How can we know the quality of tea by tasting it?

It is not easy to buy tea. If you want to get good tea, you need to master a lot of knowledge, such as the grade standard, price, market, evaluation and inspection methods of various teas. The quality of tea is mainly identified from four aspects: color, fragrance, taste and shape, but for ordinary tea drinkers, when buying tea, they can only look at the shape and color of dry tea and smell the fragrance of dry tea, which increases the difficulty of judging the quality of tea. Here is a rough introduction to the method of identifying dry tea. I would like to remind you that you should pay attention to the color, appearance, aroma, tea taste and dryness when purchasing new tea. A look at the color: the color of new tea is generally fresh and pleasing to the eye, or light green or dark green. Green tea should be green in color, fresh and lively. Fried green tea is grayish green with a slight luster. Some tea leaves are withered, black and brown, indicating that the contents of tea leaves are oxidized to varying degrees. This kind of tea is often old tea. If there are obvious scorch spots, bubble spots (black or dark sauce spots) on the tea leaves or the leaves are burnt, it means that it is not good tea; If the color of tea leaves is mixed with flowers, and the color contrast is large, it means that there are yellow tablets in tea leaves, old leaves and even old tea, and such tea is not good. Second, appearance: all kinds of tea have specific appearance characteristics, some like silver needles, some like melon seeds, some like round beads, some like finches, some are loose and some are tight. The leaves of fried green tea are tight and straight. Famous teas have their own unique shapes. For example, the appearance of the fairy in the afternoon is "slightly flat and slightly straight". Generally speaking, the shape of new tea: bright lines, uniform size, thickness and length are top grade; Those lines are dark and irregular in shape, and even tea stems and tea seeds are inferior. The tenderness of improved varieties, multi-bud and pointed seedlings is high; Rough pine trees, many old leaves and low tender leaves are swollen with fat. Smooth tea is the best, followed by rough, dry and short tea; Tight, thin, straight and even strips are the best, followed by thick, twisted and short pieces; Granular tea is better if it is completely solid, followed by loose tablets. Three smells of aroma: new tea generally has new tea fragrance. Good new tea, tea fragrance is particularly obvious. For example, the new green tea smells like Gao Shuang, with rich aroma, sweet and fragrant; The higher the quality of tea, the stronger the fragrance. Green tea is sweet and fragrant when chewed or brewed. If you can't smell the fragrance of tea, or smell a green, old-fashioned and burnt smell, it is not a good new tea. If it is old tea, the aroma is light or old. Four flavors of tea: the tea soup is sweet and fresh, rich and refreshing, and it is best to leave a sweet taste in the mouth; Usually, a small amount of samples are brewed and observed. Good green tea soup is bright green, and the tea leaves are astringent first and then mellow, with chestnut flavor. Five-pinch dry and wet: you can judge the dry and wet degree of new tea by pinching tea with your fingers. New tea must be dry enough to stand storage. Wet tea leaves with high water content will not only seriously affect the color, aroma and taste of tea leaves, but also be prone to mildew and deterioration. Judging that the new tea is not dry enough, it is advisable to pinch one or two pieces of tea with your thumb and forefinger slightly. What can be squeezed into powder is dry tea, which can be bought; If it can't be ground into powder, it means that the tea leaves are affected by moisture and the water content is high. This new tea goes bad easily and is not suitable for purchase. At the same time, in order to prevent inferior quality, the characteristics of several famous teas are introduced for reference when purchasing new teas. Face fairy: slightly flat and straight in shape, like blue petals, green in color and lasting in fragrance, soaked in the soup, budding, standing upright in the cup, alternating with each other, the soup is clear and bright, with a delicate aftertaste. Noodle green tea: compact, thin and heavy, uniform in appearance, sharp in seedling, green in color and fresh in aroma. Gao Shuang has a lasting chestnut fragrance, mellow and refreshing taste, bright and green soup color and bright and green leaves. The appearance of tea is mainly viewed from five aspects, namely, tenderness, string, color, crushing and cleanliness. 1. Tenderness is the basic factor to determine the quality. The so-called "dry appearance, wet ass" means tenderness. Generally, tea with good tenderness is easy to meet the appearance requirements of this kind of tea (such as "light, flat, flat and straight" in Longjing). In addition, it can also be identified from the presence or absence of tea seedlings. Good pre-seedlings and white hair shows show that they are tender and well-made. If the tenderness of raw materials is poor, no matter how good the workmanship is, there will be no white hairs on the sharp seedlings and tea strips. But tenderness can't be judged only by the number of fine hairs, because the specific requirements of various teas are different. For example, the high-quality Lion Peak Longjing is fluff-free. Moreover, fuzz is easy to fake and operate by hand. The tenderness of bud leaves is judged by fluff, which is only applicable to "fluff" teas such as Mao Feng, Maojian and Yinzhen. What needs to be mentioned here is that the most tender fresh leaves should also sprout, and it is not appropriate to pick the bud heart unilaterally. Because the bud nucleus is an imperfect part, its content is not comprehensive, especially the chlorophyll content is very low. Therefore, tea should not only be made into buds in pursuit of tenderness. 