丨This article was originally written by Xiao Chen Chashi
丨First published in Baijiahao: Xiao Chen Tea Affair
丨Author: Village Gu Chen
The tea friend sent us an old white tea that I bought from a tea shopkeeper in Fujian.
It is said to be the spring shou mei in 2019. It's not cheap, it's quite expensive.
The color of the dried tea is multicolored.
When served in a bowl, there is a large area of turmeric with a small amount of green, as well as gray and brown color.
It is very similar to the color of Shou Mei in early autumn. It's not like the color of the green and white Chunshou eyebrows.
Look at the shape of the bud head, thin, small, thin, and the bud head of Chunshou Mei is thin, long, and straight.
The leaves are also wider, half the width of the leaves of Chunshoumei.
Village Aunt Chen's first reaction after seeing that ** was, this is not Chunshou Mei, this should be Qiu Shoumei, the beginning of autumn or the first half of the Autumn Festival.
Continuing to talk to the tea friend, he said that the taste is very good, with a fruity honey rhyme, which is the kind of aroma he likes. The only drawback is that it is not resistant to brewing, and after six or seven bubbles, it will not taste at all, and it is necessary to change the tea.
After chatting, I told him my guess, this Shou Mei should be an autumn Shou Mei from the color, from the bar shape, from the width of the leaves and the size of the bud head.
The tea friend left depressed.
I regretted telling the truth a little again.
However, as far as Village Gu Chen is concerned, if someone comes to ask and doesn't tell the truth, isn't this indirectly aiding the abuse?
It is one thing for a tea to taste good or not, and another thing for the truth.
Putting aside the good and bad first, it is more important to know the truth.
Lest you love the wrong tea.
It rained lightly in the evening.
It seems that it hasn't rained for half a month.
The sound of the rain hit the leaves of the magnolia and osmanthus trees outside the window, and after a while, they were drenched, reflecting the light of the window, shining brightly.
The ancients said that the remnants of the lotus should be left to listen to the sound of the rain. He also said that the rain hit the pear blossom and closed the door.
There are no residual lotuses or pear blossoms in the yard, and the remaining few green trees are dripping with winter in this winter night when winter fails.
There is a cold smell in the air, and there is also a hint of the fragrance of unfinished osmanthus flowers.
Sit in front of the window and listen to the rain, read a book, and drink this year's new cold dew tea.
When I was tired of throwing away the book, the tea soup was half crippled, and the fat powder was half faded, the question of tea friends in the day suddenly crossed my mind.
Looking at the bottom of the leaves of the Hanlu tea in the bowl, there are slender buds, and there are plain white buds on the buds, the proportion of buds is not low, and the leaves are green and turmeric and less color.
At that moment, I suddenly had a flash of inspiration, and I wanted to pick up my mobile phone and send a message to that tea friend: I said wrong, that tea is not Qiu Shou Mei, that is indeed Chun Shou Mei.
Look at the time, it's too late, it's obviously out of place to bother people at night.
I can only put it down in a daze.
Put down your phone and let go of your knots.
It's just why, that Shou Mei was first judged to be Qiu Shou Mei by the village aunt Chen, and then after drinking this year's Qiu Shou Mei Cold Dew Tea, he turned his head and decided that it was Chun Shou Mei?
There are several reasons for this.
Let's take it into detail.
The first thing that aroused the suspicion of the village aunt Chen was the color of the Chunshou eyebrows.
Historically, the color of Chunshou eyebrows is mostly green and white.
A plate of Chunshou Mei is served on the table, such as "Flower Shadow", it is customary to have green leaves, with white buds, and dense white hao behind the leaves, looking from afar, it is a green and white eye.
The eyes are full of spring, the spring breeze is blowing, and I just want to drink it quickly.
And the Chunshou Mei sent by the tea friend, although it is an old white tea, not a new white tea, but it should also be green and white, one green and two white with the same color as shallots and tofu.
Even if you are old and not so bright green, it should be dark green or gray-green with silver-white.
Even if the craftsmanship is not in place when doing it, there are only occasional red sheets, or occasionally one of the twenty or so leaves is brick-red and yellow-colored, and it must not be yellow-red leaves that account for the majority.
The increase in the number of yellow and red leaves is the characteristic of autumn white tea.
However, although the autumn white tea is colorful and the layers of the forest are dyed with green and gold, it is impossible for most of the leaves to show brick red and turmeric yellow.
