How to Judge the Quality of Black Tea？

YuanJia131

In the cold winter, people's activity levels decrease. Drinking warm tea can warm the stomach and body, boost vitality, and enhance resistance. But do you know what makes a good black tea and how to judge its quality?

Tea plants thrive in diffuse light, with their growth shaded by clouds and mist, and under sparse sunlight, they are more likely to synthesize theanine. Tea trees grown on high mountains have higher levels of theanine and greater freshness in their leaves.

Black tea develops a sweet taste because the chemical reactions centered around the enzymatic oxidation of tea polyphenols during the fermentation process produce new compounds such as theaflavins and thearubigins, while the aromatic substances significantly increase compared to fresh leaves.

Most of the sugar elements in tea leaves are converted into monosaccharides. The increase in amino acids gives black tea its characteristic features of a red broth, red leaves, and a sweet, mellow flavor, making the sweetness more pronounced compared to other tea varieties.

Black tea with more buds has a higher content of theaflavins, resulting in a golden yellow infusion, while tea with relatively more leaves tends to produce a deeper reddish hue.

The turbidity formed after black tea cools down is academically referred to as "cold after turbidity," primarily caused by the complex compounds of caffeine, theaflavins, and thearubigins. This phenomenon is an indicator of high-quality tea leaves and can serve as a method to select black tea.