The production and sales of most teas are mainly based on batches. Blending teas with similar tea properties, suitable grades, and similar strands can improve the quality of the finished product, maximize strengths and avoid weaknesses; it can also average costs and maintain a relative balance between grades and prices each year. Stablize. However, Fu tea blending requires more professional experienced blenders and a sufficient amount of tea raw materials.
In the past, Fu tea has always been produced in large quantities based on low-end raw materials, mainly for border areas and exported to Southeast Asia and North Africa. The blending process is one of the core technologies. In recent years, Fu tea has gradually become popular in the national market, and the level of demand has also begun to refine. The grading and production of tea has become more subdivided, and the concept of “pure Fu tea” has gradually emerged in the market.
So, what is “pure Fu tea”? What counts as “pure”? If there must be a concept, it is to press the tea of the same variety and level picked at the same time and in the same specific area into a finished product, which is called “pure Fu tea”.
Many tea lovers ask, is it better to use pure Fu tea or blended Fu tea? I think this is a false proposition. The reason is that if it is poor quality tea, no matter pure material or blended, it is not a good tea. If it is a good quality tea, both pure material and blend are good tea.
Merchants like to use the label of pure tea, mainly to avoid the main contradiction and sell tea with concepts instead of discussing tea in terms of tea. Most consumers are not very professional in the identification of tea, and it is impossible to compare a large number of tea products, which gives businesses a lot of opportunities. It is easier to explain the concept than to let consumers understand the quality of tea. If there is nothing to say about the quality of the tea, then it can be said that the concept can always extract a selling point.
As mentioned above, there is no difference between the tea made by these two methods, but each has its own characteristics. Let’s take a look at the characteristics of “pure Fu tea” and “blended Fu tea”.
The advantages of pure Fu tea:
it can more accurately express the characteristics of regions and varieties. It is easy to make and not easy to make mistakes.
Disadvantages:
The taste is relatively simple, and the taste changes are not rich.
Reminder: Because Fu tea is a post-fermented tea, the characteristics of the variety will gradually decrease and disappear with the deepening of fermentation. Therefore, honest workmanship and rich tea quality are the most important factors to consider when purchasing Fu tea.
What is “matching”? The process of blending teas with coordinated grades, leaf shapes, taste and aroma characteristics in a certain proportion. In the tea factory, there is a professional title called “blending teacher”. The blending teacher needs to have rich tea professional knowledge and many years of practical experience to be competent for this job.
The advantages of blending Fu tea:
it can maximize the strengths and avoid weaknesses, and give full play to the nature of the tea. The taste of the tea soup is richer and more varied.
Disadvantage:
You need to have enough tea ingredients to choose the right tea. The production process requires high technology, and there must be a blender with rich experience, especially the production of high-end Fu tea.
Judging from the above production and advantages and disadvantages, it is not convincing to simply say that “pure Fu tea” is better or “blended Fu tea” is better. Fu tea also has good quality and bad grades. If you buy Fu tea based on a concept, you are fooling yourself with a concept.
It is a down-to-earth attitude to evaluate and compare specific tea products, rather than just relying on concepts to make judgments. To evaluate the pros and cons of Fu tea, it must be judged based on specific tea products, rather than relying on a theoretical concept. After all, what tea lovers need to figure out more is whether the Fu tea they buy is good or not, and whether it is cost-effective, rather than conducting academic research or writing academic articles.
Fu tea is characterized by the unique taste brought about by fungal fermentation and aging in the later stage. Therefore, when selecting Fu tea, the most basic condition is to meet the manufacturing process. Achieve good aging in the later period. Some teas were very refreshing and palatable in the past, but it does not mean that they will be delicious in the future.
Also, some teas are pressed too loosely, so that there are too many contact surfaces between the tea leaves and the air, which is not conducive to the growth of fungi and affects the later aging. The tea soup is dry and not moist enough.
In fact, some tea lovers saved some pure material Fu tea in the early years. They thought it was refreshing and delicious, but now they feel dissatisfied. There are generally two reasons: First, the grade and workmanship of the pure material tea they bought at that time were problematic. , so the current aging is not good. The second is that the identification ability of drinking Fu tea has improved, and a single taste cannot meet the requirements of taste.
To sum up, “Pure Fu tea” and “Blending Fu tea” are just the concept and production method of making Fu tea. Although it affects the style and characteristics of the tea, the quality of Fu tea will not be just because it is “pure Fu tea”. Well, it’s not good to “blend Fu tea”.
