Chapter 7 5. Tea brewing

Everyone can drink tea, but it is not easy to brew it properly.There is a lot of knowledge in tea brewing. For the same quality of tea, if the water is different or the brewing technique is different, the tea soup will have different effects, and the difference is very obvious. Since ancient times, our country has paid great attention to tea brewing (tea brewing) technology and has accumulated rich experience.As early as the Tang Dynasty, Lu Yu summed up the experience of making tea with water in "The Book of Tea" "Five Zhizhu": "The water should be used in mountains and rivers, in rivers, and in wells."

Tian Yiheng in the Ming Dynasty said in "Cooking Spring Essays": "Tea, a fine wood in the south, is indispensable for daily use, and the quality is inherently evil. If you don't have the water and don't cook it properly, it is good but not good." It can be seen that, It is not as easy as imagined to make good tea. To make a good pot of tea or a cup of tea, we must pay attention to practicality, science, and artistry. The so-called "practicability" is to proceed from the actual needs and conditions, which can be brewing a cup of ordinary "big bowl of tea" or a pot of noble famous tea; the so-called "scientificity" is to understand each According to the characteristics of similar tea, master the scientific brewing technology, so that the inherent quality of tea can be fully displayed; the so-called "artistic" is to choose suitable utensils and elegant and civilized brewing procedures and methods.In short, to master the brewing of tea, the key point is to choose the appropriate water and utensils for making tea; at the same time, to learn scientific brewing techniques.

Xu Cishu in the Ming Dynasty said in "Tea Shu": "Essence of tea contains fragrance, and it is produced by water. Without water, you can't talk about tea." "The nature of tea must come from water. When eighths of tea meets tenths of water, the tea is also tenths. Eighths of water, try tenths of tea, and the tea is only eight cents." It can be seen that the quality of water can directly affect the quality of tea soup.If the water quality is not good, it cannot correctly reflect the color, aroma and taste of tea, especially the taste of tea soup.Hangzhou's "Longjing Tea, Hupao Water" is commonly known as "Shuangjue" in Hangzhou. "The tea on Mengding Mountain, the water in the heart of the Yangtze River" is famous far and wide.Famous springs accompanied by famous teas are really beautiful and complement each other.

1.There are many chapters and monographs on the relationship between tea and water in the ancient tea books of the past dynasties about the understanding of the water used for making tea. Among them, the representative one is the "five of 711 Cooking", as well as Zhang Youxin's "Jian Cha Shui Ji" in the Tang Dynasty, Ouyang Xiu's "Da Ming Shui Ji" in the Song Dynasty and Ye Qingchen's "Scribbles on Tea Brewing", Xu Xianzhong's "Water Products" in the Ming Dynasty, Tian Yiheng's "Boiling Spring Essays", Tang Xixian's "Quanpu" in the Qing Dynasty and Lu Tingcan's "Continued Tea Classic" in "Five Cooking" and so on.

The ancients' selection of water for making tea can be summarized as follows: One is that the water should be sweet and clean.Song Caixiang said in "Tea Records": "Water springs are not sweet, and can damage the taste of tea." Zhao Ji pointed out in "Daguan Tea Theory": "Water is beautiful when it is clean, light, sweet and clean." of verses. Second, the water should be alive and fresh.Song Tanggeng's "Dou Cha Ji" records: "Water does not ask about the river well, it is expensive." Zhang Yuan in the Ming Dynasty analyzed it more specifically in "Tea Records", pointing out: "The spring on the top of the mountain is clear and light, and the spring under the mountain is clear and heavy. , the spring in the stone is clear and sweet, the spring in the sand is clear and cool, and the spring in the earth is light and white. It is better to flow in Huangshi, but it is useless to flow out of bluestone. The flow is quieter, and the negative is better than the sun. The real source is tasteless, and the real water is tasteless. fragrant."

The third is to store water properly.For example, Xiong Mingyu in the Ming Dynasty pointed out in "The Story of Luoye Tea": "To raise water, you must put stones in the urn." Xu Cishu in the Ming Dynasty further pointed out in "Tea Shu": "Water-based wood is forbidden, especially pine and fir. Water storage in wooden barrels is very harmful, and clean bottles are the best." Ming Dynasty Luo Lin introduced it more specifically in "Tea Solution", he said: "The big urn is full of storage, put a piece of dragon liver, that is, the dry soil in the center of the stove, and throw it while it is hot. The water storage urn is placed in the shade in advance. Cover it with silk so that the light of the sky shines during the day and the star dew at night, so that the beauty will not dissipate, and the spiritual energy will always exist. If you press it with wood and stone, seal it with a paper reed, and expose it to the sun, it will close its energy internally and consume it externally. Essence, the god of water is exhausted, and the taste of water is exhausted."

