【Origin of Tea】

There is a long record of tea drinking in Chinese history, and it is impossible to find out exactly what age it was, but there is a theory about the approximate era. And evidence can also be found that the habit of drinking tea in many parts of the world was indeed transmitted from China. Therefore, many people think that tea drinking was pioneered by the Chinese, and the tea drinking habits and tea planting habits in other parts of the world are directly or indirectly transmitted from China. However, some people can find evidence that the habit of drinking tea was not only invented by the Chinese, but also invented in some other parts of the world, such as India, Africa, etc., in 1823, a major of the British invading army discovered a wild large tea tree in India, so that some people began to believe that the birthplace of tea is in India. Of course, there are also records of wild tea trees in China, all of which are concentrated in the southwest region, and the records also include individual areas of Gansu and Hunan. Tea tree is a very old dicot plant that is closely related to people's lives.

In China, there is also a debate about the earliest origin of the tea plant, and there are several theories. Many people believe that in Yunnan, a scholar asserts that Xishuangbanna in Yunnan is the origin of tea after careful research and research. The earliest written record of the artificial cultivation of tea trees began with Mengshan tea in the Western Han Dynasty. This is contained in the "Sichuan Tongzhi".

【The origin time of tea drinking】

Shennong has a crystal belly, Dharma eyelids become tea trees, the origin of Chinese tea drinking is different: tracing the origin of tea drinking by Chinese, some believe that it began in ancient times, some believe that it began in Zhou, and there are also claims that it began in the Qin and Han Dynasties, the Three Kingdoms, the Northern and Southern Dynasties, and the Tang Dynasty, and the main reason for the divergent opinions is that there was no "tea" character before the Tang Dynasty, but only the record of the word "Tu", until Lu Yu, the author of the Tea Sutra, wrote the word "tea" by subtracting one painting, so there is a saying that tea originated in the Tang Dynasty. Others are still said to have originated in Shennong and in the Qin and Han dynasties.

Shennong said

Tang Dynasty. Lu Yu's "Book of Tea": "Tea is drinking, and it comes from Shennong's." "In the history of China's cultural development, the origin of everything related to agriculture and plants is often attributed to Shennong. The theory that Chinese tea drinking originated in Shennong has also derived different views due to folklore. Some people think that tea is Shennong in the wild kettle pot boiling water, just a few leaves floated into the pot, boiled water, its color is slightly yellow, drink in the mouth to quench thirst, refresh the mind, to Shennong's past experience of tasting herbs, judge it is a medicine and discovered, this is the most common statement about the origin of Chinese tea drinking. Another theory is to be attached to it from the phonetic, saying that Shennong has a crystal belly, from the appearance can see the food peristalsis in the stomach and intestines, when he tasted the tea, found that the tea flowed everywhere in the stomach, check and check, and wash the stomach and intestines clean, so Shennong called this plant "check", and then turned into the word "tea", and became the origin of tea

Xi Zhou said

Advance. Chang Xuan's Huayang National Chronicles. Ba Zhi": "King Wu of Zhou cut down the Xuan, and he really got the division of Bashu,...... Tea honey ...... All of them are tribute. This record shows that when King Wu of the Zhou Dynasty conquered, the state of Ba had already paid tribute to King Wu of Zhou with tea and other precious products. It is also recorded in the "Huayang National Chronicles" that there were artificially cultivated tea gardens at that time.

Qin Han said

Western han dynasty. Wang Bao's "Servant Covenant": The earliest and more reliable surviving tea science materials are in the Han Dynasty, and the main basis is the Servant Covenant written by Wang Bao. This article was written on the fifteenth day of the first month of the third year of Emperor Xuan of the Han Dynasty (59 BC), which is the most important document in the history of tea science before the Book of Tea. Carry the pot and make it. Draw water for feeding. Polyester cup whole case. Pulling garlic in the garden. Chop the preserved ribs. Build meat taro. Fish and fish. Tea cooking utensils. Feeding has been covered. There is a tree behind the house. When tailoring the ship. Up to Jiangzhou. Go down to the frying master. Ask for money for the rafters. Push and spin evil. Silly Suomian Pavilion. Buy a table to and from Duluo. Seek fat for women. Sold in small markets. Return to the capital. Turn out of the sideways. Morning glory and goose sellers. Wuyang buys tea. Yang's pond bears the load. Gathering in and out of the city. Beware of traitors.

"Cooking utensils", "Wuyang buying", after the examination of the tea is today's tea. From the text, it can be seen that tea has become a part of the social diet at that time, and it is a rare thing to treat guests, which shows the importance of tea in the society at that time. In recent years, in the Western Han Dynasty tomb of Mawangdui in Changsha, it was found that there were bamboo slips and woodcuts of "□ Yidi" and "□ Yidi" in the funeral inventory, and it was verified that "□" was a variant of "槚", indicating that there was a custom of drinking tea in Hunan at that time.

Liuchao said

Some people think that it started with "Sun Hao replaced wine with tea", some people think that it started with "Wang Su tea", and in Japan and India, it is said that tea drinking started from "Dharma meditation". However, the Qin and Han dynasties have conclusive historical evidence, which weakens the correctness of the Six Dynasties theory.

Bodhidharma meditation: Legend Bodhidharma from India to the east of China, vow to stop sleeping for nine years to meditate, the first three years Bodhidharma succeeded as he wished, but then gradually fell asleep, Bodhidharma woke up ashamed and angry, then cut off the eyelids, thrown on the ground. Soon after, a small tree grew at the eyelids, and the branches and leaves were sparse, and the business was booming. After five years, Bodhidharma was quite sober, but there was still a year to be invaded by the sleeping demon, Bodhidharma ate the leaves beside him, immediately after eating, the brain was clear, the mind was clear, and the mind was clear, so that he was able to complete the oath of nine years of meditation, and the leaves that Bodhidharma ate were the tea of the descendants, which is the saying that drinking tea began in the six dynasties of Bodhidharma. The story grasps the properties of tea and illustrates the refreshing effect of tea element.

Sun Hao replaces wine with tea: according to the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms. According to Wei Yao's Biography, Sun Hao, the emperor of Wu, led his ministers to drink, and stipulated that those who went to the banquet had to drink at least seven liters, but Wei Yao's wine was too strong and could only drink two liters. It can be seen that during the Three Kingdoms period, the upper class was very popular in drinking tea, and there was a precedent of "replacing wine with tea".

Wang Su Mingjiu: Before the Tang Dynasty, people drank tea called "tea drinking", which was used to quench thirst or accompany meals, just like cooking vegetables and drinking soup. This statement can be glimpsed from the description of Luoyang Jialanji written by Yang Zhizhi of the Northern Wei Dynasty. The book records that at that time like "tea", mainly the Southern Dynasty people, the northerners drink more buttermilk every day, the book also records a story: during the Northern Wei Dynasty, an official of the Southern Qi Dynasty Wang Su surrendered to the Northern Wei Dynasty, when he first came, he was not used to eating mutton and buttermilk in the north, so he often took crucian carp soup as rice, and drank tea juice when he was thirsty, and a drink was a bucket, and the people in Luoyang, the capital of the Northern Wei Dynasty, called Wang Su "leaky misfortune", which was a container that was forever dissatisfied. A few years later, Emperor Gaozu of the Northern Wei Dynasty held a banquet, at which Wang Su ate mutton and had a lot of buttermilk, so Gaozu asked Wang Su: "What do you think of mutton compared to crucian carp soup?" Wang Su replied: "Ju vassal small country, although the fish cannot be compared with mutton, but it is the table of orchid and autumn chrysanthemum that has its own benefits. It's just that the juice boiled in the tea leaves is not drunk, so I have to be a slave to the buttermilk. As soon as this allusion spread, the tea sauce had the alias of "Tyslave". This record shows that tea drinking was a fashion for the southerners, from the aristocratic courtiers to the commoners, and even a necessity for daily life, while the northerners discriminated against tea. Secondly, the tea drinking at that time belonged to the cattle drink, and some people even drank it to one or two liters, which was very different from the tea drinking that was slow to drink later.

