What kind of tea is bitter tea?

Kudingcha belongs to Kudingcha family, also known as pineapple tree, Dayecha and Kudingcha. The source is the leaves of Ilex kudingcha. Ilex plants. Born on hillsides, bamboo forests and bushes. Distributed in provinces and Fujian in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River.

Evergreen trees in plant form, up to15m. Bark is black or gray-black, rough, with shallow cracks, thick and smooth branches and angular new strips. The leaves are leathery, spirally alternate, oblong or ovoid, with sharp or slightly rounded apex, blunt base, sparse marginal teeth, shiny top and prominent main veins at the bottom. Cymes, mostly concentrated in the upper leaf axils; Male inflorescence has 1 ~ 3 flowers, while female inflorescence has only 1 flower; Bracts ovate, numerous; Calyx 4-lobed, lobes ovate, hairy, yellow-green; Petals 4, oval, base healing, 3 times that of calyx; There are 4 stamens in male flowers, which are longer than petals. The filaments are straight, the anthers are oval, and there is a degeneration chamber in the center. Androgynous stamens are as long as petals, and the ovary is spherical and oval. Drupe is spherical, red after maturity, with residual style; There are four cores and three edges. The flowering period is from April to May, and the fruiting period is 65438+1October.

It can be harvested all year round, and dried after removing impurities.

Characters: The leaves are oval, leathery, non-shrinking, and some are slightly curled longitudinally, with yellow-green or grayish-green luster at the top and yellow-green at the bottom. It tastes slightly bitter.

Chemical constituents include ursolic acid, β-coumarin, lupeol, dandelion alcohol, etc.

Cold in nature and bitter and sweet in taste.

Ilex kudingcha C. J. Tseng is an evergreen tree of Ilex kudingcha, commonly known as Tea Ding, Fuding Tea and Gao Lu Tea, which is mainly distributed in Guangdong, Fujian and other places. It is a traditional pure natural health drink in China. Kuding tea contains more than 200 ingredients, such as Kuding tea saponin, amino acids, vitamin C, polyphenols, flavonoids, caffeine, protein and so on. Its finished tea is fragrant and bitter, and then sweet and cold. It has many functions, such as clearing away heat and relieving summer heat, improving eyesight and intelligence, promoting fluid production to quench thirst, promoting diuresis and strengthening heart, moistening throat and relieving cough, lowering blood pressure and losing weight, inhibiting and preventing cancer, resisting aging and promoting blood circulation. Known as "health tea", "beauty tea", "slimming tea" and "longevity tea". In recent years, the research on Kuding tea mostly focuses on the nutrition and health care aspects such as processed finished tea and tea beverage. At present, a variety of health foods such as bagged kudingcha, kudingcha granules, kudingcha buccal tablets and compound kudingcha have been successfully developed. At present, the research on the cultivation, processing, physiology and biochemistry of Kuding tea is very active, but the research on its finishing, deep processing, trade, physiology and biochemistry mechanism, especially the functional components of Kuding tea, needs to be further explored to promote the development of the utilization of Kuding tea beverage resources.

Second efficacy

Function is mainly used to dispel wind and clear heat, clear the head and remove polydipsia. Used for headache, toothache, red eyes and fever, polydipsia and dysentery.

According to Compendium of Materia Medica, Kuding tea has pharmacological effects such as expelling wind and clearing heat, clearing the head, promoting fluid production to quench thirst, promoting digestion and refreshing, diminishing inflammation and detoxicating, and lowering blood pressure and blood lipid. According to the research of tea research institute of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, crop research institute of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, forest environmental protection research institute of Chinese Academy of Forestry, geological testing center of Ministry of Metallurgical Industry, tea quality supervision, inspection and testing center of Ministry of Agriculture and other scientific research units, vitamin C, vitamin D, vitamin E and various amino acids were separated from kudingcha. B- carrots, polyphenols, triterpenoid glycosides and other substances, as well as calcium (Ca), potassium (K), sodium (Na), manganese (Mn), molybdenum (Mo), magnesium (Mg), iron (Fe), zinc (Zn), selenium (se), germanium (Ge) and chromium (Cr).

According to Guangdong Science and Technology News1May, 1993 15, "Kuding tea has the functions of lowering blood pressure, blood fat and cholesterol, clearing away heat and toxic materials, diminishing inflammation and sterilization, invigorating stomach and promoting digestion, refreshing the brain, improving eyesight and improving thinking, and is a good medicine for cooling liver, expelling wind, relieving pain and diminishing inflammation. Has obvious curative effect on treating hypertension, obesity, stomatitis and pharyngolaryngitis. It has good curative effect on acute gastritis, common cold, abdominal pain, shortness of breath, malaria, constipation, etc. Can inhibit nasopharyngeal carcinoma and esophageal cancer; Washing with boiling water can treat a variety of skin diseases and burns; If tea is used instead, it tastes sweet and refreshing, produces fluid to quench thirst, tastes bitter first and then sweet, and has a lasting aftertaste, so it is called' green gold',' longevity tea' and' beauty tea'.