With the advancement of modern science and technology, people have the conditions to put forward scientific water quality standards for drinking water (including water for making tea, of course).The water quality standards for sanitary drinking water mainly include the following four indicators: The first item is sensory index.The chromaticity shall not exceed 15 degrees, and there shall be no other abnormal colors; the turbidity shall not exceed 5 degrees; there shall be no peculiar smell; and no visible matter shall be contained. The second item is chemical index. The pH value is 6.5-8.5, the total hardness is not higher than 25 degrees, calcium oxide is required not to exceed 250 mg A liter, iron not more than 0.3 mg A liter, manganese not more than 0.1 mg A liter, copper No more than 1.0 mg A liter, no more than 1.0 mg A liter of zinc, no more than 0.002 mg A liter of volatile phenols, no more than 0.3 mg A liter of anionic synthetic detergents.

The third item is the toxicological index.Fluoride does not exceed 1.0 mgA liter, the suitable concentration is 0.5-1.0 mgA liter, cyanide does not exceed 0.05 mgA liter, arsenic does not exceed 0.04 mgA liter, cadmium does not exceed 0.05 mgA liter. 01 mg A liter, chromium (hexavalent) not more than 0.5 mg A liter, lead not more than 0.1 mg A liter. The fourth item is the bacterial index.The total number of bacteria in 1 ml of water should not exceed 100, and the number of coliform bacteria in 1 liter of water should not exceed 3. The water used to make tea is generally natural water.According to its source, natural water can be divided into spring water (mountain water), stream water, river water (river water), lake water, well water, rain water, snow water, etc.Tap water is also purified natural water.

(Liu Zusheng) 2.The choice of water for making tea What is the best water for making tea has aroused people's attention and interest since ancient times.Lu Yu once clearly pointed out in the "Tea Classics": "The water should be above the mountains, the rivers, and the wells. The mountains and waters should be picked from milk springs and stone ponds." my country's spring water (ie landscape) resources are extremely rich.Among them, there are more than 100 famous ones.Zhongling Spring in Zhenjiang, Huishan Spring in Wuxi, Guanyin Spring in Suzhou, Hupao Spring in Hangzhou and Baotu Spring in Jinan are known as the five famous springs in China.

(1) Zhenjiang Zhongling Spring, also known as Nanlingshui, has been famous all over the world as early as the Tang Dynasty. Liu Bochu recommended it as the first of the seven water products suitable for frying tea in the country.Zhongling Spring was originally located in the vortex of the Yangtze River in the west of Zhenjiang Jinshan, and it is extremely difficult to absorb it. "The copper bottle is worrying about the wet water (that is, the Nanling water), but the ninety old men of the tea mountain are not seen."This is the description of Lu You, a poet in the Southern Song Dynasty.Wen Tianxiang also wrote in a poem: "The first spring in the heart of the Yangtze River, Jin came from the south to cast Wenyuan in the north, the man cut off the head of Loulan, and worshiped Yuxian while drinking tea." Today, due to the expansion of the river beach, Zhongling Spring has been connected to the land , is just a landscape.

