Tea Culture

College of Pu-erh Tea Yunnan Agricultural University WAN-FANG SHAO 2009-12

Tea history Ancient tea trees Tea products Tea quality Tea culture

Tea history
When was the tea discovered? Who found it?

 Tea

is nearly 5,000 years old and was discovered, as legend has it, in 2,737 B.C. by a Chinese emperor Shen Nong. According to legend, Shen Nong, an early emperor, was a skilled ruler. So, the story of tea began in ancient China over 5,000 years ago.

108

88

The Chinese character is decomposed into (twenty), (eight) (ten) and (eight). The sum of these numerals is 108 (20+88), which signifies that tea-drinking would help the drinker to live as long as 108 years.

In 800 A.D. Lu Yu wrote the first definitive book on tea, the Ch'a Ching, which documented various methods of tea cultivation and preparation in ancient China.

Tea processing in the Tang Dynasty

Ancient tea-horse road

Go abroad

Different Tea Production

Tea Products

Six Kinds

Different Color

% of extract from dried leaves 80

Fomentation Polyphenols reduce

50

total polyphenols flavan-3-ols proanthocyanidins hydrolyzable tannins theasinensins theaflavins caffeine gallic acid
0 0 0.5 1 2 3 4 (hr) 5 6 8 12 5 20 10

HPLC analysis of polyphenols

Caf TG GA EGC ST EC EGCG ECG

Green Tea
TG GA

EGCG Caf ECG

Oolong Tea

triG

EAG

EGC

EC

EAG

TF3 TF3 TF33

50 min

TF
0 10 20 30 40 50 min 0 10 20 30 40

Black Tea
TG GA TSA TSB TF3 TF3 TF33 TF eTF

Caf

Dark Tea

EGCG

10

20

30

40

50

min

10

20

30

40

50

min

Different Processing Methods

Green

Tea Black Tea Oolong Tea White Tea Dark Tea

Green Tea
1.

Use heat to stop enzyme activity 2. Roll tea to shape the leaves and break the cell walls before drying 3. Dry

Black Tea
1. Withering troughs are set on screens with air flowing underneath to remove moisture. 2. Rolling exposes the inside of the leaves to air. 3. Fermentation: The exposure to oxygen will activate the enzymes to change the flavor and make the leaves turn dark and end up as black tea. 4.Next the tea must be dried. Finally it is sifted for size.

Wither

Fermentation

Drying

Oolong Tea
Oolong

tea, popular in China, is withered, partially oxidized, and dried. Oolong tea is a cross between black tea and green tea in color and taste.

Rolling

Package Rolling By Machine

White Tea
1.

Wither 2. Dry

Wither

Dry

Jasmine Tea

Pick Flower

Traditional Manual Methods

1.

Oolong Tea 2. Tibet Tea 3. Dark Tea

Tea Evaluation
1.

Appearance of the dry tea 2. Tea infusion, color, body, and strength 3. Aroma 4. Infused leaves

Ancient Teapot

Ancient Teapot

Identification of Tea Quality

Sensory evaluation

Comparison of Single-way examination reference sample and evaluation (shape)

Methods of tea examination and evaluation

double-way examination and evaluation (shape and internal quality) Non-comparison of reference sample

Physical and chemical evaluation (examination)

.Sensory evaluation

Definition: To judge the quality of tea (shape and internal quality) through the human sense organs (the sense of sight, smell, taste and touch). In other words, through sight, smell, taste and touch, to directly identify the quality of tea and determine whether it conforms to the required standards in shape, size, and color, flavor and taste, etc.

color The quality of tea

the sense of sight taste

affective neuron

flavour

comprehensive analysis smell

taste

quality characteristics

touch shape

credit scoring and rating

2Physical and chemical evaluation

Definition: to judge the quality of tea through

physical and chemical evaluation to replace sensory evaluation. In other words, by means of some instruments, equipment and methods, to determine the physical properties of tea and analyze its composition changes

Process of tea examination and evaluation

Dry observation dry tea shape, color clarity Wet observation infusion tea color, flavor, taste and leaves

Procedures
Shake Tea

Dunk tea

Observe liquor color

Inhale flavor

Taste

Evaluate leaves (dunked)

Procedures
boiling water Sample 3 g 150-ml examination and evaluation Cup Pouring tea into the bowl 5 min

Observe liquor color

Inhale flavor

Taste

Evaluate leaves

1. Environment (tea sensory evaluation room)

Interior lighting should be adequate, uniform, avoid direct sunlight; request dry and cleaning, air circulation; avoid tobacco, alcohol, fishy, spicy smell, etc.

