cleaning only once every ten days and half a month has accumulated a thick layer of dust.
Although the tea packaging has been sealed, the odor formed will also affect the quality of the tea to a greater or lesser extent.
Third, there are often people walking around in the room, which will create too much water vapor.
No matter what kind of tea, it should be stored dry and refuse to be moist, and black tea is no exception.
Therefore, in theory, a well-preserved black tea, the shelf life will be appropriately extended.
Even if it exceeds the shelf life, it will not deteriorate and become moldy, and at most the aroma will become weaker.
But as an ordinary tea guest, it is imperative to know when black tea is delicious and when to drink it.
《5》
The shelf life on the tea packaging seems to have become "Schrödinger's cat".
Because many people do not know whether expired tea can still be drunk.
In fact, it doesn't have to be so tangled.
If you just pursue some tea taste, there is no miscellaneous taste, peculiar smell, quality pass, natural can drink.
However, 10 years for black tea, it is too long, or do not drink as well.
The shelf life of some things cannot be determined by the year written on the surface.
And the people who can really determine their shelf life are ourselves.
Even if black tea is still within its shelf life, when you find that it is no longer delicious, it is something that should be thrown away after the expiration date.
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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.