(2) Wuxi Huishan Spring is known as "the second spring in the world".This spring was excavated in the 14th year of Dali in the Tang Dynasty, and has a history of more than 1,200 years.Zhang Youxin's "The Story of Sencha Water" It is said in the book: "Huishan Spring is the second of seven grades of water." Zhao Mengyu, a great calligrapher in the Yuan Dynasty, and Wang Shu, a member of the official department in the Qing Dynasty, respectively wrote "The Second Spring in the World", which was carved on the side of the spring. The handwriting is vigorous and powerful. Keep it intact.This is the origin of "the second spring in the world".Huishan Spring is divided into upper, middle and lower pools.The upper pool is octagonal, the water color is transparent, sweet and delicious, and the water quality is the best; the middle pool is square, and the water quality is second; the lower pool is the largest, rectangular, and the water quality is second.The princes, nobles and literati of all dynasties have regarded Huishan Spring as a treasure.According to legend, Li Deyu, the prime minister of the Tang Dynasty, was fond of drinking Huishan spring water. He often ordered local officials to seal the spring water in an altar and transport it from Zhenjiang to Chang'an (now Xi'an, Shaanxi), a journey of thousands of miles.At that time, the poet Pi Rixiu wrote a satirical poem based on the story of concubine Yang delivering lychees to the south: "When the prime minister longed to cook tea, the county marquis only worried about the delay. Wu Yuan went to the country for three thousand miles, Mo Xiaoyang My concubine loves litchi." (3) Suzhou Guanyin Spring is one of the scenic spots of Tiger Hill in Suzhou.Zhang Youxin listed the stone water of Huqiu Temple in Suzhou (that is, Guanyin Spring) as the third spring in "Jian Cha Shui Ji".The spring is sweet, clear and delicious. (4) Hupao Spring in Hangzhou According to legend, during the Yuanhe period of the Tang Dynasty, a monk named "Xing Kong" traveled to Hupao. Seeing the beautiful environment and beautiful scenery here, he wanted to build a temple, but there was no water source. There is nothing to worry about.At night, I dreamed that the gods told each other: "There is a Tongzi Spring in Hengshan, Nanyue, and two tigers were sent to move here that night." The next day, two tigers came and dug the ground to make holes, and the spring water gushed out. Hence the name.Ranked fourth in the country.In fact, like other famous springs, Hupao Spring also has its geological basis.To the north of Hupao Spring are densely forested mountains, and the underground is quartz sandstone, which lasts for a long time. The weathering of the rocks has produced many cracks. The groundwater is filtered by the sandstone and slowly gushes out of the cracks.This is the real source of Hupao Spring.According to analysis, the spring water has less soluble minerals and low total hardness, with only 0.02 mg of salt ions per liter of water, so the water quality is excellent. (5) Baotu Spring in Jinan ranks first among the local 72 springs and ranks as the fifth spring in the country.Baotu Spring is located in the southwest corner of the old city of Jinan. On the southwest side of the spring is a beautifully built "Guanlan Pavilion".A poet in the Song Dynasty once wrote a poem to praise: "One school is far away from Yushui, and it is sprinkled with mountain dust in the dark. It nourishes the winter and the temperature is always early, and the taste of spring tea is real." Generally speaking, in natural water, spring water is relatively refreshing, with less impurities, high transparency, less pollution, and the best water quality.However, due to the different water sources and flow paths, the dissolved substances, salt content and hardness are very different. Therefore, not all spring water is of high quality.Some spring water, such as sulfur mineral water, has lost its drinking value. Although spring water is the best water for making tea, streams, rivers, rivers and other flowing water are not inferior to tea making.Song Dynasty poet Yang Wanli once wrote a poem describing the scene of boats making tea with river water. The poem said: "The rivers and lakes are old life, why not stay at home, draw water from the Songjiang Bridge, and try new tea on the Chuihong Pavilion." Xu Ci in the Ming Dynasty Shu said in "Tea Shu": "The water of the Yellow River comes from the sky, the turbid one is earthy, the clear one is clean, and the fragrance is spontaneous." It shows that although the water in some rivers is highly turbid, it can still be drunk after clarification. .Usually close to towns, rivers (rivers) are prone to pollution121.It is mentioned in the "Tea Classic" of the Tang Dynasty: "The river water is taken from the place far away from people." That is to go to a place far away from human habitation to get river water.This was the case more than a thousand years ago. Nowadays, environmental pollution is more common, so that many rivers need to be purified before drinking. Well water is groundwater, so whether it is suitable for making tea cannot be generalized.Some wells have sweet water quality and are good for making