The clinical application of modern science shows that Kudingcha has the functions of relieving summer-heat, detoxicating, diminishing inflammation and sterilization, resolving phlegm and relieving cough, invigorating stomach and promoting digestion, refreshing the brain, reducing weight, resisting cancer, resisting radiation, lowering blood pressure, lowering blood fat and cholesterol. Known as health tea, longevity tea and beauty tea by consumers at home and abroad, it is a widely used natural multifunctional plant beverage.

Processing technology

Picked fresh tea leaves should be treated in time, not piled up and retted, so as to avoid the leaves falling and rotting.

1, withered

There are three main methods of withering:

(1) heating wilting: manual heating by electric heating and firewood is fast and efficient, but if the temperature is not well controlled, the quality cannot be guaranteed.

(2) Indoor natural withering: mainly carried out in ventilated and light-transmitting rooms. That is to say, spread the tea evenly with a bamboo mat and turn it over several times to make the water evaporate to 50%-60%, and the petiole and leaf buds will wither when they are soft, which takes about 15-20 hours. This method is slow to volatilize and easy to master.

(3) Sunlight withering: spread fresh leaves on bamboo mats or put them in the sun. It only takes 30 minutes on sunny days, and it depends on its softness on cloudy days. In short, the standard of withering is: leaf shape atrophy; Thick stems are soft and not easy to break; The taste of green is reduced.

2, fixed

Fixing enzyme is the key measure to improve the quality of tea. The general requirement is that the fixation should be even and thorough, and the principle of "high temperature and less leaves, combined with throwing and frying" should be mastered. Manual de-enzyming generally uses an iron pot with a large diameter and width, and the pot temperature should be between 150-200℃, first high and then low. The leaves are fried in the pot for about 2 kg at a time, and the processing is doubled. Deactivation standard: the appearance of leaves turns from bright green to dark green, the tea leaves are slightly sticky when held in hand, the thick stems are broken and continuous, the green gas disappears, and there is tea fragrance.

malaxation

Kuding tea generally has thicker leaves and larger stems, and is often heated and twisted. When kneading noodles, use slow fire to knead with frying, warm kneading must also be carried out on a hot stove, and cold kneading is generally less used. The method of hot kneading is to knead the tea leaves into a ball when the adhesion is high, take them out of the pot and shape them, or grab the main stem of each bud and knead one leaf or several leaves into a rope. You can also roll a few leaves into a square, a circle or a triangle. , making it exquisite and elegant, turning green after brewing, showing excellent fragrance, taste and shape. It is required that the formation rate of tender leaves is above 80%, and the formation rate of over-age buds is only 60%-70%.

dry

After the fresh leaves are wilted, dried, twisted and shaped, they should be shaken well immediately and scattered in the shade of bamboo mats, dustpans or threshing floors, and avoid direct sunlight. When the leaves can be ground and the thick stems are broken, it means that the water content of tea leaves is 3%-5%, and the tea leaves will reach the degree of dryness. In case of rainy weather after collection, it must be dried slowly at low temperature after processing until it is dry.

Plant name: Ilex kudingcha

Nickname: Ilex macrophylla

Latin name: Ilex latifolia

Last name: Holly

Genus name: Ilex.

Adaptation area: from the lower reaches of the Yangtze River to South China.

Central subtropical evergreen deciduous broad-leaved forest area (major cities: Wuhan, Shashi, Huangshi, Yichang, Nanchang, Jingdezhen, Jiujiang, Ji 'an, Jinggangshan, Ganzhou, Shanghai, Changsha, Zhuzhou, Yueyang, Huaihua, Jishou, Changde, Xiangtan, Hengyang, Shaoyang, Guilin, Wenzhou, Jinhua, Ningbo, Chongqing, Chengdu, Dujiangyan, etc.

South subtropical evergreen broad-leaved forest area (main cities: Fuzhou, Xiamen, Quanzhou, Zhangzhou, Guangzhou, Foshan, Shunde, Dongguan, Huizhou, Shantou, Taipei, Liuzhou, Guiping and Gejiu)

Tropical monsoon rain forest area (major cities: Haikou, Sanya, Qionghai, Kaohsiung, Tainan, Shenzhen, Zhanjiang, Zhongshan, Zhuhai, Macau, Hong Kong, Nanning, Qinzhou Beihai, Maoming and Jinghong)

Ecological classification: woody plants >; evergreen tree

Ornamental classification: shade trees

Height range: 20 meters

Morphological characteristics: yellow-green flowers in spring, red fruits, mature in autumn, and young leaves can replace tea.

