Dry tea
The first thing we see is dry tea. For lightly fermented Anxi Tieguanyin, green is the beauty of [brown] dry tea, followed by dark green and turquoise. However, at present, there is little difference in the color of light fermented Guanyin, and there is no clear boundary between low-end, middle-end and high-end tea, so there is no need to be demanding. [Tea shape] It has always been beautiful when the particles are dense. At present, the light fermented particles of Anxi Tieguanyin are not dense (compared with traditional Guanyin), mainly because of the manufacturing reasons, such as the difficulty of removing stems when the particles are too dense, and the strength of repeated rolling has no effect on improving the internal quality, so the particle density is not enough to be used as a standard for judging high, medium and low-end tea products. [Particle uniformity] greatly affects the impression, but whether the tea shape is uniform or not is achieved through later careful selection, which has no effect on the inherent quality of tea products-for cost reasons, most Tieguanyin will not be absolutely uniform unless it is to meet the market demand for luxury goods.
Three indicators of smelling incense
Next, start brewing. The first step is to smell the fragrance [cover the tea and cover the bowl, but users of teapot can't smell the fragrance with the cover]. First of all, we rush into the water, wash the tea quickly, re-enter the water, soak for about 10 seconds, uncover the lid and smell the fragrance-many tea lovers think that high fragrance is good tea, which is a very general and inaccurate standard; Some people who love tea even think that high aroma is good tea, which is a classic misunderstanding. In the local procurement evaluation standards, the indicators covering aroma include three aspects: first, the type of aroma, which we call "aroma type" for short; The second is the high degree of image change; The third is the durability of Gaixiang.
Three indicators of Gaixiang
Types of Gaixiang: There are countless types of Tieguanyin, which can be seen from the discussions on Tieguanyin in various tea forums. In fact, only two kinds of incense are considered to meet the advanced standards: one is "Huangkouxiang (Minnan dialect)", that is, tea incense has obvious characteristics of "Huang Xiang (Minnan dialect)", and the meaning of this word cannot be expressed in words. Simply put, it means. The second is the elegant orchid fragrance, which is quiet and fragrant, like an orchid. This fragrance has never been flamboyant but lasting, and it still exists from one bubble to eight or nine bubbles. If the tea fragrance meets these two standards, it belongs to the top grade. In addition to these two kinds, there are two kinds of fragrance types worth recommending: one is fresh fragrance type, that is, the fragrance is full of fresh feeling, but it is not resistant to storage, and it will be very close to orchid fragrance type after a period of time; The second type is milky fragrance, but it is only faint milky fragrance, which can't be obvious-generally speaking, milky fragrance can't be classified as first-class product.
How high is the fragrance of Tieguanyin: Many tea lovers think that the higher the fragrance of Tieguanyin is, the better, and the fragrance should be high to strong (silent) or "domineering", which is also a classic misunderstanding-Tieguanyin varieties are not good at high fragrance, and the most commonly used description of Tieguanyin fragrance is "orchid fragrance", which means that the two fragrance types are similar: elegant, rich and lasting, not high enough to strong. This is not to say that the fragrance is low, but it can be clearly smelled, just right, and it is famous for its richness and transparency, just like orchids.
Durability of covering incense: the durability index is often ignored, but it is actually more important than the high-quality index-high-grade tea, covering incense can last from 1 water to 8 water, all of which are fragrant orchids; Mid-end products can generally keep about 5 water. If the aroma of 1 and 2 water is seriously attenuated, this kind of tea can hardly be called high quality. The first requirement for Tieguanyin to achieve lasting fragrance is high-quality green tea raw materials. If you don't have a clear understanding of the fragrance type, you can also identify whether the cover fragrance lasts: first, the cover fragrance is obvious (the height is just right); The second is persistence.
High-grade Tieguanyin tea requires first-class aroma, high degree and durability; Without any index, the comprehensive score will drop by one grade.
How to evaluate tea soup
The quality of tea soup can be evaluated by the following indicators: 1. Tang Xiang; 2. Smoothness: 3. Bitter; 4. Rich taste elements; 5. Degree of returning to Gansu
Tang Xiang: When the nose is close to the freshly brewed tea soup, the superior products will have obvious Tang Xiang, especially the tea with the characteristics of "Mingkouxiang" and "Lanxiang" is more prominent;
Smooth: After the tea soup is slightly cold, the high-grade tea soup is thick, fragrant with rice soup, and the taste is extremely soft-but if the tea drinker tastes bland, it is probably not easy to feel the difference between smooth and smooth tea soup. For this part of tea lovers, it is recommended to drink mid-range tea.
Bitterness: the entrance is allowed to be slightly bitter, but the bitter ending is not good; The astringency is a taboo index, but if the astringency is slight and fades quickly, it will not affect the taste, but even so, the grade of tea has dropped by one grade-because the high-grade Tieguanyin is not allowed to have astringency.
