So what is spring tea?
Spring tea refers to the tea picked before Xiaoman, the tea produced from Xiaoman to the beginning of autumn is summer tea, and the tea produced after the beginning of autumn is autumn tea. For green tea, the early spring green tea produced before Qingming and Guyu has the best quality and is the most precious.
So, how to choose green tea? How to keep the green tea fresh?
The following is a brief introduction to the selection, storage and preservation of early spring green tea that are generally concerned by the majority of tea lovers.
Why is early spring green tea good?
1. good looking
Early spring green tea, due to its delicate picking and excellent processing skills, the dry tea made has full buds and leaves, green and lively color, soft leaves, young and tender, very beautiful in appearance, and has a high appreciation value.
2. Delicious
Early spring green tea is the best quality green tea of the year. After a long and harsh winter, tea trees have accumulated rich nutrients in the buds and leaves.
In addition, the low temperature and foggy rain in early spring are conducive to the synthesis of fresh and refreshing substances such as amino acids, but are not conducive to the formation of bitter and astringent substances such as tea polyphenols and anthocyanins.
For example, in Lushan Yunwu tea, the amino acid content of spring tea is 5.64%, the tea polyphenol content is 22.48%, the phenol/ammonia ratio is 4.0, the amino acid content of summer tea is 1.52%, the tea polyphenol content is 33.46%, and the phenol/ammonia ratio is 22.0. The greater the green tea phenol/ammonia ratio, the stronger the bitterness and astringency of green tea and the lower the freshness.
The researchers conducted sensory evaluation on 623 samples of spring tea and summer tea (green tea, one bud and two leaves) produced in the low hilly red soil areas of Zhejiang and Jiangxi. The average sensory quality score was 83.24 points for spring tea and 69.21 points for summer tea.
Therefore, the taste of early spring green tea is usually expressed as a fresh, mellow and refreshing taste, fresh and fragrant aroma, good taste and flavor, and is more popular among tea lovers.
3. Good nutrition
Spring tea is rich in nutrients and high in amino acids, vitamin C and soluble sugars.
By analyzing the content (mean value) of main chemical components in 623 spring tea and summer tea (green tea, one bud and two leaves) samples produced in the low hilly red soil areas of Zhejiang and Jiangxi, it was found that:
The water extract content of spring tea was 40.76%, amino acid 1.93%, and caffeine 3.9%; while the water extract content of summer tea was 39.43%, amino acid 1.64%, and caffeine 3.6%.
It can be seen that many of the quality components contained in spring tea are higher than those in summer tea.
In addition, early spring green tea is also rich in vitamin C, with a content of 163.3 mg/100 g.
Studies have shown that adults need 60-65 mg of vitamin C per day. For example, if 5 g of green tea is brewed with a cup of 300 mL of tea, the amount of vitamin C in a cup of green tea is about 8 mg, so each person drinks 7-8 cups of green tea a day, which can basically meet the human body's need for vitamin C. It is especially important in the absence of fruits and vegetables.
Therefore, when drinking tea to supplement vitamin C, the first choice is famous green tea.
4. Good security
During the spring tea season, the temperature in green tea production areas is low, and pests and diseases rarely occur, and chemical pesticides are basically not used in tea production. Therefore, give priority to early spring green tea.