Tea Knowledge: 4 Essential Keys for Choosing Black Tea!

As consumers, we all hope to find a tea that is high-quality and commensurate with its price.

The current market offers a wide variety of teas, with varying quality. There are high-priced teas, while there are also low-priced teas.

Regardless of the price, we must accurately assess the price and quality of tea. Are the price and quality equivalent?

Is the tea we are buying authentic?

Is the quality of the tea excellent? These are the most pressing issues for consumers. When choosing tea, it's important to master certain tea selection basics.

When choosing black tea, we generally use the following four methods to identify the quality of the tea.

01. Touching the Dry Tea

Dried black tea can be categorized into strands or broken pieces.

When touching the dry tea, you can clearly determine whether the tea leaves are damp by checking whether they can be crushed into a powder with your fingers. If damp tea leaves cannot be crushed when twisted, they may have become damp during storage, or they may be old tea that has been stored for a while.

02. Examining the Tea Leaves' Appearance

High-quality tea leaves have a uniform appearance, free of excessive tea leaf debris.

When examining the appearance of dried black tea, check whether the leaves are evenly distributed, their color is consistent, and whether they possess the characteristic appearance and color of the tea type.

If the tea has become damp, it may have been treated and re-roasted, resulting in a darker appearance.

03. Smell the Aroma of the Dried Tea

The aroma of new tea is fresh and refreshing, free of any other odors.

If black tea has been well stored, its aroma will remain long-lasting. If it has become damp, its aroma will not last long.

If the tea leaves have become damp, they may also have an unpleasant odor.

If the tea has a tainted aroma, it may have a different, more unusual odor when it is smelled. This indicates that the tea is not fresh.

04. The Taste of Tea

Fresh black tea has a pure aroma, free of unpleasant flavors, a clear tea soup, and bright tea leaves.

If the aroma of black tea is weak after brewing, with other aromas mixed in, this is also a sign of off-flavor.

If the tea soup appears unclear or even turbid, it is aged tea.

Some teas may have a stale taste after brewing, and the tea leaves may appear dull and lack luster.

Tea Talk:

High-quality black tea has plump, tightly packed leaves, a uniform color, and consistent length and thickness. They also have distinct white hairs, and the leaves feel heavy in the hand.

New tea has an oily color and is clean, free of tea stems, tea leaves, yellow leaves, or fish leaves.

The aroma of dry tea is honeyed and fruity, and after brewing, it is free of unpleasant flavors such as burnt, sour, moldy, or sour.