【Causes of Tea Drinking】

Now we can argue that tea has been recognized and used in China for a long time, and there have been tea planting and tea harvesting for a long time. But why did humans drink tea in the first place? How did you form the habit of drinking tea?

Sacrificial Theory: This theory holds that tea and some other plants were first used as sacrifices, and later some people paid for it and found that it was harmless, so it was "eaten by sacrifices, vegetables, and medicinal", and finally became drinks.

Drug Theory: This statement holds that tea "originally entered human society as a medicinal use." "Shennong's Hundred Herbs Sutra" wrote: "Shennong tasted a hundred herbs, encountered seventy-two poisons every day, and got tea to solve them."

Food said: "The ancients used grass to drink water", "the people took food as the sky", and food first conforms to the evolutionary law of human society.

Synchronicity: The initial way to use tea may be as a chewing ingredient, or as a roasted food, and at the same time, it is gradually used as a medicinal drink.

The comparison and accumulation of these methods eventually developed into the habit of drinking tea.

The most useless of the above statements is the fourth, which adds up the previous three statements to become its own "foolproof" explanation. Perhaps this explanation is the most appropriate.

【Widespread Popularity of Tea】

However, it can also be verified that tea was widely popularized and drunk in all walks of life, roughly after Lu Yu's "Book of Tea" was handed down in the Tang Dynasty. Therefore, in the Song Dynasty, there was a poem "Since Lu Yu was born in the world, the world has learned spring tea". In other words, after the invention of tea, it was not well known to the public for more than a thousand years.

【Birthplace of Tea Tree】

The search for this point tends to focus on the study of the birthplace of the tea plant. There are several theories about the birthplace of the tea plant:

Southwest said: The southwest of China is the origin of tea and the birthplace of tea. This statement refers to a wide range, so it is more correct.

Sichuan said: Qing. Gu Yanwu's "Daily Knowledge": "Since the Qin people took Shu, there has been a matter of tea. The implication is that before the Qin people entered Shu, tea was known to be drunk in present-day Sichuan. In fact, Sichuan is in the southwest, and if Sichuan says it is established, then the southwest says it is established.

Yunnan said: It is believed that the Xishuangbanna generation in Yunnan is the birthplace of tea trees, this area is the kingdom of plants, and it is entirely possible that there are native tea tree species, but tea trees can be native, and tea is the fruit of revitalization labor.

East Sichuan and West Hubei said: Lu Yu's "Book of Tea": "In the Bashan Gorge River, there are two people who hug each other. "The Bashan Gorge River is now the east of Sichuan and the west of Hubei. There is no evidence that there are such outstanding tea plants in this area, whether anyone used them as tea.

Jiang Zhejiang said: Recently, some people have proposed that the ancient Yue culture began with the Hemudu culture. Jiangsu and Zhejiang are currently the most developed areas of China's tea industry, and if history can take root here, it is a very meaningful topic.

【China's Top 10 Famous Teas】

There are 10 types of these:

Hangzhou Longjing

Longjing was originally a place name and a spring name, but now it is mainly a tea name. Longjing tea is produced in Longjing Village, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, and has been divided into four categories in history: "Lion, Dragon, Cloud, and Tiger", most of which are believed to be the best quality of the old wells produced in Shifeng. Longjing is a fried green tea, which is famous for its "green, fragrant, mellow and beautiful" four uniques. Good tea also needs good water brewing. "Longjing tea, tiger running water" is also known as Hangzhou's double unique. The organic nitride content in the Hupao water is more, and the soluble minerals are less, so it is more conducive to the aroma and taste of Longjing tea.

Brewing Longjing tea can be selected in a glass, because of its transparency, the tea leaves gradually stretch in the cup, a flag and a gun, up and down, the soup is bright and green, vivid, carefully watched, it can really be said to be a kind of artistic love.

Taihu Lake Biluochun

It is produced in Dongting Mountain on the shore of Taihu Lake in Wuxian County, Jiangsu. Biluochun tea leaves are fried with the delicate buds picked from the tea trees in spring; High-grade Biluochun, 0.5 kg of dry tea requires 6-70,000 tea buds, which shows the delicate tea buds. After frying, the dry tea strips are tightly knotted, the white hao is revealed, the color is silver green, the emerald green is attractive, and it is curled into a snail, so it is called "Biluo Spring".

After brewing, the white clouds in the cup are rolling, and the fragrance is attacked, which is a famous tea in China, and is often used as a high-end gift.

Huangshan Maofeng

It is produced in Huangshan, Anhui Province, and is mainly distributed in the Yungu Temple, Songgu Nunnery, Suspension Bridge Gelding, Ciguang Pavilion and the surrounding half temple of Taohua Peak. The mountains here are high and dense, the sunshine is short, the clouds and mist are many, the natural conditions are very superior, the tea trees are moistened by the clouds and mist, there is no invasion of cold and heat, and it contains good quality.

The Maofeng of Huangshan Mountain is very finely harvested. The shape of the Maofeng tea made is fine and flattened, slightly curved, like a bird's tongue, fragrant like a white orchid, and the taste is mellow and sweet. There are many famous teas in Huangshan, in addition to Mao Feng, there are Xiuning's "Tunlu", Taiping's "Monkey Kui", Shexian's "Laozhu Dafang" and so on, all of which have their own characteristics and are popular among the people.

Lushan clouds

It is produced in Lushan, Jiangxi. Lushan, known as "Kuanglu Xiujia World", borders the Yangtze River in the north and Poyang Lake in the south, with a mild climate and beautiful landscapes, which is very suitable for the growth of tea trees. Lushan cloud buds are fat, the strips are beautiful, fragrant and sweet, the soup color is clear, it is the boutique in green tea.

Lu'an melon slices

It is produced in the Dabie camellia area of western Anhui, among which the products of Lu'an, Jinzhai and Huoshan counties are the best. Lu'an melon slices are picked every spring, and the tea is in the shape of melon seeds, so it is named, the color is emerald green, the fragrance is high, the taste is sweet and fresh, and it is resistant to brewing. This tea can not only quench the thirst and quench the thirst, but also has a strong digestive effect and curing effect, Wenlong of the Ming Dynasty said in the "Tea Notes" that Lu'an tea is the most effective in medicine, so it is regarded as a treasure.

Enshi Gyokuro

It is produced in Enshi, Hubei. Hubei has a long history of tea production, as early as the Tang Dynasty has been very famous, is still an important tea-producing province in China. Enshi Yulu is one of the few steamed green tea preserved in China, and its production process and tools used are quite ancient, which is very similar to that contained in Lu Yu's "Book of Tea".

Enshi Yulu has very strict requirements for harvesting, the buds and leaves must be delicate and even, the tea strips are tight and thin, the color is bright green, even and straight, like pine needles; The tea soup is clear and bright, the aroma is fresh, the taste is sweet and mellow, and the background color of the leaves is as green as jade. "Three greens" (tea green, soup green, leaf bottom green) is its distinctive characteristics.

Since the Tang Dynasty introduced tea varieties and tea-making methods from China, Japan still mainly uses the steaming method to make green tea, and its Gyokuro tea making method is similar to Enshi Gyokuro, and the quality has its own characteristics.

