It is believed that many tea lovers have noticed the Tea King Zhan White Tea which is frequently screened in the circle of friends and platforms such as Jitterbug.
Picture intercepted from the circle of friends advertisement
Tea King Zan is endorsed by national-level actor Zhang Guangbei (representative work: "Bright Sword", representative character: Chu Yunfei), and he is also the co-founder of Tea King Zan.
So, what is the quality of Tea King Zan Old White Tea?
We purchased from an e-commerce platform the No.1 selling Tea King Zan Old Tree First Grade Shou Mei Loose Tea (2015) from the flagship store. This tea has a specification of 150g and is priced at 199 yuan, and the product detail page shows that this tea is provided by Zhang Guangbei Original Ecological Tea Plantation.
Picture taken from the flagship store of one of the e-commerce platforms of Tea King Zan
How about the product, the review will speak for itself, below, let's start!
ROUND 1, dry tea
First of all, let's look at the dry tea.
Just as soon as we opened the bag, an extremely strong and unnatural aroma came to our nose. And from the appearance, this 2015 Shou Mei is rather loose, reddish in color, even the tea hairs are reddish, and there is fermentation and sourness in the smell, inferring from the dried tea, it is highly suspected of being old.
But its product details page says, tea inside and outside as one, not mixed with the second, do not do old, it is difficult not to let people suspect.
In order to give you a more intuitive feel for what natural aging of dried white tea is like, we use this 2015 White Dew Shou Mei to make comparisons for you under the recommendation of a senior expert in white tea.
2015 White Dew Shou Mei dry tea
This White Dew dry tea, the overall uniformity of the hair, buds exposed, the color of the leaves change naturally, and after the transformation of time, is still clothed in white hair, which is the color of the natural aging of the white tea should be.
2015 Bai Lu Shou Mei dry tea
We put a piece of look down, more intuitive feel the difference between the two.
Next we look at how the tea soup is.
ROUND 2, tea soup
The first bubble (time 15s, water temperature 100 ℃)
This is the first bubble, the tea soup is light yellow and bright, but it smells like a kind of sour, stuffy flavor, that is, the feeling of imperviousness, the mouth is slightly sweet.
As a matter of fact, the aroma of naturally fermented Old Shou Mei should have a sweet flavor, but this tea does not have this characteristic.
Second Bubble (Time 15s, Water Temperature 100℃)
Second Bubble, the color of the soup became darker, but the sour and stuffy taste in the tea soup remained, and the taste was a bit more mellow than the previous bubble, but the mouth was sticky and dry after drinking.
Third and Fourth Bubble (Time 20s, Water Temperature 100℃)
/ 3rd Bubble /
/ 4th Bubble /
The 3rd and 4th bubbles were brewed with boiling water at 100℃ for 20s, the color of the soup was more brighter, and the acidic and stuffy taste was still there, while the fermentation taste was obvious. The soup is more mellow, but the mouth and tongue are still dry.
Fifth and sixth bubble (time 30s, 60s, water temperature 100℃)
/ Sixth Bubble /
The tea broth of these five and six bubbles became orange and bright, but the aroma turned into a ripe and stuffy flavor, smelling like rotten sweet potatoes. The flavor is sweet and smooth with sour and stuffy taste, and the mouth and tongue are dry and obvious after drinking.
ROUND 3, the bottom of the leaf
Next, we look at the bottom of the leaf of this tea.
The overall color of the bottom of the leaf is deep red, and the young stems are black and hard to touch.
We then took the leaf bottom of the equivalent vintage of Bai Lu Shou Mei for comparison.
2015 Bailu Shoumei Dried Tea
This Bailu Shoumei's leaf bottom is soft and bright, yellowish-green with reddish color, which is better or worse in comparison, you can tell at a glance.
ROUND 4, National Standard Method
National Standard Method (5min of brewing, water temperature 100℃)
In order to better brew the inner substance of this tea, we used the National Standard Method to brew the tea with boiling water at 100℃ for 5 minutes, and in order to make it easier for you to watch, we made a comparison with Bai Lu Shou Mei.
The tea king praised this 2015 first-class Shoumei, the tea soup color is bright orange-yellow, aroma with jujube fragrance, sour, boring taste;
Taste thick, viscous, sour, astringent;
And the same year's White Dew Shoumei overall color is bright golden, sweet jujube aroma and obvious floral aroma, sweet and mellow, sweet and mellow, fast sweetness, and quick, obviously a higher quality.
ROUND 5, review summary
The flagship store other white tea products we did not review, do not know the quality of how, but in terms of this Tea King Zan 2015 first-class shoumei, on the whole, the dry tea overall red, there are traces of fermentation old, should be the whole smothered fermentation due to the aroma of the sour, stuffy, and did not expect the good.
Therefore, tea lovers should be cautious when buying this tea and not just believe in the celebrity effect.
White tea has been called "one year tea, three years of medicine, seven years of treasure", the natural aging of white tea, through the precipitation of time, will show a rich aroma and flavor, the old white tea is therefore a good collection value.
Doing the old white tea, if the process is proper, and the quality is still good, the year drinking can be, already does not have the potential for collection and transformation.