tea. For example, the "Da Pao Well" in the Dongchuanxin Hall of the Wenhua Hall of the Palace Museum in Beijing was once an important source of drinking water for the imperial palace.Generally speaking, deep groundwater is protected by a water-resistant layer, with less pollution and clean water quality; while shallow groundwater is easily polluted by the ground and has poor water quality.So deep wells are better than shallow wells.Secondly, well water in cities is highly polluted and salty, so it is not suitable for making tea; while well water in rural areas is less polluted and of good quality, suitable for drinking.Of course, there are exceptions, such as the famous "Baisha Well" in Changsha City, Hunan Province. It is a clear spring gushing out of sandstone. The water quality is good, and it flows continuously all year round. Rainwater and snowwater were called "Tianquan" by the ancients.Making tea with snow water has always been valued.For example, Bai Juyi, a great poet of the Tang Dynasty, said "melting snow and frying fragrant tea" in his poem "Late Rise", Xin Qiji, a famous poet in Song Dynasty, said "cooking fragrant snow with tea" in his poem "Liuyao Ling", and Xie Zongke, a poet of Yuan Dynasty. In the poem "Snow Fried Tea", "Ye Sweeping Han Ying Boils Green Dust" all describe making tea with snow water.Cao Xueqin in the Qing Dynasty described it even more vividly in the episode "Jia Baoyu Tasting Tea in Cui Temple": When Miaoyu asked Baochai and Daiyu to eat "Tiji Tea", Daiyu asked Miaoyu: "This is also an old tea. The rain of the year?" Miaoyu replied: "This is the rain from the snow on the harvested plum blossoms the next year, how can it be so pure?" The rain is generally relatively clean, but it varies greatly depending on the season. In autumn, the sky is clear and clear, there is less dust, the rain is clear, and the taste of making tea is refreshing; in the rainy season, there is gentle wind and light rain, which is conducive to the growth of microorganisms, and the quality of tea making is inferior; thunderstorms in summer are often accompanied by flying sand and stones, and the water quality is not clean , the tea soup is turbid, not suitable for drinking. Tap water is generally river (river) water or lake water that has been artificially purified and disinfected.All tap water that meets the drinking water hygiene standards formulated by the Ministry of Health of my country is suitable for making tea.But sometimes tap water is sterilized with excessive chloride, and the smell is very heavy, and it is used to make tea, which seriously affects the quality.In order to eliminate chlorine, you can store tap water in a tank, let it stand for a day and night, wait for the chlorine to escape naturally, and then use it to boil tea, the effect is quite different.Therefore, the treated tap water is also an ideal water for making tea. When choosing water for making tea, you must also understand the relationship between the hardness of the water and the quality of the tea soup.Natural water can be divided into hard water and soft water: water containing a large amount of calcium and magnesium ions is called hard water; water that is insoluble or contains only a small amount of calcium and magnesium ions is called soft water.If the hardness of water is caused by calcium bicarbonate or magnesium bicarbonate, this water is called temporary hard water; if the hardness of water is caused by sulfate or chloride containing calcium and magnesium, this water is called permanent hard water.Temporary hard water is boiled, and the bicarbonate contained in it is decomposed to form insoluble carbonate and precipitate.This turns hard water into soft water.Usually use an aluminum pot to boil water, the white sediment on the bottom of the pot is carbonate.One liter of water containing 1 mg of calcium carbonate is called hardness 1 degree.Hardness of 0-10 degrees is soft water, and above 10 degrees is hard water.Usually the total hardness of drinking water does not exceed 25 degrees. The hardness of water is closely related to the quality of tea soup.First of all, the hardness of water affects the pH value (acidity and alkalinity) of water, and the pH value affects the color of tea soup.When the pH is greater than 5, the color of the soup will deepen; when the pH reaches 7, theaflavins tend to be automatically oxidized and lost. Secondly, the hardness of water also affects the solubility of active ingredients in tea.Soft water contains less other solutes, and the solubility of active ingredients in tea is high, so the tea tastes strong; while hard water contains more calcium, magnesium ions and minerals, and the solubility of active ingredients in tea is low, so the tea tastes light.If the content of iron ions in the water is too high, the tea soup will turn dark brown, and even a layer of "rust oil" will float, making it almost undrinkable.This is the result of the interaction between polyphenols and iron in tea.For example, when the lead content in water reaches 0.2ppm, the tea taste becomes bitter; when the magnesium content exceeds 2ppm, the tea taste becomes weak; when the calcium content exceeds 2ppm, the tea taste becomes astringent; if