2. Stripes are certain shapes and specifications of various tea sets, such as fried green strips, round pearl tea, flat Longjing tea, and granular red broken tea. Generally, long strip tea is elastic, straight, strong, thin, round, flat, light and heavy; Round tea depends on the elasticity, uniformity, weight and ethereal degree of particles; Flat tea to see if it is smooth and meets the specifications. Generally speaking, the rope is tight, heavy, round (except flat tea) and straight, indicating that the raw materials are tender, the workmanship is good and the quality is excellent; If the appearance is loose, flat (except flat tea), broken, smoky and burnt, it means that the raw materials are old, the workmanship is poor and the quality is poor. Take the standard of green tea strips in Hangzhou as an example: Grade I, Grade II, Grade III and Grade IV, thin, tight and fine, but still tight and slightly loose, and the tight, solid and sharp seedlings are the best. 3. Color The color of tea is closely related to the tenderness of raw materials and processing technology. All kinds of tea have certain color requirements, such as black tea, green tea, oolong tea and black tea. However, no matter what kind of tea, good tea requires consistent color, bright luster, oily and fresh. If the colors are different, the shades are different and dull, it means that the raw materials are old and tender, the workmanship is poor and the quality is poor. The color of tea also has a great relationship with the origin and season of tea trees. Such as alpine green tea, the color is green and yellowish, fresh and bright; Low camellia or flat tea is dark green and shiny. In the process of making tea, due to improper technology, the color often deteriorates. When buying tea, you should judge according to the specific tea you buy. For example, Longjing, the best Shifeng Longjing, had natural brown rice color and light yellow tea before the Ming Dynasty. This is a major feature of Shifeng Longjing, which is obviously different from other Longjing in color. Because the price of Shifeng Longjing is extremely high, tea farmers will create this color to pretend to be Shifeng Longjing. The method is to fry the tea a little more to make the leaves yellow. The difference between true and false lies in that the real lion peak is symmetrical, bright and clean, light yellow and light green, with a faint fragrance in the tea fragrance; The fake lion peak angle is loose and empty, the hair is rough and yellow, and the tea smells like fried soybeans. It's really hard to judge without many comparisons. But once brewed, the difference is very obvious. The over-fried fake lion peak is not as rich and tender as Longjing. 4. The whole crushing is the shape and crushing degree of tea, and the uniformity is the best, followed by crushing. The standard tea tasting is to put the tea in a plate (usually made of wood), so that the tea can be layered in turn according to its shape, size, weight, thickness and crushing degree under the action of rotating force. Among them, the thick ones are at the top, the tight ones are concentrated in the middle, and the broken ones are deposited at the bottom. All kinds of tea, medium-grade tea is the best. The upper layer is generally thick and old leaves, with light taste and light water color; There are many broken teas at the lower level, and the taste is often too strong after brewing, and the soup is darker. 5. The purity mainly depends on whether there is camellia oleifera. , tea stalks, tea powder, tea seeds and the amount of inclusions such as bamboo chips, sawdust, lime and sand mixed in the production process. Tea with good purity does not contain any inclusions. In addition, it can also be identified by the dry aroma of tea. No matter what kind of tea, there must be no peculiar smell. Every kind of tea has a specific aroma, and the dry aroma and wet aroma are also different, depending on the specific situation. Green gas, burnt smoke and cooked stuffy smell are not desirable. The above text is only a very general introduction. It is the taste, aroma and color of the brewed tea soup that is the easiest to judge the quality of tea. So if you can, try making tea. If you have a special preference for a certain kind of tea, you'd better find some information about this kind of tea, accurately understand its color, fragrance and shape characteristics, and compare the tea you buy every time, so that if you have more times, you will easily get to the point quickly. Domestic tea varieties are loaded, and non-professionals are unlikely to judge the quality of each kind of tea, just choosing what they like. I don't buy tea in tea shops everywhere. I usually buy them at the place of origin or the teahouse, so I go everywhere in spring. Generally speaking, locally produced tea is pure, but the quality of tea is different due to the difference of tea making technology. Tea in the teahouse is much more expensive than outside, but it is easier to find good tea here. First of all, you can try to know its quality. Second, the teas in better teahouses are carefully selected. If you can't buy tea from the place of origin, it is still an option. There are also some big tea houses where you can try tea on the spot. If you have a good eye for a certain kind of tea, you can go to the tea wholesale market to buy it. Compared with small tea shops, the tea there is relatively new, with many kinds of choices and cheaper prices. But from my own experience, it is generally not easy to find very good tea here, especially green tea. Because of the high price of premium green tea, tea wholesale markets and small tea shops operate less because of cost problems, and most good tea is bought by big tea houses and tea companies.