"Tea Talk on Paper" XIV: Ten Indicators of Ancient Tree Ripened Tea

A good ripened tea is not necessarily an ancient tree ripened tea, but if an ancient tree ripened tea is not a good ripened tea, I personally think there is no need to make it at all. Today, I will be narrow-minded and only talk about ancient tree ripened tea.

It can be said that from the first day I came into contact with tea, I mainly focused on ripened tea. Later, through crowdfunding, I concentrated on making up for the lessons on raw tea, but ripened tea is still what I pay the most attention to. In the previous "Tea Talk on Paper", I mentioned that the sales volume of ripened tea on our 51 Pu-erh website is much greater than that of raw tea, which is also an important reason why I have been paying attention to ripened tea for a long time.

After doing crowdfunding, due to my increased understanding of high-end raw tea, I discovered a new world of ripened tea. The previous simple four indicators of ripened tea—aroma, sweetness, thickness, and smoothness—I think are far from enough. Taking advantage of this plan to continue the series of "Tea Talk on Paper" on ripened tea, I will sort out the ten indicators of good ripened tea that I believe in. This is just one person's opinion; you may take it with a grain of salt. As I always say, if you think I am talking nonsense or even talking shit, that is also your opinion. In short, you must have your own judgment and your own cognitive system. There is no right or wrong, only whether it is suitable or not, in order to make good tea. Following others blindly only leads to worse results.

Ten Indicators of Ancient Tree Ripened Tea.

1, Aroma

I don't understand smelling a woman to know her, but smelling tea to know it is the first priority. There are three kinds of tea aroma: the aroma floating in the air when brewing is the lowest; the aroma lingering on the cup and smelling the leaves is medium; the aroma contained in the tea soup is the highest. Good tea generally has all three aromas. Aroma also has strong and light distinctions. Vulgar perfume can be smelled from three houses away, but it is pungent and uncomfortable. The aroma of good tea must be light, elegant, and subtle. This kind of comfortable aroma is the noblest.

2, Sweetness

Sweetness is the same. No one likes the sweetness of saccharin. The sweetness of good tea is also light and cool. At the moment you feel a bit sweet, and after leaving the tea, you can still savor the sweetness for a long time on the road. That is the sweetness that good tea should have.

3, Smoothness

Smoothness is the easiest to understand and also easy to achieve. Most teas with a slightly longer age have smoothness. The highest level of smoothness, in my opinion, is when the tea has not even been swallowed, but it goes down the throat and into the stomach by itself. The drinker will be surprised, thinking, "I haven't swallowed yet." Smoothness also has a certain relationship with thickness.

4, Thickness

I like to drink hot porridge. The mouthfeel and throat resonance are very good, full and flavorful; cold porridge feels less flavorful and watery. This is the most vivid metaphor I can find for the thickness of tea. Some say concentration is thickness, some say intense flavor is thickness. I think both have some truth, but they are not comprehensive. Thickness is concentration or intensity wrapped in pectin. Tea with pectin and thickness generally has smoothness. Only concentration or intensity is not right. I personally think this kind of tea is harmful to the body.

5, Mellow

Mellow refers to the purity of the taste and the flavor of age after aging.

Purity of taste: no obvious pile flavor or water flavor, just a pure ripened tea flavor, and no刺激性 of new tea, soft and mellow, pleasant.

The flavor of age: the taste of tea becomes more and more平和, the intensity disappears, leaving mellow and harmony. The power of softness is another interpretation of mellow.

6, Fineness

For raw tea, we often talk about the fineness of the soup. For ripened tea, fineness is rarely mentioned because good ripened tea is indeed rare. Good ripened tea should also have a fine and moist soup, which is very comfortable on the palate and makes you like it more as you drink.

7, Softness

I have exchanged views on the softness of tea soup with many peers and tea friends. Most people think softness is a feeling of fineness and smoothness. I don't quite agree. There is a term called "pearl-like and jade-like" (round and moist). A round and moist tea soup has no burrs, no edges. The tea soup passes through the throat without any discomfort, and the body seems to need no effort to adapt. The mouth feels comfortable, and the body feels even more comfortable. Drinking more will not cause any harm to the body. I don't know how to describe this feeling more; I think you need to drink more and compare more. For example, the third crowdfunding tea, sun-dried black tea, has a very soft soup. The fourth crowdfunding ripened tea also has a very soft soup. Compare them, and quietly experience it alone, and it will be easier to understand.