White silver needle

It is a white tea that is produced in places such as Jianyang, Shuiji, and Songzheng in northern Fujian and Fuding in the east.

Baihao silver needle is full of slope white milli color white as silver, slender as a needle, hence the name. When brewing, "full of floating tea milk", the silver needle stands upright, staggered up and down, very beautiful; The soup is yellow, bright and clear, and the taste is fragrant and sweet. Since the tea juice is not rolled during production, it is difficult to leach out, so the brewing time should be slightly extended.

White tea has a warm and cool taste, which is refreshing for the stomach, dispelling dampness and reducing fever, and is often used as medicine. In Hong Kong and Macau, retail stores often blend a small amount of white tea with other types of tea to enhance its grade and gain commercial value.

Wuyi rock tea

It is produced in Wuyi Mountain, Chong'an County, Fujian. Wuyi rock tea is a semi-fermented tea, and the production method is between green tea and black tea. Its main varieties are "Da Hong Pao", "White Rooster Comb", "Narcissus", "Oolong", "Cinnamon" and so on. The quality of Wuyi rock tea is unique, it has not been flowered, but the tea soup has a strong floral fragrance, sweet and delicious when drinking, and the aftertaste is not serious. After it was introduced to Europe in the 18th century, it was loved by the local people and had the reputation of "the cure for all diseases".

Anxi Tieguanyin

It is produced in Anxi, southern Fujian. The production process of Tieguanyin is very complicated, and the tea strips made are tightly knotted, and the color is black and sandy green. A good Tieguanyin, in the production process, will condense into a layer of hoarfrost due to the evaporation of caffeine with water; After brewing, it has a natural orchid fragrance and a pure taste. Drink with a small gongfu tea set, smell the fragrance first, then taste, and suddenly feel full of fragrant fragrance, and the aftertaste is not investigated. In recent years, after discovering that oolong tea has the effect of fitness and beauty, Tieguanyin has become more popular in Japan and Southeast Asia.

Pu-erh tea

It is produced in Xishuangbanna, Yunnan Province and other places, and is named because it has been distributed in Pu'er since ancient times. Pu'er tea is a general term for a variety of Yunnan pressed teas made from green tea or black tea by steaming, including Tuo tea, cake tea, square tea, tight tea, etc.

The excellent quality of Pu'er tea is not only reflected in its aroma, moisturizing, and mellow taste, which is mainly for Tibetan compatriots to drink. The excellent quality of Pu'er tea is not only in its aroma, taste and other drinking value, but also in its valuable medicinal effects, so overseas Chinese and Hong Kong and Macao compatriots often regard Pu'er tea as a health product.

In other "China's top ten famous teas" said, the common ones are "Tunlu" produced in Tunxi and other places in Anhui Province, "Qihong" produced in Qimen County, Anhui Province, and "Yunnan Hong" produced in Yunnan.

【Types of tea】

Green tea: Tea is tea that has not been fermented, that is, the fresh leaves are directly fried in a hot pot of 1200 degrees after being spread and dried, so as to maintain its green characteristics.

Precious varieties are: Longjing Tea, Biluo Spring Tea, Huangshan Maofeng Tea, Lushan Yunwu, Lu'an Gua Pian, Mengding Tea, Taiping Houkui Tea, Junshan Yinzhen Tea, Guzhu Purple Bamboo Shoot Tea, Xinyang Maojian Tea, Pingshui Zhu Tea, Xishan Tea, Yandang Maofeng Tea, Huading Yunwu Tea, Yongxi Huoqing Tea, Jingting Green Snow Tea, Emei Erui Tea, Duyun Maojian Tea, Enshi Yulu Tea, Wuyuan Mingmei Tea, Yuhua Tea, Mogan Yellow Bud Tea, Wushan Gaimi Tea, Putuo Buddha Tea.

Black Tea: Black tea, as opposed to green tea, is a fully fermented tea (fermented to greater than 80%). Black tea gets its name from the red color of its soup.

Precious varieties are: Qi red, Yunnan red, Ying red.

Black tea: Black tea was originally mainly sold to border areas, such as Pu'er tea in Yunnan. Pu'er tea is made by pouring water on top of the already prepared green tea and then fermenting it. Pu-erh tea has lipid-lowering, weight loss, and blood pressure-lowering effects, and is popular in Southeast Asia and Japan. But if you really want to lose weight, the most significant effect is oolong tea.

Oolong tea: Oolong tea, also known as green tea, is a type of semi-fermented tea that is intermediate between red and green tea. Oolong tea is the most complex and time-consuming among the six types of tea, and the brewing method is also the most exquisite, so drinking oolong tea is also known as drinking gongfu tea.

Precious varieties are: Wuyi Rock Tea, Tieguanyin, Phoenix Dancong, Taiwan Oolong Tea.

Yellow tea: The famous Junshan silver needle tea belongs to yellow tea, and the preparation method of yellow tea is a bit like green tea, but it needs to be dull yellow for three days in the middle;

White tea: White tea is basically made from the sun. The appearance, aroma and taste of white and yellow tea are very good. Precious varieties are: Baihao silver needle tea, white peony tea.

Combining the above common classification methods, Chinese tea can be divided into two parts: basic tea and reprocessed tea:

【Basic Tea】

Green tea: This is the most produced type of tea in China, and its variety ranks first in the world. Green tea has the characteristics of high aroma, mellow taste, beautiful shape, and brewing resistance. The production process is all through the process of finishing, kneading and drying. Due to the different drying methods during processing, green tea can be divided into roasted green tea, roasted green tea, steamed green tea and sun-dried green tea. Green tea is the most produced type of tea in China, and 18 tea-producing provinces (regions) in the country produce green tea. China's green tea varieties rank first in the world, with tens of thousands of tons exported every year, accounting for about 70% of the green tea trade volume in the world tea market. China's traditional green tea, Mei tea and pearl tea, are popular with consumers at home and abroad for their high fragrance, mellow taste, beautiful shape and brewing resistance.

Black tea: The difference between black tea and green tea lies in the different processing methods. Black tea is processed without killing, and withering, so that the fresh leaves lose a part of the moisture, and then kneaded (kneaded into strips or cut into granules), and then fermented, so that the tea polyphenols contained in it oxidize and turn into red compounds. This compound is partly soluble in water and partly insoluble in water, and accumulates in the leaves, thus forming red soup and red leaves. There are three main categories of black tea: small black tea, gongfu black tea and black broken tea.

Green tea (oolong tea): It is a semi-fermented tea, that is, it is properly fermented when it is made, so that the leaves are slightly red, and it is a kind of tea between green tea and black tea. It has both the freshness of green tea and the sweetness of black tea. Because the middle of the leaf is green, and the leaf edge is red, it is called "green leaf red border".

White tea ---- a specialty of our country. It is not fried or kneaded when it is processed, and only the delicate tea leaves with hairy leaves are dried or dried with a simmer, so that the white hairs are completely preserved. White tea is mainly produced in Fuding, Zhenghe, Songxi and Jianyang counties in Fujian, and there are several kinds of "silver needle", "white peony", "Gongmei" and "Shoumei".

Yellow tea: In the process of making tea, it is stuffy and yellow, thus forming yellow leaves and yellow soup. It is divided into three categories: "Yellow Bud Tea" (including Junshan Silver Bud in Dongting Lake, Hunan, Mengding Yellow Bud in Ya'an, Sichuan and Mingshan County, and Huo Nei Bud in Huoshan County, Anhui), "Huang Xiaocha" (including Beigang in Yueyang, Hunan, Weishan Maojian in Ningxiang, Hunan, Pingyang Yellow Tang in Pingyang, Zhejiang, and Luyuan in Yuan'an, Hubei), and "Huang Da Tea" (including Dayeqing and Huoshan Huangda Tea in Anhui).

