Let’s set aside today’s protagonist ‘Awakening Tea’ and talk about the question we often have when reading fairy tales: why do princesses ultimately need a prince’s kiss to wake up from their slumber.
Of course, we believe in the existence of Sleeping Beauty. In a symbolic sense, this seemingly external force is actually a positive transformation of her own inner energy. However, according to the development of the perfect HE storyline, it cannot be separated from the presence of brave koi like the prince.
In the later processing and storage of rock tea through multiple processes, the tea leaves are sealed and packaged in boxes, but a large amount of sealed substances inside are still stirring. The action of waking up the tea is like a sudden change in a certain link on a production line one day, making the tea soup diverse and unique.
So, can waking tea make the essence of tea break the upper limit? How to use waking tea to detail the instability caused by tea production and environment?
PART.01 Why wake up for tea?
Before answering this question, let’s think about why sometimes the taste of the first brew is always bad, and the key point is that the step of waking up the tea is missed.
As early as the Tang and Song dynasties, the “Four Essentials of Tea Cooking” explained: “When cooking tea, first wash the tea leaves with hot soup to remove dust and cold air, and then cook them beautifully.” In the “Dictionary of Chinese Tea”, “Awakening tea is to wash away impurities on the surface of tea, induce tea flavor and aroma, which is a tradition of ancient people” also added the meaning of awakening tea.
But it has to be said that nowadays, the hygiene of tea production is strictly controlled in the national food safety standards, greatly improving modern tea processing technology and environment. The finished products are relatively clean, and the reason for removing dust on the surface of the tea leaves is theoretically meaningless now.
However, under the influence of unpredictable weather and the unpredictable temperament of rock tea, if the awakening step is skipped and the tea is opened directly, it will also give back a lot of “unpleasant” uncertainty in the mouth, and even this “unpleasant” first encounter will affect the overall evaluation of the brewed tea.
What kind of tea needs to wake up? We have heard two theories, one is new and the other is old.
New tea awakens tea, on the one hand, it soothes its waking up aura: the smell of fire. You should know that freshly brewed tea is not as good as freshly baked barbecue. The smoke and fire of the tea soup waft through your mouth, leaving your tongue and throat feeling like they have been squeezed dry. Waking up the tea at this moment can serve as a buffer zone for the fire flavor to some extent. On the other hand, it is also to better stimulate the inner essence of the tea that is sealed inside, and to use the aroma before the tea soup enters the mouth.
Chen Cha awakens tea. Some say that there are odors and impurities during storage, which need to be removed by waking the tea. Others say that the purpose is to awaken the dormant substances in the tea leaves, stimulate the release of low boiling aromatic substances, and enhance the quality of the tea.
In fact, whether it is aged tea, new tea, or tea with different personalities, the ultimate goal of waking up tea is to give us a more complete understanding of the tea, to have an early prediction of whether it will turn green and whether there will be impurities. After removing the influence of adverse factors and different fire gradients, the subsequent brewing method is determined during the process of waking up tea.
In this regard, waking up tea is also one of the processes that allows us to experience the good side of brewing tea to a large extent.
The process of waking up involves different techniques, which can be divided into two main modes: dry waking and wet waking.
PART.02 How do I wake up?
Hibernating animals need time to wake up, and for rock tea with high fire power and long storage time, if you want to drink a purer taste, you need to pay more attention to methods and techniques. The eight words are: Different depending on the tea, flexible and versatile.
Dry awakening includes awakening tea in the jar and main infuser. Take out the tea leaves and place them in a ventilated area or tin cans or other objects with preservation function. There is a certain amount of time and space for them to fully oxidize, so that the acidic substances can adapt to the environment and reach another degree of balance.
The operation of the jar is relatively simple, but it is important to pay attention to the wake-up time. It is best to choose the method that you accept. Assuming that the old tea is now sealed in the box, approximately how much tea needs to be consumed during this period and stored in the jar for nurturing.
Generally speaking, one to two weeks is sufficient, while aged tea should be stored for approximately 1 to 3 months. There is no standard wake-up time, which can be adjusted according to the type of tea and the length of tea storage time.
One way to awaken tea is through natural oxidation and ventilation. When drinking, preheat the teapot at a designated location and let the steam from the fumigation create a sauna for the tea leaves.
If there is an A-side, there will naturally be a B-side. The normal way to wake up the main infuser is to preheat the cup or bowl with boiling water, pour the tea into the infuser, and shake it up, down, left, and right. This shaking aroma is also the most common way on the tea table.
PART.03 How to wake up wet?
Wet awakening is also known as “washing tea” or “moistening tea”.
From the perspective of cleanliness and hygiene, it is the same as warming the cup and scalding the cup before drinking tea. As we all know, even in winter tea processing plants, the heat is boiling. When the tea leaves are just made, the heat is relatively high, so they are generally not consumed immediately but stored for a period of time.
It can be said that the operation of awakening tea and awakening red wine is different, and the core is the same. Moderate oxidation makes rough tannins softer and restores the desired aroma. It should be noted that during wet awakening tea, each leaf must be fully soaked to ensure the purity of the first tea soup, maintain the fast forward and fast forward frequency, and the soaking time should not be too long.
For block type tea, it can be slightly moistened for a longer period of time, because prolonged restraint will make the tea leaves stretch slower than loose tea, just like a natural parabolic curve. The starting point is always the lowest, and the speed will only increase in the second half. The first water with color and taste is a proof of substance rushing out.
For aged tea, it seems necessary to go through the process of awakening the tea in order to release its best quality. The complex changes make it more common to choose purple clay teapots or pottery teapots when choosing Xinglao tea, and place them in dry and tidy containers. Loose tea can be put directly into the packaging after unpacking.
Not only old tea, but also old white tea, black tea, and ripe Pu. Before brewing, one can clearly feel the adverse odor of excessive fermentation caused by the fermentation process. Therefore, this tea soup can be soaked and awakened several times.
Different Shaped Old Tea Jars for Awakening Tea at Beijing Tea Party
If it is said that tea itself has a strong taste, good transparency and dryness, and stable quality tea already has a very good taste and aroma, waking up tea will actually destroy its original flavor.
Of course, waking up for tea is a personal choice, just wake up according to your own tea making habits on weekdays.
In fact, if we interpret the princess’s slumber and awakening from a deeper level of symbolism, it is undoubtedly a cycle of life, a symbol of rebirth, and also a symbol of transcendence and transformation over the past.
Awakening tea is like writing a text, with no fixed pattern. Each tea has its own characteristics, but no matter which way you choose to awaken tea, remember one principle: respect the personality of the tea leaves.
Whether there is an upper limit to the essence of tea still needs to be explored, but what is certain is that waking up tea is the avenue for tea to explore its infinite possibilities.