Rich in flavor elements: the richer the taste of tea soup, the better-just like cooking a pot of soup, the more materials are put, the stronger the taste, and the less the taste. The most important difference of high-grade Tieguanyin lies in this: high-grade Tieguanyin is made of high-quality tea green raw materials, with thick tea green leaves and rich organic and inorganic elements, and the corresponding tea soup tastes richer; Mid-end products will be relatively light, although they can also have the characteristics of not bitter or astringent, smooth tea soup and so on.
Degree of sweet return: Fast, intense and lasting sweet return has the best effect. Although the sweet-returning performance of lightly fermented Anxi Tieguanyin can't be compared with that of moderately fermented Tieguanyin, high-grade Tieguanyin still requires relatively obvious and lasting sweet-returning, at least those tea drinkers who like lightly fermented Anxi Tieguanyin can feel it clearly when drinking.
Other indicators:
Color of tea soup: whether it is light green, light green with yellow, light yellow with green or golden yellow, the color is bright, followed by dark, but overall, the color of tea soup is a secondary indicator.
Foam resistance requirements
The standard amount of tea [when the bottom of the leaf is open, it is flush or slightly convex with the top of the bowl], and the high-grade Tieguanyin requires that it can brew more than eight waters (eight waters begin to show the taste of water). If the requirements are harsh, it is also a normal standard to reach 10 water (10 water begins to taste water); Mainstream tea products generally require more than 7 waters, and introductory tea products require more than 5 waters-the foam resistance depends largely on raw materials, but some Tieguanyin teas with good tea green may be picked earlier because of the hasty weather, and the tea green is very tender, and the foam resistance of the products is mostly around 5 waters (5 waters begin to taste like water). Some Tieguanyin, with relatively old raw materials, may only be resistant to soaking in 5 water. Tieguanyin, which has no taste after sanshui (the drinker's taste is weak), is undoubtedly of low quality.
Leaf bottom description
It's almost superfluous to say that the leaf bottom is gilded the lily, because if all the indicators are first-class, the raw material of tea green is absolutely quite good-in order to remove the red edge, the leaf bottom of some tea leaves will be slightly broken, and the leaf bottom of some tea leaves will be intact, no problem, as long as the leaf bottom is not too broken. Tea farmers and buyers don't study the leaf bottom when evaluating the quality. Most people just throw it away after drinking it.
If you want to say one more thing, it is that the bottom of the leaves is thick and full of satin luster, and the color of mustard green is better [only for light-haired Guanyin]. Looking at the pictures on the internet, it is said that tea is very popular, but it is more an empirical or subjective evaluation-the same leaf bottom, different DC, different lighting, the shooting effect may be very different; The color of the same picture will be different on different monitors. Through the photos, we can see the quality of tea green raw materials, the degree of red edge removal, whether the tea stems are peeled clean and other appearance characteristics. But it's incredible to see what the taste is from the appearance. At least no one in the local tea evaluation can tell what the taste is and what the quality is from the appearance.
About acid-the acid of traditional Guanyin
Tieguanyin with acid has been controversial because there are two kinds of acids in Tieguanyin with light hair. They are called "positive acid" and "crooked acid" on the Internet, but what is positive acid and crooked acid has not been explained clearly. To explain this concept, it is necessary for us to start with acid.
Before the mid-1990 s, in the traditional Guanyin era, Tieguanyin with acid was considered as synonymous with the ultimate product. This kind of product is extremely rare, with strong permeability and the feeling of drilling teeth. After drinking it, it not only feels strong and lasting sweetness, but also has obvious salivation, giving people a wonderful drinking experience-acid and salivation. This kind of tea is called the ultimate product, but with the arrival of commercial times, no one raised any objection. The best tea in the industry, which is simply described as "sour", just makes Tieguanyin feel sour, even sour, which leads to a large amount of acid in the product. This slightly fermented Anxi Tieguanyin with acid is completely different from the traditional Guanyin's concept of "producing saliva with acid and lasting sweetness".
Study on Photofermentation of Tieguanyin Acid in Anxi
However, this does not mean that it is useless to gently ferment the acid of Anxi Tieguanyin. A considerable part of tea is made of acid. If it is not handled properly, it is easy to have various problems, such as the strange taste and sour taste in the tea soup, or the sour smell in the cover incense, which makes it difficult to give people a good feeling after drinking. Obviously, this product is not high-quality Tieguanyin tea.
Another part of Anxi Tieguanyin, which was successfully made, will also have "acid"-but it is smell rather than taste, that is, the lid smells slightly sour and has no peculiar smell, and the acid in the cover incense is combined with spearmint, mainly elegant and spearmint; At the same time, the tea soup tastes sour. This fragrance is called "green acid" or "fresh acid"; If tea still has obvious bright mouth characteristics, it is commonly known as "bright mouth acid" or "green bright acid" However, no matter what grade of products, it is difficult to feel sour and produce saliva, which is probably determined by the light fermentation process.