Black tea: The raw materials are coarse and old, and the accumulation and fermentation time is long during processing, which makes the leaf color dark brown. It is an indispensable daily necessity for Tibetan, Mongolian, Uygur and other fraternal ethnic groups. There are varieties such as "Hunan Black Tea", "Hubei Laoqing Tea", "Guangxi Liubao Tea", "West Roadside Tea" and "South Roadside Tea" in Sichuan, "Tight Tea", "Flat Tea", "Square Tea" and "Round Tea" in Yunnan.

【Reprocessed Tea】

Reprocessed tea is called reprocessed tea by reprocessing various wool teas or refined teas, including flower tea, pressed tea, liquid tea, instant tea and medicinal tea.

Medicinal tea: The medicine is compatible with tea to make medicinal tea, so as to exert and strengthen the effect of the drug, facilitate the dissolution of the drug, increase the aroma, and reconcile the medicinal taste. There are many types of this tea, such as "Afternoon Tea", "Ginger Tea San", "Yishou Tea", "Diet Tea", etc.

Flower tea, which is a relatively rare variety of tea flowers. It is a product that increases the fragrance of tea with floral aroma, and is very popular in our country. Generally, green tea is used to make tea blanks, and a few also use black tea or oolong tea to make tea blanks. According to the characteristics of tea leaves that are easy to absorb peculiar smells, it is processed from fragrant flowers and kilns. There are several varieties of jasmine and osmanthus used, with jasmine being the most.

From the perspective of the world, among the above types of tea, black tea is the largest, followed by green tea, and the least is white tea.

【Tea Drinking Abroad Grand View】

Residents of more than 100 countries and regions around the world love to enjoy tea. In some places, tea drinking is promoted as an artistic enjoyment. The way of drinking tea is the same in all countries, and each has its own advantages.

Sri Lanka: Sri Lankan residents love to drink strong tea, which is bitter and astringent, but they feel that it tastes great. The country's black tea sells well all over the world, and there are large trading houses that distribute tea in the capital Colombo, with a tea tasting department, where experts taste the taste with their tongues and then check the grade and price.

United Kingdom: People from all walks of life in the UK love drinks. Tea can almost be called the national drink of the United Kingdom. He loves freshly brewed strong tea, with a sugar or two and a little cold milk.

Thailand: Thais love to add ice to tea, and it cools down or even freezes all at once, which is iced tea. In Thailand, local tea drinkers do not drink hot tea, and it is usually foreign guests who drink hot tea.

Mongolia: Mongolians love to eat brick tea. They pounded the brick tea into a powder in a wooden mortar, added water and boiled it in a pot, then added some and also added milk and goat's milk.

New Zealand: New Zealanders make drinking tea one of life's greatest enjoyment. Many institutions, schools, factories and mines also set special tea drinking times. Tea shops and teahouses abound in various towns and villages.

Mali: Malian people love to drink tea after meals. They put tea leaves and water in a teapot and stew it on a tandoor to boil. After the tea is boiled, add sugar and pour a cup per person. Their method of boiling tea is different: every day when they get up, they boil water in a tin pot and put in the tea leaves; Let it simmer until the cured meat is cooked at the same time, and then eat the meat and drink tea at the same time.

Canada: Canadians have a special method of making tea, first blanch a clay pot, put a teaspoon of tea leaves, then pour boiling water on it, soak it for seven or eight minutes, and then pour the tea leaves into another hot pot for drinking. Usually cheese and sugar are added.

Russia: Russians make tea, often add a slice of lemon to each cup, and some use fruit pulp instead of lemon. In winter, mulled wine is sometimes added to prevent colds.

Egypt: Sweet tea in Egypt. The Egyptians were hospitable, often serving a cup of hot tea with a lot of sugar in it, and after drinking only two or three cups of this sweet tea, it would feel sticky in the mouth, and they didn't even want to eat.

North Africa: Peppermint tea from North Africa. North Africans drink tea and like a few fresh mint leaves and some rock sugar in the green camellia, which is cool and delicious when drinking. When a guest visits, the guest has to finish the three cups of tea that the host has given him to be polite.

South America: Yerba mate in South America. In many countries in South America, tea is made from the leaves of the local yerba mate tree, which is both refreshing and invigorating. They were savoring it slowly from the teacup with a straw.

[How to correctly distinguish spring tea, summer tea and autumn tea]

Under the climatic conditions of our country, except for a few areas in the tea area of South China, the vast majority of tea-producing areas, tea tree growth and tea harvesting are seasonal, and tea is usually divided into spring, summer and autumn tea according to the picking time.

The quality characteristics of spring tea, summer tea and autumn tea The quality characteristics of spring tea, summer tea and autumn tea can be described from two aspects.

The first is dry looking. It is mainly judged from the three factors of color, aroma and shape of dry tea. Where the green tea color is green, the black tea color is black, the tea leaves are fat and heavy, or there are more white hair, and the black tea and green tea are tightly knotted, the bead tea particles are round and tight, and the aroma is rich, which is the quality characteristic of spring tea. The color of green tea is gray, the color of black tea is ruddy, the tea leaves are light and loose, the tender stems are wide and long, and the black tea and green tea strips are loose, the bead tea particles are loose, and the aroma is slightly coarse and old, which is the quality characteristic of summer tea. The color of green tea is yellow-green, the color of black tea is dark red, the tea leaves are different, the leaves are light and thin, and the aroma is relatively peaceful, which is the symbol of autumn tea.

The second is wet looking. It is to evaluate the tea leaves as a further judgment.

After brewing, the tea sinks quickly, the aroma is strong and long-lasting, and the taste is mellow; The color of green tea soup is yellow in green, and the color of black tea soup is bright cash circle; The bottom of the tea leaves is soft and thick, and there are many normal buds and leaves, which is spring tea.

After the tea leaves are brewed, the sinking is slower and the aroma is slightly lower; The taste of green tea is not thick and slightly astringent, the soup color is green, and the bottom of the leaves is mixed with copper-green buds and leaves; The taste of black tea is strong and unrefreshing, the soup color is red and dark, and the bottom of the leaves is red and bright; The bottom of the tea leaves is thin and hard, and the leaves are more, which is summer tea. Where the aroma of tea brewing is not high, the taste is bland, there are copper-green buds and leaves at the bottom of the leaves, the size of the leaves is different, and the leaves are more, for autumn tea.

【Distribution of tea areas in China】

Located in the southwest of China, including Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan and southeastern Tibet, the Southwest Tea Region is the oldest tea tree in Zhongpu, rich in tea tree resources, producing black tea, green tea, tuo tea, pressed tea and Pu'er tea, etc., and is one of the main bases for the development of large-leaf red crushed tea in China. The Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau is the center of origin of tea trees. The terrain is complex, some of the same latitude areas have great altitude differences, the climate is very different, most of the areas belong to the tropical monsoon climate, the winter is not cold, the summer is not hot, the soil in the tea area: Sichuan, Guizhou and southeast Tibet are dominated by yellow soil, with a small amount of brown soil; Yunnan is mainly red soil and mountainous red soil. The soil organic matter content is generally richer than that of other tea regions.

