In spring, all things come back to life. Spring tea is the most nutritious and highest quality tea among all teas from all seasons. Drinking tea in spring not only helps with health and wellness, but it is also a delightful experience to gather with friends and family for a small tea gathering.
Although the quality of spring tea is the best, it does not necessarily mean that all spring tea sold on the market is of good quality. This is because some unscrupulous tea merchants may mix in lower-quality teas to pass them off as spring tea.
To buy good tea, you must know how to pick it. How can you identify authentic spring tea? Let's see how to select spring tea now.
Skill 1: Use your eyes.
What you mainly look at is the shape, color, and evenness of the dry tea. Spring tea leaves are uniform, clean, and have few impurities. The evenness of the dry tea reflects the quality of the tea raw material. If it's not even, it means it has been mixed with other tea leaves, tea dust, or debris.
The color should be close to its natural, original color, looking very fresh. If the tea looks dark and black, it is mostly not fresh.
Skill 2: Use your hands.
Touch the tea leaves with your hands to feel their dryness. Dry tea leaves indicate that the quality is well-preserved. Conversely, if the leaves are not dry, they may have been exposed to moisture. You can also feel the weight and substance of the leaves. Generally, tea leaves rich in internal substances will feel heavier and more substantial.
Skill 3: Use your nose.
Mainly, smell the aroma of the dry tea to determine if there are any off-odors. The aroma of spring tea is pure and without any off-odors. If there are off-odors like oil, mold, sourness, smoke, or a burnt smell, it indicates that the tea was contaminated during processing or storage.
Skill 4: Brew it in a cup.
When brewed, spring tea has a clear and bright liquor, a pure aroma without off-odors, and a rich, fresh, and pleasant taste with less astringency and bitterness.
By using these four methods to select spring tea, you can at least guarantee to a certain extent that the tea you buy is authentic spring tea. However, this is not absolute. After purchasing, you can brew it at home to see if it meets these criteria.
1. Observe the Appearance
Spring tea leaves are usually tightly rolled, appearing plump and thick. Some have more downy hairs. The color is fresh and lustrous, and the aroma is rich and fresh. Summer and autumn tea leaves, on the other hand, are loose in shape, have a darker color, and a milder aroma, which are very different from spring tea.
2. Check the Liquor Color
During storage, some substances that constitute the tea's color will slowly decompose or oxidize, causing the green tea's color to become dull and grayish. An increase in theaflavins in tea from the previous year will make the green tea's liquor turn yellowish-brown and unclear, losing its original fresh color.
When brewed, spring tea leaves sink quickly, with a strong and lasting aroma and a mellow taste. Summer and autumn tea leaves sink more slowly when brewed, and their aroma is not as high.
3. Savor the Aroma
During storage, various taste-forming substances in the tea may decompose and volatilize, or condense into substances insoluble in water. Therefore, for any type of tea, new tea has a mellow and fresh taste, while old tea tastes bland and less refreshing.
4. Examine the Wet Leaves
After the tea leaves have been brewed, the wet leaves of new tea are green with a yellowish tinge, appearing fresh and tender. In contrast, the wet leaves of last year's tea are more yellowish and lack a fresh, tender look.
Note: New tea is good, but it should be consumed with caution.
When new tea is first harvested, many people like to drink it, but it must be chosen with caution. New tea should not be rushed. For tea that has been picked for less than a month, because it has not been stored for a long time, substances beneficial to humans such as polyphenols, alcohols, and aldehydes have not been fully oxidized, which may lead to adverse reactions such as gastrointestinal discomfort, diarrhea, and bloating after consumption.
In addition, new tea also has higher content of caffeine, active alkaloids, and various aromatic substances, which can easily excite the nervous system, causing a "tea drunkenness" phenomenon characterized by limb weakness, cold sweats, and insomnia.