it reaches 4ppm, the tea taste becomes bitter.It can be seen that it is advisable to choose soft water or temporarily hard water as the water for making tea. In natural water, rainwater and snowwater are soft water, while spring water, stream water, and river (river) water are mostly temporarily hard water, and some groundwater is hard water.Distilled water is artificially processed soft water, but it is expensive and cannot be used as general drinking water. (Liu Zusheng) To brew tea, in addition to good tea and water, you also need good utensils.In Lu Yu's "The Classic of Tea", 29 kinds of utensils for making and drinking tea are listed.This is because the tea, tea drinking habits and material conditions at that time were very different from those of the present, so the utensils were very complicated.For example, now that there is running water, water fetching utensils are unnecessary; with gas stoves, there is no need to choose fire utensils.Nowadays, tea sets generally refer to tea drinking utensils such as teapots, teacups, tea bowls, tea trays, teacups, and saucers. There are many kinds of tea sets in my country.The structure, characteristics and artistic value of various tea sets contain extremely rich content.Some people have already listed it as "tea set culture" for special research.The relevant chapters of this book have also made a systematic exposition.Here is just a brief introduction to the tea sets commonly used in daily life and the tea sets used for quality evaluation. What kind of tea set do you use in your daily life?It depends on the type of tea, the number of people and the tea drinking habits of each place. In Northeast China and North China, most people like to drink scented tea. They generally use larger porcelain pots to make tea, and then pour it into porcelain cups for drinking.The size of the pot depends on the number of people.In the south of the Yangtze River, people generally like to stir-fry or bake green tea, and usually use covered porcelain cups to make tea.Fujian, Taiwan, Guangdong and other provinces and overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia are particularly fond of oolong tea, so purple sand tea sets are suitable.Gongfu black tea and red crushed tea are usually brewed in porcelain pots or purple sand pots, and then poured into cups for drinking.To drink various famous teas, such as West Lake Longjing, Junshan Yinzhen, Dongting Biluochun and other rare teas, it is ideal to choose a colorless and transparent glass.When drinking famous green tea or other delicate green tea, no matter what kind of teacup you use, it should be small rather than large.If you use a large cup, there will be a lot of water and heat, which will make the tea easy to "cook" and affect the color, fragrance and taste of the tea plantation.In winter, some people like to use a kind of thermos cup, which is only suitable for making oolong tea or black tea, etc., and is not suitable for making green tea, especially high-grade green tea and famous tea. Gaiwancha is also popular in Sichuan, Anhui and other places.Gaiwan consists of three parts: bowl cover, tea bowl and bowl holder.It is suitable for individual brewing or group drinking. The various teapots, teacups, and teacups introduced above are the most commonly used utensils for making tea.In addition, there are some supporting tea sets, such as tea boats, tea cups, tea lotus, tea towels, tea spoons, tea trays, saucers and tea pots. Tea boat: Also called "tea pool", it is used to put teapots. It is divided into two types: plate shape and bowl shape. Tea cup: Also called "tea sea", it is used for holding tea soup.When the tea is brewed to an appropriate concentration, first pour the tea soup from the teapot into the teacup, and then pour into each teacup.This has at least three functions: first, it can make the concentration of the tea soup even; second, it can make the poured out tea dregs and tea powder sink to the bottom of the teacup, so as not to pour into the cup; third, it can prevent the tea soup from dripping everywhere. Tea lotus: used for serving tea when enjoying tea.The first step in tasting tea is "appreciating tea", that is, appreciating the shape of the tea leaves and smelling the dry aroma of the tea leaves.First pour the tea leaves from the tea pot to the tea lotus, and the quantity depends on the number of guests.After enjoying the tea, pour the tea leaves into the teapot. Tea towels: Small dry towels are often used as tea towels.It is used to absorb the water droplets and tea outside the teapot and teacup; secondly, when extracting the teapot from the tea boat and pouring tea, first dip the bottom of the pot on the tea towel to absorb the water droplets at the bottom of the pot. Teaspoon: used to scoop tea leaves.Some people often use their hands to take tea directly from the pot or tea lotus, which is neither hygienic nor civilized.Scooping tea with a teaspoon is worth advocating. Tea tray: used to place teacups.First put the teacups in the tea tray, after pouring the tea, the host serves the tea on the plate, and the guests take the cup close to them from the tea tray.If there are not many guests and hosts, and everyone sits