Growth habit: shade tolerance

Landscape uses: courtyard shade trees

Source: China Tea Online

Discrimination between true and false

The leaves of Kuding tea are 1.5-2 times larger than those of ordinary tea, oval, thick, leathery and hairless. Fresh leaves are bright and dark green. Tea made of young leaves is thick, curly and hairless. Brewing can distinguish true from false: Kuding tea is bitter first (this bitterness is acceptable in taste) and then slightly sweet, without astringent, spicy, smelly, sour and other peculiar smells, and it is resistant to brewing. 1 g kudingcha made of tender leaves can be brewed with 150ml of water, and the tea is rich in flavor, and it is still rich after being brewed for 8 times-10 times, which is incomparable to ordinary tea. Tea made from mature leaves is characterized by bitter first and sweet later, no green taste, strong and slow release, and resistance to brewing. Adding 2-4 times the amount of tea leaves is only slightly thick, and its bitterness is still refreshing and mellow, and it will not become bitter. It is difficult to make other leaves and even add some substances. If the sweetness is too strong and too sweet, licorice or sugar can be added. If it smells of ginseng, it may be Gynostemma pentaphyllum or other ginseng. Check the leaf bottom: the leaf bottom of Kuding tea is purple-brown, with no fuzz, large and thick leaves and thick tea stems. The whole old leaf has a large area and pure marginal teeth.

Heterogeneous tea identification

That is, adding other substances into Kuding tea can be distinguished by senses. Ordinary tea leaves have light bones and small shapes, and the leaves are small and thin when viewed from the bottom. Coarse powder may be mixed with other substances. The most convenient and effective way is to take a suspicious foreign body about 2 millet size, put it in your mouth and cut it with your front teeth. Authentic products can feel bitter taste in the mouth. Bitter before sweet, inferior products are either bitter or light, or extremely bitter or have other odors. Licorice is only sweet, not bitter.

appraisal of quality

Kuding tea is a kind of health drink, and its evaluation is different from that of ordinary tea. Whether it is resistant to brewing is the main thing. High-grade Kuding tea has a strong taste, bitter first and sweet later, tight and clean.

Handle plate: after sieving, shaking and collecting tea samples, there is no broken debris. It is better to have more tea in the middle and more bones, and it is better to cut the old leaf tea evenly.

Boiling soup: Weigh 3g of tea sample, taste the cup with 150ml, and boil for 5min.

Smell aroma: the aroma at the bottom of leaves is not obvious, but rather dull. It is normal to smell cold and hot without peculiar smell, musty smell and burnt gas.

Taste: bitter first, then sweet. Bitterness is an acceptable mellow taste, and it is better without peculiar smell. Sweet, just sweet, sweet is not strong, no sweet is better. After drinking, the mouth and throat feel mellow and sweet, and there is nothing bad. If the quality of sour, bitter, spicy and burnt products is not good enough, or even adulterated, it is necessary to re-inspect.

Bubble resistance test: Kuding tea is resistant to brewing and its taste is slowly released. It is best to brew continuously (5 minutes each time) 10 times or more, and there is still a strong feeling. The smell is fast, easy to change and slightly worse.

Look at the color of the soup: Kuding tea should be yellow-green, clear and free from turbidity or suspended matter.

Leaf bottom evaluation: indigo or dark blue, soft, leaves without focal spots and debris is preferred.

Shelving of tea residue and soup: Kuding tea soaked in clean boiling water will not change its taste for 3-5 days, and its taste will remain the same as before. When the brewed tea leaves are poured until there are no water drops, the tea residue will not be moldy after 3-5 days in the cup, and the tea fragrance will remain after boiling again.

The taste of Kuding tea made by old leaves is similar to that made by young leaves, but the times of soaking resistance are slightly less, and the tea brewed each time is lighter. If the amount of tea leaves is slightly increased, the drinking taste is still good.

The legend of kudingcha

The bud of Kuding tea is purple, which is said to be red with the blood of tea girl A Xiang. In ancient times, there was a tea girl named A Xiang. Because of her beauty, the government wanted to elect her to the palace, but A Xiang refused. On the day when she was sent to the palace, she jumped off a cliff and died, with blood spattered on Kuding tea buds. Tea buds change from green to purple, and the taste becomes sweet and fragrant. Later, people called Kuding tea purple bamboo shoot tea.

It is also said that there was a poet named Song in Anshucheng in the Tang Dynasty, who was outstanding in literary talent, but he was over half a year old and tried every time. Then he went south to live in seclusion in Xiqiao Mountain and taught the villagers to grow tea. In order to find a way to raise seedlings of Ilex kudingcha seeds, he first fed the crane with tea fruits, and then used its feces to produce tea seeds for breeding, which was unsuccessful. Guided by the immortal, it was successfully soaked in the fairy water of Penglai Pavilion, making Xiqiao Mountain a well-known tea area. Song planted tea in the mountains and wrote poems for ten years. At the age of seventy, he was admitted to Jinshi. Later, people built a tea fairy Temple on the mountain to commemorate his achievements.