Spring is the season for producing good tea and also a good time for tasting tea. If you want to drink a cup of top-grade tea, apart from having good tea and good water, you must also master the key points of brewing tea in order to drink more healthily.
For green tea, it should be brewed and drunk immediately. The reason why green tea has health care functions such as anti-oxidation, free radical removal, anti-aging, and anti-virus is mainly due to the polyphenols in the tea leaves. If the brewing temperature is too high or the time is too long, the polyphenols will be destroyed, not only will the tea soup turn yellow, but the aromatic substances in it will also volatilize and disappear. Generally speaking, the suitable water temperature for brewing green tea is 80℃, which can be done when the water just boils. The brewing time is best at 2-3 minutes, and it's better to brew and drink immediately. The proportion of green tea to water should be appropriate, with a ratio of 1:50 being ideal. Usually, 3 grams of tea is used to brew 150 milliliters of water, resulting in a moderately concentrated green tea soup. The brewing method for yellow tea and white tea is similar to this.
For black tea, longer brewing is healthier. Unlike green tea, high-temperature soaking can instead promote the effective dissolution of flavonoid health substances in black tea, making the taste and aroma stronger, and better exerting its health care function. Therefore, it's best to use boiling water to brew black tea, and longer brewing is even better. Generally, 5 minutes is the best. The amount of water used for brewing black tea is about the same as that for green tea. Congou black broken tea can be brewed 3-4 times, while red broken tea can be brewed 1-2 times.
For oolong tea, more tea leaves should be used. The water temperature for brewing oolong tea is preferably boiling water. A larger amount of tea leaves is used for brewing oolong tea, generally about 10 grams is ideal, roughly filling half the capacity of a purple clay pot. Oolong tea can be brewed 5-6 times, with the time gradually increasing, ideally ranging from 2-5 minutes.
For dark tea, the focus is on washing the tea. Dark tea, represented by Pu'er tea, belongs to the post-fermented tea category, with relatively coarse raw materials. The characteristic of dark tea lies in "the older, the better", requiring a rather intense process of boiling water to fully dissolve the contained components. Loose tea is easier to extract flavor, while compressed brick tea needs to be cooked. When brewing dark tea for the first time, quickly wash the tea for 10 seconds, that is, put the tea leaves into the cup first, pour in hot water, wait for a moment, then pour out the water, and pour in hot water again, covering the cup. This not only filters out the impurities in the tea leaves, but also makes it more fragrant and mellow. Subsequent brewing times are usually 5 minutes.