around knees, the tea tray can be placed in the center, and everyone can take their own cups to enjoy. Saucer: For placing teacups, each teacup is equipped with a saucer.The saucer texture is made of pottery, also made of bamboo, wood or other materials, and its size should be coordinated with the teacup.Use a saucer to avoid getting the table wet or scalding, and to keep your fingers from touching the rim of the cup when serving it. Tea caddy: specially used for storing tea.It is required to be odorless, moisture-proof and light-proof.Commonly used are tinplate cans, stainless steel cans, tin alloy cans and ceramic cans. The utensils used for tea quality review are different from the utensils used for daily tea drinking, and have strict uniform specifications to minimize objective errors. Commonly used tools for tea evaluation include: evaluation plate, evaluation cup, evaluation bowl, leaf chassis, tea sample scale, sand time meter, mesh spoon, teaspoon, soup cup, tea spout tube, kettle, etc. Evaluation tray: also called "sample tea tray", made of odorless thin wood board, divided into square and rectangle, specially used for reviewing the shape of tea leaves.The size of the square dish is 23×23×3 centimeters (length×width×height); the size of the rectangular dish is 25×16×3 centimeters.There is a gap in one corner of the plate for pouring out tea leaves.Apply white paint completely, and use it only after the smell of paint is completely dispelled. Evaluation cup: used to make tea and evaluate the aroma of tea.The specifications of the international standard review cup are: the height of the cup is 65mm, the inner diameter is 62mm, and the outer diameter is 66mm. .The evaluation cup has a capacity of 150 ml.The judging cups used for judging red and green teas in my country have a capacity of 200 or 250 milliliters, and there is a small arc-shaped notch on the mouth of the cup.The evaluation cup for oolong tea is a covered tea bowl with a capacity of 110 ml. Judging bowl: It is a special wide-mouthed white porcelain bowl for judging the color and taste of tea soup.The specifications of the international standard evaluation bowl are: outer diameter 95mm, inner diameter 86mm, height 52mm, capacity 150ml.The capacity of my country's Maocha evaluation bowl is 200 or 250 milliliters. Leaf base: There are two kinds of wooden square leaf bases and rectangular white enamel plates, both of which are used for reviewing leaf bases.The size of the wooden leaf base plate is 10 x 10 x 2 cm (length x width x height), and the size of the white enamel plate is 22 x 15 x 3 cm. Sample tea scale: a special scale for weighing sample tea.The sampled tea can also be weighed with a 1A10 coarse balance. Sand time meter: It is specially used to record the tea brewing time.A 5-minute sand time meter is commonly used in the review room, and a fixed clock can also be used instead. Net spoon: made of fine copper wire mesh, used to scoop up the tea dregs in the judging bowl. Teaspoon: Take the tea soup to evaluate the taste. Soup cup: put the mesh spoon and teaspoon. Tea spitting cylinder: used for spitting tea during evaluation, its specifications are: height 80 cm, diameter 35 cm, half-waist diameter 20 cm, usually made of galvanized iron sheet. (Liu Zusheng) Good tea must have good water and good tea sets, but if you only have these without mastering the technology of making tea, you will still not get good results. The technique of making tea includes three elements: the first is the amount of tea leaves, the second is the water temperature for making tea, and the third is the brewing time.The amount of tea leaves is to put an appropriate amount of tea leaves in each cup or pot; the water temperature for brewing tea is to brew tea leaves with boiling water at an appropriate temperature; Drinking, the second refers to the number of times some tea leaves need to be brewed, and how long each time needs to be brewed. 1.The amount of tea to make a good cup of tea or a pot of tea, first of all to master the amount of tea.There is no unified standard for how much tea to use each time, and it mainly depends on the type of tea, the size of the tea set, and the drinking habits of consumers. There are many kinds of tea leaves, different tea types, and different dosages.For general red and green tea, the ratio of tea to water should be roughly 1:50-60, that is, put about 3 grams of dry tea in each cup and add 150-200 ml of boiling water.If drinking Pu'er tea, put 5-10 grams per cup.If a teapot is used, it should be properly controlled according to the capacity.Oolong tea is the most used tea, and the amount of each input is almost half of the volume of the teapot, or even more. The amount of tea used is also closely related to consumers' drinking habits.In ethnic minority areas such as Tibet, Xinjiang, Qinghai and Inner Mongolia, people mainly eat meat, and there is a shortage of vegetables in the local area, so tea has become a physiological necessity.They generally like to drink strong tea, and add sugar, milk or salt to the tea, so they consume more tea each time. People in the vast areas of North China and Northeast China like to drink scented tea, and usually