Tea in China is divided into six categories, namely black tea, green tea, oolong tea, yellow tea, black tea and white tea. Tieguanyin has been rated as one of the top ten famous teas in China for many times. What kind of tea does Tieguanyin belong to? Is it black tea or green tea?
The so-called black tea
Black tea is a kind of fully fermented tea, which is refined through a series of technological processes such as withering, rolling (cutting), fermentation and drying. Withering is an important process in the primary processing of black tea, which is called "black tea" in the primary processing. Black tea is named after the tea soup and leaf background color are red after brewing dry tea.
The so-called green tea
Green tea is one of the main tea leaves in China, which refers to a beverage made from the new leaves or buds of tea trees without fermentation, and through the processes of enzyme fixation, shaping and drying. The color of the finished product and the brewed tea soup retain the green style of new tea.
Technological characteristics and quality characteristics of Tieguanyin
Technological characteristics of Tieguanyin
The processing of Tieguanyin is stricter and finer than the general varieties. Its working procedures: cooling, drying, cooling, baking (shaking and spreading), frying, rolling, initial ploughing, re-ploughing, re-rolling, slow roasting with slow fire, air separation and other working procedures to make the finished product.
Tea picking: It's sunny, and in the afternoon, the tea leaves grow into half-open noodles. The standard is: 3 whole leaves, 1 half-open leaves. In order to improve work efficiency, collect 60-65 kg of tea and take it home (when there are few tea pickers, the collected tea should not be kept for too long, so take it home as soon as possible so as to carry out the next work in time. )
Sun drying: The picked tea leaves should be sun dried. Different weather, different teas and different tea makers have different requirements. If it is too hot, you should bask in the sun indoors.
Shake green (divided into three times, with cool green at intervals): Also known as "making green", the time is generally 2-5 minutes, and different weather, different teas and different tea makers have different requirements. Making green is the most critical process in the whole tea making process. Only when the green is in place can the fried tea be good. Of course, if the following processes are not in place, tea can't be good.
Cool green (divided into three times, at intervals from shaking green): put the cool tea green into the tea green storage room.
Bud picking: remove some leaves that affect quality, such as bud leaves. It takes this process to make high-grade tea, but it is not high-grade tea.
Stir-fried tea: add about 10 kg of tea green at a time, and the water-removing time is about 3 minutes, and the temperature is about 300℃. The key is that the water in the tea is fried just right.
Crimson: Beat the tea leaves to separate the edge of the dried tea leaves from the tender leaves, so that the finished tea will not appear red soup and turbidity.
Wrapping and kneading: wrapping and kneading, breaking up, wrapping and shredding ..... and so on until the tea leaves form suitable strips, shapes, colors and endosperm. The wrapping and kneading process is not only a molding process, but also a certain degree of fermentation process. It is an important stage in the formation of tea quality.
Drying: Knead the bag to a certain degree and put it into a dryer to dry some water, usually about 3 hours. After drying, it is the finished product of crude tea.
Quality characteristics of Tieguanyin
Tieguanyin, produced in Anxi County, Fujian Province, is one of the top ten famous teas in China. Tieguanyin is the best oolong tea. Its quality characteristics are: the tea strips are curly, round, thick and even, sand-green, and the overall shape is like dragonfly head, snail body and frog leg. After brewing, the soup is golden and rich as amber, with natural and rich orchid fragrance, mellow and sweet taste, and has a long history of returning to Gansu, commonly known as "rhyme". Tieguanyin tea has a high and lasting aroma, which can be described as "seven bubbles are more fragrant".
The leaves are oval in shape, with sparse and dull marginal teeth, wavy leaves with obvious ribs, slightly rolled back, thick mesophyll, dark green and smooth leaves, slightly dull leaf base, slightly concave leaf tip, slightly inclined to the left, slightly drooping and purplish red buds, so it is called "red bud bent tail peach", which is one of the characteristics of purebred.
Its main characteristics are: the soup rhyme is rich but not too fragrant, the aroma is rich, the taste is sweet, and the soup color is relatively light, especially for the first and second teas. After soaking for three times, the soup is yellow-green, which can be slightly sour after careful stirring, and has a special taste. The acid is fragrant and contains acid. There is sweetness in acid and fragrance in sweetness, and the fragrance of water will flow forever.
Its tea quality mainly has three characteristics: "thick soup" means that the tea soup is golden yellow, bright and dark; "Yunming" means that the unique "Guanyin rhyme" of Anxi Tieguanyin is obvious, and the mouth and throat feel bright after drinking; "Slightly fragrant" means that, in comparison, its soup is fragrant but not strong.
To sum up, Tieguanyin is neither black tea nor green tea, but oolong tea between black tea and green tea.