Located in southern China, including Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian, Taiwan, Hainan and other provinces (regions), the South China Tea Region is the most suitable area for tea growth in China. Varieties are abundant, there are various types of tea varieties such as trees, small trees, shrubs, etc., producing black tea, oolong tea, flower tea, white tea and Liubao tea, etc., the production of large-leaf red broken tea, tea soup concentration is good. Except for a few areas such as northern Fujian, northern Guangdong and northern Guangxi, the annual average temperature is as high as 19-22 degrees Celsius, the average temperature of the lowest month (January) is 7-14 degrees, the annual growth period of tea trees is more than 10 months, and the annual precipitation is the highest in China's tea area, generally 1200-2000 mm, of which the rainfall in Taiwan Province is particularly abundant, and the annual precipitation often exceeds 2000 mm. The soil in the tea area is mainly brick red soil, and some areas also have red soil and yellow soil, with deep soil layer and rich organic matter content.

Located in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River in the south of China, including Zhejiang, Hunan, Jiangxi and other provinces, as well as southern Anhui, southern Jiangsu, southern Hunan, etc., Jiangnan tea area is the main tea producing area in China, accounting for about two-thirds of the total annual output. The main production categories include green tea, black tea, black tea, flower tea, and special famous teas of different qualities, such as West Lake Longjing, Huangshan Maofeng, Dongting Biluo, Junshan Yinzhen, Lushan Yunwu, etc. Tea plantations are mainly distributed in hilly areas, and a few are in mountainous areas with high sea pressure. The climate has four distinct seasons, the average annual temperature is 15-18 degrees, and the absolute minimum temperature in winter is generally about 18 degrees. The annual precipitation is 1400-1600 mm, and the spring and summer rainfall is the most, accounting for about 60-80% of the annual precipitation, and the autumn is dry. The soil in the tea area is mainly red soil, some are yellow soil or brown yellow soil, and a few are alluvial soil.

Jiangbei tea area is located in the north of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, including Henan, Shaanxi, Gansu, Shandong and other provinces and northern Anhui, northern Jiangsu, northern Hubei and other places, and is the northern tea area of China. It mainly produces green tea. The average annual temperature in the tea area is 15-16 degrees, and the absolute minimum temperature in winter is generally about 10 degrees. The annual precipitation is small, about 700-1000 mm, and the distribution is uneven, which often makes the tea trees suffer from drought. The soil in the tea area is mostly yellow-brown soil or brown soil, which is the transitional type of soil in the north and south of China, but a few mountainous areas have a good micro-climate, so the product quality is not inferior to other tea areas, such as Lu'an Gua Pian, Xinyang Maojian, etc.

【Why do people like to drink tea】

The earliest discovery and utilization of tea began with medicinal use. "Shennong tastes a hundred herbs, encounters seventy-two poisons every day, and gets to solve them." Jin Zhanghua's "Naturalist" also has the saying that "drinking the truth makes people sleep less". Tao Hongjing's "Miscellaneous Records" said that "Ming Tu is light and boneless, and Xidan Qiuzi Huang Jun is served". In fact, the record of Danqiuzi drinking tea also has the "Divine Strange Record" of the Han Dynasty that preceded this: Yu Hong, a native of Yuyao, went into the mountains to pick tea. When he met a soldier, he led three green oxen, led the flood to the waterfall mountain, and said: "Yu Danqiuzi also." Smell the good drink, often think about the benefit. There is a big tea in the mountains, you can give it to each other, pray that he will have an Ou perch in the future, and beg for each other. "Because of the memorial service. Later, he often let his family enter the mountain and get a big tea. Danqiuzi is the "immortal" of the Han Dynasty, the earliest Taoist figure in the tea culture, and the historical Yuyao Waterfall Mountain is a famous tea-producing mountain. Therefore, the records of "Da Ming" and "Xian Ming" are also completely consistent. The "荼" and "茗" in these records are today's tea. What surprises us even more is that as early as the Jin Dynasty, when Guo Pu commented on "Erya", he explained: (tea) trees are as small as gardenias, winter leaves, a burial, and the bitter tea of the Shu people's name. The record of the so-called "Shu people" can be regarded as the earliest germination of the custom of drinking tea in Shu, Cuba. There is also the Western Han Dynasty pot monk who said in "Food Taboo": "Bitterness, long-term food feathering." "All of them show that tea was used in the beginning to be associated with medicine.

Tu and tea pass, is the Tang Xianqing period Su Gong, the eldest grandson Wuji and others detailed the "Tang Materia Medica" to determine the tea before the tea variant of the word. The earliest official document about Tu is the Book of Songs, which mentions the character Tu in many places, such as Shao Feng. "Who is bitter, its sweetness is like a camelina", "Zheng Feng. Out of its East Gate", "There are women in full swing", "Feng Feng. "Picking Salaries" in July, "The Wind. "The Owl" in "Yu Sho Tu", "Daya. Mian Poems" in "Violet", and "Song of Zhou. The meaning of "bitter herbs, thatched flowers, and terrestrial filthy grass" in "Liang Yun" is not very obviously related to the tea used for drinking later. The exact fact that tea entered the diet was in the Han Dynasty, and Wang Bao's "Servant Covenant" had the words "Wuyang buys the tea" and "cooks the utensils", and cooking is of course for food. In addition, according to the "Taiping Yulan" volume 867, written in the Three Kingdoms Wei character book "Guangya" has this record: "Jingba between picking tea to make cakes, into rice paste out of it." If you drink it first, you should burn it red, pound it and put it in porcelain, cover it with soup, and use green onion and ginger to make it. Its sobering wine makes people sleepless. It can be seen that tea first entered the diet, as Lu Yu later said, it was boiled from adding green onions, ginger, orange peel and other things to make tea or soup, which is like cooking vegetables and drinking soup, used to quench thirst or accompany meals, and it is not a simple drink. Therefore, there is a saying in Tang fashion that "tea is food, which is tantamount to rice salt". Tea became a pure drink probably after Lu Yu's "Book of Tea" in the middle of the Tang Dynasty, due to the advocacy and guidance of Lu Yu and his "Book of Tea", people's additives in tea gradually decreased, and tea slowly became a simple drink. It can be seen that tea first entered the diet as a food and drink or medicinal item, and when tea was used as food, it had nothing to do with temple culture such as ceremonies.

Tea in the UK is: the liquid of health, the drink of the soul. In China, it is known as the "national drink". A large number of modern scientific studies have confirmed that tea does contain biochemical ingredients closely related to human health, tea not only has the pharmacological effects of refreshing and clearing the heart, clearing heat and relieving heat, eliminating food and phlegm, removing greasy weight loss, clearing the heart and removing annoyance, detoxifying and sobering up wine, quenching thirst, reducing fire and brightening eyes, stopping dysentery and dehumidification, etc., but also has certain pharmacological effects on modern diseases, such as radiation sickness, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, cancer and other diseases. It can be seen that the pharmacological effects of tea are numerous and wide-ranging, which is irreplaceable by other beverages. The main components of tea with pharmacological effects are tea polyphenols, caffeine, lipopolysaccharides, etc. The specific functions are:

Helps slow down aging

Tea polyphenols have strong antioxidant and physiological activity, and are scavengers of free radicals in the human body. According to the research of relevant departments, the efficacy of 1 mg of tea polyphenols in scavenging excess free radicals harmful to the human body is equivalent to 9 micrograms of superoxide dismutase (SOD), which is much higher than that of other similar substances. Tea polyphenols have the effect of blocking lipid peroxidation and scavenging active enzymes. According to the results of Japan's Okuda Takuyu test, it was confirmed that the anti-aging effect of tea polyphenols is 18 times stronger than vitamin E.