use larger teapots to make tea, and the amount of tea leaves is less.Consumers in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River mainly drink green tea or famous teas such as Longjing and Maofeng, and generally use smaller porcelain or glass cups, and the amount is not much each time.In Fujian, Guangdong, Taiwan and other provinces, people like to drink Gongfu tea.Although the tea set is small, it uses a lot of tea. The amount of tea consumption is also related to the age structure of consumers and the history of drinking tea.Middle-aged and elderly people tend to drink tea for a long time and like to drink stronger tea, so they use more. In short, the key to the amount of tea to use is to master the ratio of tea to water. If there is more tea and less water, the taste will be strong; if less tea and more water, the taste will be bland.Someone once did such an experiment: Take four teacups, put 3 grams of the same tea in equal amounts, and then pour 50ml, 100ml, 150ml and 200ml of boiling water into them respectively. After 5 minutes, the taste of the tea soup was evaluated. The result was that the taste of adding 50ml of water was very strong, the taste of adding 100ml of water was too strong, the taste of adding 150ml of water was normal, and the taste of adding 200ml of water was mild. (Liu Zusheng) 2.Water temperature for making tea The ancients were very particular about the water temperature for making tea.Cai Xiang of the Song Dynasty said in "Tea Records": "Waiting soup (referring to boiling water to make tea - author's note) is the most difficult. If it is undercooked, the foam will float, and if it is overripe, the tea will sink. What was called crab eyes in the previous life is also overcooked soup. It cannot be distinguished when boiled in a sinking bottle, so It is said that waiting for soup is the most difficult." Xu Cishu in the Ming Dynasty put it more specifically in "Tea Shu": "As soon as the water enters Cho, it needs to be boiled urgently, and when there is a sound of loosening, remove the cover immediately to tell it is old and tender. After the crab eyes, the water has slight waves, which is for that time; when the big waves are boiling, turning to silence, it is for 921, which is out of date; "As mentioned above, when making tea and boiling water, it should be boiled quickly on high heat, not simmered slowly. It is better to make bubbles just after boiling. With such water, the tea soup will have a good fragrance. If the water boils for too long, it is called "" "Water is old". At this time, the carbon dioxide dissolved in the water evaporates completely, and the refreshing taste of the tea will be greatly inferior. The water that has not boiled is called "shuinen" by the ancients, and it is not suitable for tea, because the water temperature is low. The active ingredients in the tea are not easy to brew, which makes the fragrance low, and the tea floats on the water surface, making it inconvenient to drink. The water temperature of making tea depends mainly on what kind of tea to drink.High-grade green tea, especially various famous teas with delicate buds and leaves (famous green teas), cannot be brewed with boiling water at 100°C, and it is generally advisable to brew at around 80°C.The tenderer and greener the tea leaves, the lower the temperature of the brewing water, so that the brewed tea soup must be bright green, fresh and refreshing, and the vitamin C in the tea leaves will be less damaged.However, under high temperature, the tea soup tends to turn yellow and taste bitter (the caffeine in the tea is easily leached out), and a large amount of vitamin C is destroyed.As we usually say, the high temperature of the water will "cook" the tea leaves.To drink all kinds of scented tea, black tea and medium and low-grade green tea, it should be brewed with boiling water at 100 °C.If the water temperature is low, the permeability will be poor, the active ingredients in the tea will be less leached, and the tea taste will be weak.When brewing oolong tea, Puer tea and Tuocha, the amount of tea used each time is relatively large, and the tea leaves are relatively thick and old, so they must be brewed with boiling water at 100°C.Sometimes, in order to maintain and increase the water temperature, it is necessary to scald the tea set with boiling water before brewing, and pour boiling water outside the pot after brewing.For ethnic minorities to drink brick tea, the water temperature is required to be higher, and the brick tea is broken into pieces and boiled in a pot. Generally speaking, the water temperature of making tea is positively correlated with the solubility of effective substances in tea in water. The higher the water temperature, the greater the solubility, and the thicker the tea soup; on the contrary, the lower the water temperature, the lower the solubility, and the weaker the tea soup. The amount of leaching in warm water is only equivalent to 45-65% of that in boiling water at 100°C. It must be explained here that as mentioned above, high-grade green tea is suitable for brewing with water at 80°C. , as long as it is burned to the required temperature. (Liu Zusheng) 3.Brewing time and