The tasting of tea pays attention to quality, shape, color, aroma, taste, gas and rhyme. Among them, the “texture, shape, and color” of tea leaves are also one of the important factors related to the quality of Pu’er tea.
Many people who know tea will look at the cakes and noodles before tasting them. What kind of “password” is contained in the string of the tea cake?
The reason for the fineness of tea strips
Before understanding the color of the cord, we need to know the reason for the color of the tea leaves. In fact, fresh leaves are rich in substances. The main components that affect the color of tea are chlorophyll, anthocyanin, lutein, carotene and anthocyanin.
Under normal circumstances, the chlorophyll contained in fresh leaves is enough to cover other pigments. After the initial greening, the color is temporarily solidified, showing “grey, dark green, dark green, green, yellow green, light green, yellow, black” varying degrees of color.
The reasons for the different colors of the cords
Different cord colors are related to the age, tenderness, season, craft, purity, and year of the tea. Let’s take Shengpu as an example and look at it separately:
The tenderness is different, the color of the cord is different.
New buds: The freshly picked Pu-erh tea leaves are relatively fresh and tender, and contain rich substances. The dry tea is light in color, and the color is mostly off-white.
Mature leaves: the leaves with a high degree of leaf development and maturity. According to the degree of maturity, the dried tea leaves will gradually change from dark green to light black. The water extract content of mature leaves is high, which is the main factor for the full taste of Pu-erh tea. (This is also the reason why Pu-erh raw tea mostly uses one bud and two to three leaves.)
Old leaves: The old leaves are dry tea light yellow in color and gray withered or mixed with flowers, showing yellow, also called “yellow slices”. The old leaves have a high degree of fibrosis and low content of caffeine and tea polyphenols. Generally, raw leaves should be removed as much as possible during the production process.