It is important to know that autumn white tea is also predominantly green - shallow grass-like green, and the large green leaves are dotted with golden yellow and rust-like red spots that belong to autumn.
Therefore, the village aunt Chen Cai identified this Chunshou Mei, which is completely different from the color of Chunshou Mei, as Qiushou Mei.
And it is the beginning of autumn, when the heat is still in full bloom, and the white tea leaves picked at noon in the sun.
At that time, the heat was in full swing, and the slow light was exposed, and the tea green leaves were reddened on the tree, and the slight plateau was red.
When the green leaves are picked, the weather is extremely hot, and if you put it in the yard for an hour or two, you may turn red. Even if it is not spread out in the sun, it is only piled up in the basket for a few hours, and after a while, large areas of red spots will appear on the leaves.
It is a kind of red, which is unique to the hot season.
It has nothing to do with Chunbai Tea and Chunshou Mei at all.
However, after drinking Shou Mei and Hanlu tea in late autumn, Village Aunt Chen suddenly found that it was a bit arbitrary to judge this tea based on color alone.
Because, the Qiushoumei loose tea that has been drunk so far does not have the kind of "fruity honey rhyme" that tea lovers say.
Normal old S picks autumn white tea, and it starts about half a month after the beginning of autumn. And pick it slowly.
Choose when the weather is good, avoid the hottest time of the day to pick, try to pick the stems shorter, and pick the grade higher.
This kind of autumn white tea is sparse, open, empty, and has the dryness and elegance of autumn.
But there will be no annoyance, stuffiness, dampness, and dampness.
Once the damp tide gathers into the loose white tea, it will produce a fermented aroma, which most people can't understand and will mistake it for fruity aroma.
But autumn and autumn are crisp, even if the sun is too hot and the sun is too strong, but the humidity in the air is very small, no matter how stuffy and green, it will not produce hot, humid, over-fermented rotten apples - the so-called fruity aroma in the mouth of people who do not understand tea.
Pu-erh tea loose tea also has a fruity aroma, but the water content standard of the finished Pu-erh tea is not the same as that of the finished white tea.
Pu'er tea with a slightly higher water content is understandable for producing fruit aroma during the storage stage.
But 85. How can white tea loose tea with a water content below be able to produce a fruit aroma?
Therefore, it is not reliable to identify it as Qiushou Mei based on its color alone.
So, is this Shou Mei a spring Shou Mei or an autumn Shou Mei?
In terms of appearance, it looks like Qiu Shou Mei, and when it comes to aroma, it is not like Qiu Shou Mei.
Its real identity is Xia Cha.
It was picked shortly after the beginning of summer, summer tea.
The tea picked after the beginning of summer is considered summer tea.
At that time, the weather was not much different from the end of spring, and the heat was unbearable during the miscanthus and summer solstice.
There are still people who are making tea.
In the beginning of summer, the humidity in the air continues the humidity of spring, and the heat of summer is added, so that the landmark climate of southern summer is humid, humid and hot.
In this weather, the green tea picked in this weather, on the one hand, is hot, on the other hand, it is not dried in time to dissipate heat, and the heat and water vapor will be stuffed in the leaves, forming a slight pile - the green leaves give birth to red spots of different sizes, and produce the taste of fermented rotten fruits, which is a very normal thing.
Once the degree of the pile deepens and the time of the pile increases, the red spots will expand and increase, and when the finished tea is made, these red spots will change color and turn into coffee, or brick red or turmeric yellow.
And the smell will also produce a fruit-like smell - the smell of rotten peaches after fermentation, rotten apples and rotten grapes - a little sweet, a little smoky.
This is the origin of the so-called fruity honey rhyme of tea lovers.
In fact, it is not a fruity aroma at all, but an abnormal smell generated after early fermentation and over-fermentation of green leaves due to substandard technology or tea making.
Also due to the inadequate process and sloppy tea making, this tea produces a large number of red spots, forming a large area of turmeric and brick-red leaves.
This color is not a good white tea, and this smell should not be called delicious.
This white tea should not be a good white tea either.
Moreover, the grade of white tea with red sheets is not high.
For details, please refer to the "White Tea National Standard".
Moreover, Xia white tea is not pickable, and the official has issued a clear order
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Xiao Chen Tea Village Gu Chen, column writer, the original innovation of the tea industry ** "Xiao Chen Tea Affairs" chief writer, has published a white tea monograph "White Tea Tasting Notes", and has written more than 4,000 original articles from 2016 to 2020.