frequency The time and frequency of tea brewing vary greatly, and are related to the type of tea, the temperature of the water for making tea, the amount of tea used, and the habit of drinking tea, etc., and cannot be generalized. If you drink ordinary red and green tea in a teacup, put about 3 grams of tea in each cup, brew it with about 200 ml of boiling water, cover it for 4 to 5 minutes, and then drink it.The disadvantages of this brewing method are: if the water temperature is too high, it is easy to scald the tea leaves (mainly refer to green tea); if the water temperature is low, it is difficult to brew the tea flavor; Cold, color, aroma and taste are all affected.The improved brewing method is: after putting the tea leaves into the cup, pour a small amount of boiling water to submerge the tea leaves, cover it for about 3 minutes, then add boiling water to 70% to 80% full, and then drink it while it is hot.When there is about one-third of the tea soup left in the cup, add boiling water, so that the concentration of the tea soup before and after can be more even.According to the measurement, when the tea is steeped for the first time, 50-55% of its soluble substances can be extracted; for the second time, about 30% can be extracted; for the third time, about 10% can be extracted; Not much left.Therefore, it is usually advisable to brew three times. For example, if you drink crushed red tea and green crushed tea with fine particles and sufficient kneading, after brewing with boiling water for 3 to 5 minutes, most of the active ingredients will be leached out, and you can drink it quickly at one time.Drinking instant tea also adopts a one-time brewing method. Small teapots are mostly used for drinking oolong tea.In the case of a large amount of tea (about half a pot), the first brewing time should be poured out in 1 minute, the second brewing time should be 1 minute and 15 seconds (15 seconds longer than the 131st first brewing), and the third brewing time should be 1 minute and 40 seconds. , the fourth bubble 2 minutes and 15 seconds.That is to say, the brewing time should be gradually increased from the second brewing, so that the concentration of the tea soup before and after is relatively uniform. The temperature of the water for making tea and the amount of tea used also affect the length of brewing time.If the water temperature is high, more tea will be used, and the brewing time should be short; if the water temperature is low, less tea will be used, and the brewing time should be longer.How long is the brewing time?The standard is that the concentration of the tea soup is suitable for the taste of the drinker. According to research, after green tea is brewed once, the leaching rate of various active ingredients is quite different.Amino acid is the most water-soluble component in tea, and the leaching rate of one brewing is as high as 80%; followed by caffeine, the leaching rate of one brewing is nearly 70%; the leaching rate of tea polyphenols is lower, about It is about 45%; the leaching rate of soluble sugar is lower, usually less than 40%.Black tea is generally more twisted than green tea during the processing process, especially black crushed tea, which has small particles and a high cell fragmentation rate, so the leaching rate of one brewing is often much higher than that of green tea.At present, teabags are increasingly popular both at home and abroad.Teabags are not only convenient to drink, but also increase the leaching of effective substances in the tea and increase the concentration of tea soup.According to comparison, teabags have about 20% more extraction than bulk tea. (Liu Zusheng) The tea brewing procedure can be complicated or simple, depending on the specific situation.Generally speaking, the brewing procedure of "tasting tea" is very particular; the brewing procedure of "evaluating tea" has strict regulations, while the brewing procedure of "drinking tea" is the simplest. The so-called "tasting tea" means appreciating and tasting tea leaves.All kinds of famous teas in our country are themselves special handicrafts, rich in color, aroma, taste and shape, each with its own merits.It is a kind of elegant artistic enjoyment to savor it carefully.As far as tea tasting is concerned, the most typical one is brewing oolong tea. For related content, please refer to the book "How to Drink Tea". The so-called "tea evaluation", also known as "tea evaluation", is to evaluate the quality and grade of tea, so as to determine the price of tea.Therefore, tea review is a very important task in tea circulation.The general procedure of tea evaluation is: look at the appearance - smell the aroma - comment on the color of the soup - taste the taste - look at the bottom of the leaf.Each procedure also includes many little-known contents, for details, please refer to the book "Tea Evaluation". The so-called "drinking tea" is also called "eating tea" in some places. The main purpose is to quench thirst and help digestion.This is the need of daily life, but also the physiological need of the human body.The brewing procedure is relatively simple, usually: preparing tea——preparing water——equipment——brewing——drinking. (Liu Zusheng)