If there is a flaw in the rock tea industry that can be vetoed by a single vote when brewing tea, it is the return to green. Occasionally, at the tea table, I would see a friend enthusiastically brewing tea. As soon as I smelled the cup, my brow furrowed and I said, “This tea has turned green again
After speaking, the rest is the fate of negative reviews and changing tea.
Drinking a cup of tea that turns green can completely destroy the experience of good mood and oral pleasure. The sweet aroma of flowers and fruits that should have been in the mouth is greatly reduced, and the low aroma makes people feel depressed. The overall taste is also blurry, making it difficult to see clearly. What’s more, the bitter and astringent feeling left in the mouth is stubborn, and the taste buds are directly shut down.
Returning to green, he can be called a tea table assassin.
No.1 ‘Returning to green’ destroys everything, and rock tea is fatally injured.
To avoid tea table assassins, before entering, we can observe the dried tea strips, soup color, and aroma expression to get a feel for the assassin’s background.
Stripes can be observed from color and compactness. Generally speaking, normal dried tea has a dark brown or greenish brown color. If not stored properly, the color of the tea strands that turn green will become even darker and greener. Under the influence of excessive moisture, the strands will become looser and no longer straight and tight.
Semi finished cinnamon baked over a fire
In this case, a dry tea warm cup can be smelled with a noticeable damp scent.
In addition, there is also a situation where the tea leaves are not roasted properly, resulting in residual green gas. The tea leaves appear greenish and lack a dark and smooth color compared to normal tea that has been roasted well. The brewed tea soup is not bright orange red, and the color will be lighter, with a hint of white.
No.2 Where does the green energy come from? It depends on the craftsmanship and weather
From a technological perspective, in the two actions of shaking and drying the leaves during the greening process, the tea leaves collide and rub against each other, causing the leaf cells to gradually break down. With a certain humidity and temperature, they continue to undergo slight fermentation and withering.
Continuous shaking during this process helps to evaporate the low boiling alcohol aldehydes, such as green leaf alcohol. The reduction of this substance will prompt the odor of other high boiling alcohol aldehydes to be displayed in our sense of smell, and these aroma characteristics and rhythm changes will be clearly manifested. This is why the Qingshi Fu repeatedly smells the aroma of tea leaves during the greening process to determine the state of tea green transformation.
Under the influence of Qingye Chun, there is a green odor in the initial stage of making tea leaves. With the increase of shaking times and the accumulation of time, this unpleasant odor will gradually decrease. For example, last year, the Tea Season Study Committee tracked a cinnamon production process in the tea factory. During the greening process, it went from the initial green odor to the fragrance of osmanthus flowers, and then gently shook to turn into the fragrance of orchids, ending the entire greening process.
If the step of making green tea is not done well, which is what we call “making green tea not transparent”, essentially means that the substances that cause the odor of green tea are not well evaporated due to the influence of external environment or processes, so the tea leaves produced will still have a green and astringent taste.
The impact of the natural environment mainly lies in withering, such as picking after rainy days or green leaves with dew, which have a higher moisture content. During the withering process, it is difficult for tea leaves to dissipate moisture, and the required time will be greatly extended. Moreover, the overall withering of tea leaves is difficult to be uniform, which will also affect the subsequent greening process and lead to impure tea taste.
No.3 Behind the scenes expert Aoba Chun’s dual life
All things have their roots, and the way to understanding lies in tracing their origins. The protagonist of Qingqi is Qingye alcohol, which is a low boiling aromatic substance.
Although it may not be considered a high-end aroma, it always firmly occupies the main position of tea flavor, and its unique grassy and astringent flavor enhances its presence. This similar aroma is commonplace in the army of fruits and vegetables, but it does not match the fiery rock tea.
The aromatic substance Qingye alcohol in fresh leaves can account for 60%, so the freshly harvested green leaves are fresh and slightly astringent, similar to the grassy scent of freshly cut grass.
After entering the factory, Qingye embarked on a journey of transformation, and it was the changes it underwent under high temperature conditions that created the colorful and diverse aroma of rock tea.
The boiling point of Qingye alcohol is not high, only 156-157 ℃. During the withering and roasting process of rock tea, high temperatures are encountered, causing the green leaves to evaporate like dewdrops under the sun.
This process is very important as it can reduce the grassy flavor in tea leaves, making the aroma of the finished tea more mellow. It is also a process of organizing the tea flavor, allowing the chaotic aroma to evaporate or transform during processing, leaving only a few harmonious aromatic substances to enhance the tea flavor.
However, Qingye Chun is not entirely useless, its other side lies in its ability to enhance tea aroma through conversion. In addition to volatilization, isomerization of green leaf alcohol is also an important chemical reaction in the initial production of rock tea. At high temperatures, cis green leaf alcohol will transform into trans green leaf alcohol. Just like the same person changing clothes, their essence remains unchanged.
The difference lies in the fact that the astringent taste of green grass in trans green leaf alcohol is not as strong, while also bringing a certain amount of clear aroma
At the same time, it undergoes esterification reaction with acetic acid, hexanoic acid, benzoic acid, etc. under high temperature conditions in the initial processing step, and the resulting ester compounds are the main source of aroma in rock tea. For example, the generated ethyl acetate has fruity and sweet aromas. Combined with other aromatic esters, the holly oil aroma of methyl salicylate, the jasmine flower aroma of jasmonate, and so on, the unique and rich floral fragrance of Wuyi rock tea is formed.
So, although Qingye Chun carries a green aroma, it is also an important “promoter” of the aroma of rock tea.