Many times when tea shops purchase tea from tea gardens, they will evaluate the tea, evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of the tea, and then consider whether the tea or the tea to be made is worth purchasing. So what is the process of tea evaluation? What should we pay attention to compared with the usual brewing method? Keep reading and I will explain the process of tea evaluation for you.

 

Why is tea evaluation necessary?

As mentioned at the beginning, tea reviews are generally conducted when tea shops need to purchase or replenish goods, or when the tea industry holds tea competitions. Different from the ordinary brewing method, tea evaluation mainly focuses on various aspects such as tea aroma, tea taste, brewing resistance and wet tea leaves to evaluate the quality of tea products. Therefore, tea evaluation mainly focuses on the original and unmodified taste of the tea soup. , instead of brewing tea to its best.

Although tea making skills are not required, tea tasting at home is indeed relatively rare because the tea sets required for tea making are different from ordinary tea making utensils. Generally, most of the tea sets used for tea evaluation are made of white porcelain, in order to reduce the influence of the color of the tea sets on the evaluation of tea products. Tea appraisal tea sets are mainly divided into two parts: tea cups and tea bowls. The former is used to brew tea and evaluate the aroma of tea products; the latter is used to hold tea soup, observe the color of the soup and evaluate the taste of tea products, and is supplemented by other accessories. Such as timers, scales, spoons and cups. The proportion of tea and water in Pingcha is also different from the usual brewing method. The water temperature of Pingcha needs to be 100 degrees Celsius, the water volume is 150ml, 3 grams of tea leaves, and then steeped for a period of time according to individual tea types. The process of tea evaluation will be described in detail below using five tea products: Silver Flower Single Cong, Zhilan Single Cong, Huangzhi Xiang Single Cong, Rose Fragrance Single Cong and Premium Honey Orchid Single Cong.

(Tea appraisal tea sets are mainly divided into two parts: tea cups and tea bowls, which are used to evaluate the aroma of tea products, observe the color of the soup, and evaluate the taste of the tea products.)

 

The process of evaluating tea

1. Observe the dried tea

The first step in evaluating tea is to observe the shape of the dry tea leaves. Many people think that tea evaluation is just about tasting the taste, but in fact, through observation, you can already have a preliminary idea of ​​the quality of the tea. Observe the dry tea leaves. The appearance, color, gloss, integrity, dryness and even the presence of impurities are all key points of evaluation, so as to roughly estimate the quality of the tea.

As far as single clusters are concerned, it can be observed from four aspects: the shape, color, wholeness, and clarity of dry tea leaves. High-quality single bushes should be compact and complete in appearance, oily and bright in color, and have a distinct aroma of dried tea. Don’t think that you can know the aroma of tea only by brewing it. In fact, we can also judge the floral aroma and variety of tea from the color of the tea leaves. Generally, tea leaves are yellow-brown, and most of them have a floral aroma; black or dark brown tea leaves mostly have a more obvious variety and fragrance.

 

(Generally, those tea leaves that are yellowish-brown are mostly floral, such as Zhilan Dancong [top]; those that are darker or dark brown are mostly scented with variety and rhyme, such as the fine honey orchid tea leaves [bottom].)

 

2. Evaluate the soup color

Next, we need to evaluate the color of the tea soup. After brewing the tea, release the soup and wait a few minutes for the temperature to drop to lukewarm. In addition to the color of each tea product, the color of the tea soup must also be evaluated for its depth, clarity, and turbidity. This step can also tell the amount of broken tea and further evaluate the quality of the tea.

High-quality Dancong tea soup is golden and bright in color, clear and not turbid. Some single-cong soup will turn light yellow if the heat is light; if the heat is sufficient, it will turn orange-yellow. Some single-cong soup will be darker and turbid if it is over-cooked or under-cooked.

(Generally, Zhilan Dancong is light-medium roasted, so the soup color will tend to be lighter [top]; while the soup color of Dancong Zhilan, such as fine honey orchid, which is medium to heavy roasted, will be more orange-yellow [bottom]. Judging from the soup color, the quality of both is excellent. , are all clear and bright.)

 

3. Smell the aroma

The first two steps of observation are roughly observing the tea leaves, while the next two steps are the more important steps in tea evaluation: tasting the tea aroma and taste. The aroma of tea products basically comes from the "variety aroma" plus the "craft aroma". The step of smelling the aroma is to evaluate the original aroma of the tea leaves. This step can start with smelling the tea leaves to see if the tea leaves have any foreign or stuffy smell after soaking. As for the tea soup, it is also evaluated according to the characteristic aroma of various tea types.

A major feature of Dancong is that different varieties have different aromas. Therefore, in addition to matching the aroma of the variety, it also needs to be comprehensively judged from the height, turbidity, length, thickness, density, etc. of the aroma. A good Dancong has a lingering or delicate tea aroma.

 

4. Taste the taste

After evaluating the aroma, the taste of the tea soup will be evaluated. This link focuses on the taste, texture, tea quality, throat rhyme and other items of the tea soup. Some people are used to using some special techniques when evaluating tea, such as sipping the tea soup vigorously. The purpose of this is to allow the tea soup to roll and spread evenly on the tongue and mouth. In fact, as long as this goal can be achieved when tasting the tea soup, you basically don't need to follow other people's tea evaluation habits to evaluate tea well.

Dancong tea belongs to the oolong tea category with a mellow taste and strong sweetness. Although each variety has a different taste, most Dancongs have the common characteristic of orchid and cinnamon flavor.

 

5. Check the underside of leaves

The final step in evaluating tea is to examine the underside of the leaves. Through this step, you can see many clues about the tea making process, such as the maturity of tea green tea or the degree of fermentation and roasting. Experienced tea reviewers can even deduce whether the tea maker made mistakes or mistakes during the tea making process from the state of the leaf bottom after steeping.

Normally, the bottom of the leaves of a single-bunch tea leaf is soft, bright and tough. The oiliness of the bottom of the leaves can determine the degree of sun-greening of the fresh leaves and the quality of the fresh leaf varieties. We can judge from the degree and uniformity of the redness of the tea leaves whether the tea making process is complete and whether the greening is appropriate. Properly refined single bush, the leaves are evenly reddish and remain intact after soaking.

(Dancong will completely expand after soaking. Judging from the wet tea leaves of Huangzhixiang, it can be seen that the quality of the tea leaves is very good, the redness of the leaves is uniform, and the integrity is high.)

 

 

The above is the usual process of tea evaluation by most people in the industry. The purpose of tea evaluation is to evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of tea. Compared with the tea tasting mode that uses brewing techniques or matching tea sets, tea evaluation pays more attention to the original state and taste of tea. Therefore, the performance of tea products in the two methods will also be There is a difference. Only by fully understanding the characteristics and characteristics of tea can we brew tea well and truly.

 

 

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