Helps inhibit cardiovascular disease

Tea polyphenols play an important role in human fat metabolism. The human body has high cholesterol and triglyceride content, fat deposition on the inner wall of blood vessels, and the formation of atherotic plaques after the proliferation of vascular smooth muscle cells. Tea polyphenols, especially the catechins ECG and EGC in tea polyphenols and their oxidation products theaflavin, help to inhibit this plaque hyperplasia, reduce the fibrinogen that forms hemocoagulation viscosity, and clear blood coagulation, thereby inhibiting atherosclerosis.

Helps prevent and fight cancer

Tea polyphenols can block the synthesis of ammonium nitrite and other carcinogens in the body, and have the effect of directly killing cancer cells and improving the body's immunity. According to relevant data, tea polyphenols (mainly catechins) in tea are beneficial to the prevention and adjuvant treatment of gastric cancer, intestinal cancer and other cancers.

(Attached): What are the beneficial ingredients in tea?

Tea contains a lot of ingredients, nearly 500 kinds. There are mainly caffeine, theophylline, theobromine, choline, xanthines, flavonoids and glycosides, tea tannins, catechins, terpenes, phenols, alcohols, aldehydes, acids, esters, aromatic oil compounds, carbohydrates, vitamins, proteins and amino acids. Amino acids are cysteine, methionine, glutamic acid, arginine, etc. Tea also contains calcium, phosphorus, iron, fluorine, iodine, manganese, molybdenum, zinc, selenium, copper, germanium, magnesium and other minerals. These ingredients in tea are beneficial to the human body, especially manganese, which can promote the formation of vitamin C in fresh tea and improve the anti-cancer effect of tea. Their combined effect is of great significance to the prevention and treatment of diseases in the human body, so there is a saying that "you can't go without tea for a day".

Helps prevent and treat radiation injuries

Tea polyphenols and their oxidation products have the ability to absorb the toxic substances strontium-90 and cobalt-60. According to the clinical trials of relevant medical departments, the mild radiation sickness caused by cancer patients during radiotherapy can be treated with tea extract, and the effective rate can reach more than 90%; For cytopenia, the effective rate of tea extract treatment is 81.7%; It is better to treat leukopenia caused by radiation radiation.

Helps inhibit and fight viruses

Tea polyphenols have a strong astringent effect, obvious inhibition and killing effect on pathogenic bacteria and viruses, and obvious effects on anti-inflammatory and antidiarrheal. Many medical units in China use tea preparations to treat acute and chronic dysentery, amoebic dysentery, and influenza, with a cure rate of about 90%.

Helps in beauty and skin care

Tea polyphenols are water-soluble substances, which can remove the greasy face, astringent pores, and have the effects of disinfection, sterilization, anti-skin aging, and reducing the damage to the skin caused by ultraviolet radiation in the sun.

Helps to refresh the mind

The caffeine in tea can promote the excitation of the central nervous system of the human body, enhance the excitatory process of the cerebral cortex, and have the effect of refreshing and refreshing the mind and clearing the heart.

It helps to relieve deficiency in diuresis

The caffeine in tea can stimulate the kidneys, promote the rapid excretion of urine, improve the filtration rate of the kidneys, and reduce the retention time of harmful substances in the kidneys. Caffeine also eliminates excess lactic acid in the urine, which helps to eliminate fatigue as soon as possible.

Helps lower lipids and aids digestion

In the Tang Dynasty's "Collection of Materia Medica", there is a record of the efficacy of tea as "eating for a long time makes people thin". China's border ethnic minorities have a saying that "you can't go a day without tea". Because tea has the important effect of helping digestion and reducing fat, in today's fashionable language, it is to help "lose weight". This is due to the fact that the caffeine in tea can increase the secretion of gastric juice, which can help digestion and enhance the ability to break down fats. The so-called "eating for a long time makes you thin" is here.

Helps protect teeth and eyes

The fluoride content in tea is high, with 10 mg - 15 mg per 100 grams of dry tea, and 80% of it is water-soluble. If each person drinks 10 grams of tea per day, it can absorb 1 mg - 1.5 mg of water-soluble fluorine, and tea is an alkaline drink, which can inhibit the reduction of calcium in the human body, which is beneficial to the prevention of caries, tooth protection and strong teeth. According to relevant data, the test of "tea therapy and gargling after drinking" among primary school students can reduce the caries rate by 80%. In addition, according to the survey of relevant medical units, 28.6% of cataract patients have the habit of drinking tea; 71.4% had no habit of drinking tea. This is because the vitamin C and other ingredients in tea can reduce the turbidity of the eye lens, and regular tea drinking has a positive effect on reducing eye diseases and protecting the eyes.

Green tea is the oldest type of tea in history. Ancient humans collected wild tea buds and leaves for drying and collecting, which can be regarded as the beginning of green tea processing in a broad sense, at least 3,000 years ago. However, the processing of green tea in the real sense began with the invention of the steaming method in the 8th century A.D., and the invention of the fried green method in the 12th century.

Green tea is the largest type of tea in China, and the production areas are distributed in various tea-producing provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions. Among them, Zhejiang, Anhui and Jiangxi provinces have the highest output and the best quality, and are the main bases for green tea production in China. In the international market, China's green tea accounts for more than 70% of the international trade volume, and the sales area covers more than 50 countries and regions such as North Africa, West Africa and France, the United States and Afghanistan. In the international market, the sales volume of green tea accounts for more than 1/3 of the total domestic sales. At the same time, green tea is the main raw material for the production of flower tea.

[The origin of the word "tea" and the habit of drinking tea]

In ancient historical materials, there are many names for tea, but "tea" is the correct name, and the word "tea" was generally written as "荼" before the Middle and Tang Dynasty. The word "荼" has a multi-semantic nature, indicating tea, which is one of them. Due to the development of tea production, the popularity of tea drinking is getting higher and higher, and the frequency of using tea words is also getting higher and higher.

The word "tea" from the "荼" simplified sprout, originated in the Han Dynasty, in the ancient Han seal, some of the "荼" word has been subtracted a stroke, become the shape of the word "tea". Not only the glyphs, but also the pronunciation of "tea" has been established in the Western Han Dynasty. For example, the tea tomb in Hunan Province now, the Western Han Dynasty was Liu Xin's territory, commonly known as the "Tu" Wangcheng, which was one of the 13 subordinate counties of Changsha at that time, called "Tu" Ling County. In the "Hanshu Geographical Chronicles", the "Tu" of the "Tu" Mausoleum, Yan Shigu annotated as: Yin Yi extravagant anti, and Yin Zhang plus anti. This reverse tangential phonetic is the pronunciation of the word "tea" now. Judging from this phenomenon, the establishment of the pronunciation of the word "tea" is earlier than the establishment of the glyph of the word "tea".

China has a vast land and many ethnic groups, so it is also different in language and writing, with multiple names for the same thing and a variety of ways to write the same name.

In the ancient historical materials, there are many names about tea, to the middle and Tang Dynasty, the sound, shape and meaning of tea have tended to be unified, and later, because of the wide spread of Lu Yu's "Book of Tea", the glyph of "tea" has been further established, until today.

In ancient Chinese literature, there are records of tea consumption very early, and there are different names depending on the place of origin. Chinese tea was spread to foreign countries as early as the Western Han Dynasty, and Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty sent an envoy to the Indochina Peninsula, bringing in addition to gold and brocade silk, as well as tea. During the Yongming period of Emperor Wu of Qi during the Northern and Southern Dynasties, Chinese tea was exported to Turkey with silk and porcelain. In the first year of Tang Shunzong's Yongzhen, Japan's most Cheng Zen master returned to China and brought Chinese tea seeds back to Japan. Later, tea continued to spread from China to all parts of the world, so that many countries began to grow tea and have the habit of drinking tea.