Examination and evaluation cup: for Infusing tea and evaluating flavor Examination and evaluation bowl

Leaves tray: for evaluating leaves Balance: for weighing tea Teaspoon: white porcelain spoons for tasting tea

Calculagraph for timing Net spoon for removing tea leaves in the drink Tea spittoon for spitting tea and tea leave wastewater during examination and evaluation. Size should be suitable, not too inconvenient or too low Boiling kettle steel is better, no metallic taste. the best is electric teapot, both clean and convenient

3Pu-erh tea sensory evaluation

(1) Process: Dry observation examination and evaluation of dry tea shape Wet observation examination and evaluation of infusion tea internal quality The project of sensory evaluation (2)Eight factors (3)Pu-erh (post-fermented) tea sensory evaluation is divided into loose tea (level tea) and pressed tea

3Pu-erh

tea sensory evaluation

Mainly inspect shapecolorflavortaste and leaves (1) Appreciation of Pu-erh loose tea Appearance: First, observe the tea bar, judge tea bar
about completeness, tenderness , leaf size. High-quality tea should be stout cord and less broken tea ; then smell and look dry tea for color and neatness. For high-quality loose tea, stale flavor is evident and no miscellaneous flavor, color tan or brown red (liver color), brown in the reddening (commonly known as red cooked), while quality time or only a slight stale flavor, even with a sour taste rancid smell or other miscellaneous, cord is incomplete, color black auburn, dry dark dull.

2Evaluation of internal quality

Evaluating liquor color Observe liquor color with deep, shallow, light, dark, muddy, it will be as well red thick transparentbright liquor red bright purity and refinement .

Evaluating flavor Smell aroma purity stale flavor, lasting high and low. By stale flavor strong is normal, sourness, smell, miscellaneous are worse.

2Evaluation of liquor color

Mainly Inspect the intensity of liquor color, brightness. high-quality loose Yunnan Pu'er tea, bubble tea out of a bright red thick; lowquality tea instead of red plain and less bright, there will be dust-like substance in which some have even made black, jet black, commonly known as "soy sauce soup"

2 Effect of storage conditions on tea quality

1 temperature The high temperature can lead to fast change in the tea. 2water Water is an important medium of material changes . The higher the moisture content of tea, the faster change in the tea. 3oxygen Tea can be oxidized by oxygen. 4light Some of the tea components are decomposed in the light very easily, while light produces heat, then affects tea temperature. 5none tainted smell (pure smell) Tea has very strong sorption, can produce deterioration easily because of adsorbing tainted odor.

1 Tea polyphenols changes during storage Deterioration is characterized by loss of tea polyphenols because of auto-oxidation. In the green tea, tea polyphenols are oxidized into water-soluble brown products, which yield browning tea. In the black tea , loss of theaflavins and increases in non-dialysable thearubigins together with changes in the volatile composition make dark color and plain and thin taste.

2Chlorophyll changes during storage: Chlorophyll is a major component in the green tea and dunked tea leaves constitute. It is easy to decompose when tea is exposed to light, and it is easy to transform too. All these changes make tea brown. 3 Vitamin C changes during storage: Deterioration is characterized by loss of Vc because of auto-oxidation and tea browning. 4 Flavor changes during storage For long-time storage, the flavor undergoes great changes, fresh flavor gradually lost and replaced by stale odor.

terms

Tea tasting is an art. Many of the terms are used to describe certain characteristics of a tea
Aroma Astringency Body: may be described as thin, medium,

or full Thick: describes liquor having substance, but not necessarily strength Thin/weak: describes tea liquor lacking of thickness and strength

Tea Art Performance

Expo.1999 Tea Garden