The association you have the word "tea" For us, this fragrant hot drink with a piece of sugar, lemon or cherry jam, and for many people - even with the addition of milk, salt and spices. The Chinese and Japanese, for example, recognize only the green, yellow or white teas without any additives and sugar, which in their opinion, the "kill" the taste of this tea . But as they say, every man to his own taste. The main thing is to drink provides the maximum of pleasure. How correctly to choose for this quality tea?
First a little history. Today we just drink tea and do not think, when and how he came to us. They say, like from China
There are several criteria for determining the quality of dry tea leaves.
1. The color of tea. Most black teas in the ideal color of leaves almost black, in green - green or greenish-white. For example, brown-brown "rusty" color of dried black tea - an indicator of average quality, and even below average. For black tea is also unacceptable gray dry tea leaves. Browning of green leaves - all married.
2. Glitter tea. For the dry tea leaves of black tea quality is characterized by "spark" - a dim glow, overflowing. If tea is dull - a measure of the average and poor quality.
3. The homogeneity of materials. Ideally, a good case in all the tea leaves should be about the same size, and their size must comply with international standards. In the dry tea leaves of the middle and poor quality often gets a lot of dust and smaller tea leaves.
4. Foreign matter. In such a vulgar tea called "tea with wood," and experts use the term - "tea trolleys (Chesty Tea). Foreign matter can be not only fragments of tea twigs and pieces of wood, plywood, paper, foil, etc. Of course, all this points to a low quality tea.
5. Torsion tea leaves. The stronger the tea leaves are rolled, the better the fermentation took place, and the better the tea. Curled into a tailspin tea leaves in the jargon are called "wire (Wiry). This is a long, thin, twisted tea leaves, characteristic of high-quality leaf tea. By the way, honest tea manufacturers make packaging transparent window so that you can appreciate the color and twisting.
6. Dryness of tea. Qualitatively made tea must be composed of about 3-6% moisture. It is believed that the more moisture in the tea, the worse the quality. With a moisture content of about 20% of tea is moldy and toxic. If the tea dry up, it becomes too brittle. To test the dryness take a few tea leaves and rub them between your fingers. If they can easily turn into dust, it's bad. It often happens that the tea is not just dry up and burned. This can be easily identified by his burnt smell.
7. The smell of tea. The selected high-quality tea must be properly packed and have a nice tea flavor. In principle, each type of tea has its own characteristic odor . For example, green tea - "herbal" or "bitter", black - "resin-flower" or "sweet." Although there are not that simple because there are a lot of variety of shades. Therefore, it is always easier to identify the wrong scent. Remember that well-chosen tea should never smell like:
Burning or something burnt. This is typical for overdried, blown tea and actually is a factory reject.
The metal. This is a very peculiar smell - something between a rapidly oxidized copper and rust.
Something even stranger (gasoline, cosmetics, fish, cat food, etc.). All this - indicators of improper storage and poor packaging.
Here are seven indicators of quality tea and are fundamental to the choice of dry tea leaves. But, as you know, to learn how to choose high-quality teas, it is necessary to gain experience. Then you will be happy to enjoy first-class tea and feel like a cheerful and happy.