【Benefits of Drinking Tea】

Drinking tea can lose weight

Tea contains catechins, cholesterenones, caffeine, inositol, folic acid, pantothenic acid and other components, under the comprehensive action, has the effect of preventing and inhibiting obesity. In Japan, I especially like Chinese oolong tea. Because oolong tea has a strong effect on decomposing fat, it can help relieve oiliness, help digestion, and have a weight loss effect. Dr. Carrobi, clinical director of the Department of Medicine in Saint-Toni, Paris, France, has confirmed that drinking Pu'er tea from Yunnan can reduce triglycerides and cholesterol in the human body. French women, especially young women, are very particular about physical beauty, and they call Pu'er tea "slimming tea". French doctors conducted an experiment with Pu-erh tea, in which each person drank three cups of Pu-erh tea a day for a month, and as a result, some lost weight and some had lower blood lipids. French doctors also used Yunnan tuocha to conduct experiments on 40 male and female obese people, asking them to drink a cup of tuocha every morning, afternoon and evening, and after using it for a month, more than 40% of them lost weight to varying degrees. This is one reason why the French love to drink Yunnan tea. According to the effect of tea on weight loss, tea has become the main raw material of "diet tea" and "bodybuilding tea".

Drinking tea can prevent tooth decay

Drinking tea or rinsing your mouth and brushing your teeth with tea can not only get rid of bad breath, but also prevent tooth decay. According to reports, Zhou Dacheng, a doctor of medicine from Beijing Stomatological Hospital, began to study the efficacy of tea in preventing tooth decay in the 70s. This is because tea contains fluorine, which has a great affinity for calcium in the teeth and can become a kind of "neon apatite" that is difficult to dissolve in acid. It's like adding a protective layer to the teeth, which improves the ability of the teeth to prevent acid and caries. The use of tea to prevent caries is one of the ways to maintain dental health. Therefore, the use of tea soup to rinse the mouth, brush the teeth and drink tea can be promoted among children. In low-fluoride areas, it is recommended to drink general low-grade tea (high-grade tea and famous tea have a lower fluoride content), which can prevent tooth decay. Each person drinks 10 grams of tea leaves per day to meet the body's need for fluoride. The teas with higher fluoride content include Fujian "Oolong Tea", Yunnan, "Yunnan Red", Zhejiang "Hangzhou Green", Jiangxi "Jasmine Tea" and Guizhou "Fu Brick".

Tea has the effect of preventing cardiovascular diseases

Drinking tea is effective for cardiovascular diseases such as high blood pressure. Coronary heart disease has a certain prevention and treatment effect. Some people have confirmed through clinical experiments that people who drink three bowls of Tuocha in a month have their blood lipids decreased by 13% and cholesterol has also decreased, and clinical trials were conducted on 80 patients with high blood pressure, and the results showed that 30 patients had blood pressure dropped and some returned to normal after five days of treatment with green tea; Some people have also studied the relationship between drinking tea and coronary heart disease, divided into three groups: not drinking tea, occasionally drinking tea, and drinking tea often, and found that the incidence of coronary heart disease without drinking tea was 3.1%, the prevalence of occasional tea drinkers was 2.3%, and the incidence of frequent tea drinkers was 1.4%. It can be seen from this that the effect of drinking tea on the prevention of coronary heart disease.

Tea is a good medicine for intestinal diseases

Zhang Zhongjing, a medical saint, said: "Tea is very effective in treating pus and blood in the stool." Modern medical research confirms that tea is a good medicine for intestinal diseases. The polyphenols in tea can make proteins coagulate and precipitate. Tea polyphenols bind to single-celled bacteria, which can coagulate the egg and kill the bacteria. For example, if you put the seriously harmful cholera bacteria, typhoid bacillus, and E. coli in a strong tea soup and soak them for a few minutes, most of them will lose their mobility. Therefore, traditional Chinese medicine and folk often use strong tea or green tea to treat intestinal diseases such as bacillary dysentery and enteritis. The method is 3 grams of tea leaves, a bowl of water, decoction, three times a day; Or use a cup of strong tea, 20 ml of vinegar, mix and take, three times a day; You can also use 15 grams of tea and camellia flowers, decoction, three times a day, before meals. Secondly, when making tea with water, if the drinking water is not clean, the tea can absorb the impurities in the water and make it precipitate, which has the effect of purification and disinfection, which is good for the prevention of intestinal infectious diseases

The effect of ancient books

According to the "Dictionary of Traditional Chinese Medicine", jasmine has the effect of "regulating qi and opening depression, dispelling filth and neutralizing", and has a good anti-inflammatory and detoxification effect on dysentery, abdominal pain, conjunctivitis and sores. Drinking jasmine often has the effects of clearing the liver and eyes, quenching thirst, expelling phlegm and treating dysentery, convenient water, dispelling wind and relieving the surface, curing fistula, strengthening teeth, invigorating qi, lowering blood pressure, strengthening the heart, preventing caries and radiation damage, anti-cancer and anti-aging, so that people can prolong life and be physically and mentally healthy.

【The right way to drink tea】

Because the new tea has just been picked back, the storage time is short, and it contains more non-oxidized polyphenols, aldehydes and alcohols and other substances, which do not have much impact on healthy people, but for patients with poor gastrointestinal function, especially those with chronic gastrointestinal inflammation, these substances will stimulate the gastrointestinal mucosa, and people with poor gastrointestinal function are more likely to induce gastric disease. Therefore, new tea should not be drunk more, and new tea that has been stored for less than half a month should not be drunk.

In addition, the new tea also contains more caffeine, active alkaloids and a variety of aromatic substances, these substances will also excite the central nervous system, patients with neurasthenia, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases should drink in moderation, and should not be drunk before going to bed or on an empty stomach. The correct method is to leave it for half a month before it can be used. People who are usually easily agitated or sensitive, have poor sleep conditions and are weak in body should still drink less or no tea at night.

In addition, when drinking tea at night, you should put less tea leaves and do not make the tea too strong. It is best to drink tea after dinner, because drinking tea on an empty stomach will hurt the body, especially for people who do not drink tea often, it will inhibit the secretion of gastric juice, hinder digestion, and in severe cases, it will also cause palpitations, headaches and other "tea drunk" phenomena.

【Purchase of Tea】

The purchase of tea is not an easy task, in order to get good tea, you need to master a lot of knowledge, such as the grade standards of various types of tea, prices and quotations, as well as tea evaluation, inspection methods, etc. 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 generally only watch the shape and color of dry tea and smell the dry fragrance, which makes it more difficult to judge the quality of tea. Here is a rough introduction to the method of identifying dry tea. The appearance of dry tea is mainly viewed from five aspects, namely tenderness, strips, color, crushed and clarity.

Tenderness

Tenderness is the basic factor that determines the quality, the so-called "dry look at the shape, wet look at the bottom of the leaf", refers to tenderness. Generally, tea leaves with good tenderness are easy to meet the shape requirements of the tea category (such as "light, flat, flat and straight" of Longjing). In addition, it can also be identified from whether there are sharp seedlings in the tea leaves. The sharp seedlings are good, and the white hao is revealed, indicating that the tenderness is good and the workmanship is good. If the tenderness of the raw materials is poor, no matter how good the workmanship is, the tea strips will not have sharp seedlings and white hair. However, the tenderness cannot be judged only from the amount of hair, because the specific requirements of various teas are different, such as the excellent Shifeng Longjing is hairless on the body surface. In addition, fur is easy to counterfeit, and there are many artificial ones. The tenderness of buds and leaves is judged based on hairiness, which is only suitable for "hairy" teas such as hairy peaks, hairy tips, and silver needles. It should be mentioned here that the most tender fresh leaves also have to be bud and leaf at the beginning, and it is inappropriate to pick the bud heart one-sidedly. Because the bud heart is an imperfect part of growth, the content is not comprehensive, especially the chlorophyll content is very low. Therefore, it is not advisable to make tea with only buds for the sake of tenderness.