The opposite of softness is hardness. Tea that is both fine and hard is the most harmful to the body. When you drink hard tea, you need to use the body's strength to absorb it. After a few cups, you may feel a bit tired, and the stomach may also feel uncomfortable. Many old tea friends think this is intolerance to tea and dare not drink it, or they will have stomach pain or insomnia at night. In fact, it is mainly the hardness of the tea that makes the body uncomfortable. If you have this feeling, you can try soft tea and compare more. Fineness makes people feel that the tea is high-end and can't help but drink more, and the body can't bear it. This is also why I launched a slogan when crowdfunding sun-dried black tea: "Not obsessed with taste, make healthy tea." In fact, this is the case. Many partners who participated in the sun-dried black tea crowdfunding have this feeling. After often drinking our crowdfunding sun-dried black tea, they find that the tea they previously thought was very delicious is a bit hard to swallow. I think this is the best manifestation of tea being able to speak.

Teacher Liang often talks about the word "裂解" (cracking). At first, I was puzzled. Later, after drinking a lot of tea and comparing, one day I suddenly understood. The knowledge of tea is really vast. I have learned a lot from Teacher Liang and Teacher Huang, and I feel very fortunate. I think the word "裂解" is a very key word. It is true for Pu-erh tea, and also for other teas. The main characteristic of cracked tea is that the soup feels fine, soft, warm, and moist, so that the body is not tired by the tea and can feel the beauty of the tea.

8, Purity

Purity refers to a feeling of the body. The tea is very pure. Tea is tea, without pesticide residues, without defects in processing or storage. To ensure high purity, the entire process must be controlled from the beginning. The raw materials must be selected well, the rough processing must be careful, withering (spreading) off the ground, moderate fixation, timely and proper rolling, and pollution-free sun-drying. For this part, you can refer to my article: "Tea Talk on Paper" I: Making Tea and Making Tea. After making the rough tea, it needs to be rested for a period before fermentation. There are even more points to note in fermentation; I will write a separate article another day. If the tea is made very well, but there are problems with storage, it is not good. If the fresh leaves have problems, such as using pesticides and chemical fertilizers, purity cannot be achieved. If the processing is not careful, it takes a long time to slowly become pure.

9, Smoothness (of the body)

Smoothness is also a feeling of the body. Smooth tea will not cause discomfort when drunk. It is the same as softness. Softness mainly refers to the feeling in the mouth and stomach, while smoothness is the feeling of the whole body. The opposite of smoothness is unsmoothness. Teacher Huang calls unsmoothness "滞" (stagnation). Smoothness indicates a cycle. A continuous cycle is smoothness, and the body will feel very comfortable. Unsmooth tea may cause abdominal bloating, headache, or even weakness and fatigue. In short, all kinds of discomfort.

10, Charm (Yun)

Charm is a sense of imagery of the tea. The most common saying is that you can taste the flavor of the sun. This is a kind of charm. Tea has charm. The charm makes the body feel pleasant, and the body may present a picture. I personally think that the sense of imagery is the highest state of tea drinking comfort. Some people may have bad imagery with poor tea.

These are the ten indicators of good ancient tree ripened tea as I understand them.

If you agree but cannot find a good ripened tea sample to compare, I recommend you try our first crowdfunding ripened tea, which is the Houyue Bulang Ancient Mellow shown below. You may discover more.

If you cannot feel many of these, I have some life suggestions. If you can persist, maybe when you come to drink tea again, you will be able to feel them. First, make your life light and plain, that is, less salt and less oil in dishes. This also has the benefit of being able to taste the original flavor of ingredients. Think about why Cantonese cuisine is considered tasteless by many but is relatively expensive. Second, eat more vegetarian food to make the body peaceful. Finally, cultivate yourself, such as meditation and quiet reflection. I am just a beginner in this part, so I won't say much.

In the process of tea tasting, we often hear the word "糯" (glutinous). But what exactly is glutinous? Different people have different explanations. Many experts cannot explain clearly, and I have not seen an explanation of glutinous in published tea books. Most of the time, we communicate orally when drinking tea. Glutinous is a kind of soup feel. Glutinous tea is not necessarily thick, and thick tea is not necessarily glutinous. I think glutinous is a combination of fineness, smoothness, and thickness. I will not list it as a separate indicator.

The above is my personal understanding. I am Lü Jianfeng from 51 Pu-erh. My opinion is one person's view. As I always say, I speak casually, and you listen casually. I wish everyone a happy life through tea tasting.

This article is original. Reprint must not delete this statement. The article and pictures are original. Author: Lü Jianfeng, WeChat: 673998, working at 51 Pu-erh website, initiator of Houyue crowdfunding tea.