Cords

The strip is a certain shape and specification of various types of tea, such as fried green strips, bead tea round, Longjing flat, red broken tea granules and so on. Generally, the long strip tea is elastic, straight, strong, thin, round, light and heavy; Round tea looks at the tightness, uniformity, light and heavy, and empty solidity of the particles; Flat tea looks at the flatness and smoothness and whether it meets the specifications. Generally speaking, the cord is tight, the body bones are heavy, round (except for 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 for flat tea), broken, and has a smoke and burnt smell, it means that the raw materials are old, the workmanship is poor, and the quality is poor. Take the green tea strip standard in Hangzhou as an example: first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, fine, tight, sharp, thin, tight, slightly loose, and visible, with tight, solid, and sharp seedlings.

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 black oily, green tea emerald green, oolong tea green brown, black tea black oil, etc. But no matter what kind of tea, good tea requires consistent color, bright luster, oily and fresh, if the color is different, the shade is different, dark and dull, indicating that the raw materials are different from each other, poor workmanship, and poor quality.

The color of tea also has a lot to do with the origin of the tea tree and the season. For example, alpine green tea, the color is green and slightly yellow, fresh and bright; Low mountain tea or flat land tea is dark green and bright in color. In the process of tea making, due to improper technology, the color is often deteriorated. When buying tea, it should be judged according to the specific type of tea purchased. For example, Longjing, the best Shifeng Longjing, its pre-Ming tea is not emerald green, but has a natural brown beige color, which is tender yellow. 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 pass off as Shifeng Longjing. The method is to slightly over-fry the tea leaves during the process of frying them to turn yellow. The difference between true and false is that the real lion peak is well-proportioned and clean, light yellow and tender green, and the tea fragrance has a clear fragrance; The false lion peak is loose and empty, rough, yellowish, and fragrant with fried soybeans. It's really not easy to tell without many comparisons. But once brewed, the difference is very obvious. The over-fried fake lion peak does not have the rich and fresh fragrance that Longjing should have.

Whole pieces

Whole crushing is the shape and degree of crushing of tea leaves, which is better to be even, and then crushed. The relatively standard tea evaluation is to put the tea leaves on a plate (generally wooden), so that the tea leaves can be layered in an orderly manner according to the shape, size, weight, thickness and crushing under the action of rotational force. Among them, the stout ones are in the top layer, the tight and heavy ones are concentrated in the middle layer, and the broken and fine ones are deposited in the lowest layer. For all types of tea, it is better to use middle-layer tea. The upper layer is generally coarse and old, with a lighter taste and a lighter water color; There are many broken teas in the lower layer, and the taste is often too strong after brewing, and the soup is darker.

Clarity

It mainly depends on whether the tea leaves are mixed with tea chips, tea stems, tea powder, tea seeds and the amount of bamboo chips, wood chips, lime, sediment and other inclusions mixed in the production process. Tea with good clarity without any inclusions. In addition, it can also be identified by the dry aroma of the tea. No matter what kind of tea you have, you can't have a peculiar smell. Each type of tea has a specific aroma, dry and wet aroma are also different, which need to be determined according to the specific situation, and the green gas, smoky burnt smell and ripe stuffy taste are not desirable. The above text is only a very general introduction. The easiest thing to judge the quality of tea is the taste, aroma and color of the leaf tea soup after brewing. So if allowed, try to try it after brewing it when buying tea. If you particularly prefer a certain tea, it is best to find some information about the tea, accurately understand the characteristics of its color, flavor and shape, and compare the tea you buy with each other. Domestic tea varieties are in large quantities, and non-professionals are unlikely to judge the quality of each tea, and they only take a few of their favorites. I don't buy tea at tea shops everywhere, I usually buy it in the production area or in a tea house, so I run around in the spring. The tea from the origin is generally pure, but due to the difference in tea-making skills, the quality of tea is different. The price of tea in the tea house is much more expensive than that outside, but it is easier to find good tea here, one is that you can try it to know its quality or not, and the other is the tea of the better tea house, which itself has been carefully selected, if you can't buy tea from the place of origin, it is also a choice. There are also some relatively large tea estates, where you can try tea on the spot. If you have a good ability to distinguish a certain kind of tea, you can go to the tea wholesale market to buy, where the tea, compared with the small tea shop, is relatively new, and there are many types to choose from, and the price is relatively cheap. But in my own experience, it's not easy to find very good tea, especially green tea. Because of the high price of premium green tea, tea wholesale markets and small tea shops are less open due to cost, and most of the good tea is bought by large tea estates and tea companies.

【Tea Culture Knowledge】

The quality of tea can be evaluated by four aspects: color, fragrance and shape when there are no scientific instruments and methods to identify it. These four aspects are used to evaluate the quality of tea, usually by seeing, smelling, touching, and tasting for identification. That is, look at the appearance, color, smell the aroma, touch the bones, and open the soup to taste.

Color---- Different teas have different color characteristics. The roasted green in green tea should be yellow-green, the roasted green should be dark green, the steamed green should be emerald green, and the longjing should be slightly beige in the bright green; If the green tea is gray and dark brown in color, the quality must be poor. The vapor color of green tea should be light green or yellow-green, clear and bright; If it is dark yellow or cloudy, it is not a good tea. Black tea should be black and oily, the soup color is red and bright, some high-grade gongfu black tea, its tea soup can form a yellow oil ring around the teacup, commonly known as "gold circle"; If the soup is dull and turbid, it must be inferior black tea. Oolong tea is better with a green brown and smooth color.

Aroma---- all kinds of tea have their own fragrance, such as green tea with fragrance, high-grade green tea with orchid fragrance, chestnut fragrance, etc., black tea with fragrance and sweet fragrance or floral fragrance; Oolong tea set ripe peach fragrance and so on. If the aroma is low, it is determined to be inferior tea; The stale is aged tea; Those with mildew and other peculiar smells are spoiled tea. It is Kuding tea, which also smells with a natural aroma. Flower tea attracts tea customers with its strong aroma.

The taste ---- or the taste of tea, the taste of tea itself is composed of bitter, astringent, sweet, fresh, sour and other components. The proportion of its ingredients is appropriate, the taste is fresh and mellow, at the same time, different types of tea, the taste is not the same, the first taste of high-grade green tea has its bitterness, but the aftertaste is strong and mellow, so that the tongue is relished; Coarse and inferior tea is light and tasteless, and even astringent and numb. The taste of high-quality black tea is strong, strong and fresh; Low-grade black teas are bland and tasteless. Kuding tea is very bitter in the mouth, but it has a sweet aftertaste after drinking.

Appearance---- The quality of tea can be judged from the shape of the tea, because the quality of the tea is directly related to the fresh leaves picked by the tea, and it is also related to the making of tea, which is reflected in the shape of the tea. For example, good Longjing tea has a light, flat, straight appearance, and resembles a bowl nail; Good pearl tea, the particles are round and tight, uniform; Good work, the black tea strips are tight, and the black broken tea particles are neat and uniform; Good Maofeng tea buds are many, bud dew and so on. If the cords are loose, the particles are loose, the leaf surface is rough, and the body bones are light, it is not a good tea.