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Authenticity of Pu'er tea Identification methods

In recent years, with the rise of "Pu'er tea craze", "aged Pu'er" with "40 years of history" and "50 years of production" can often be seen on the market. Experts remind you that in the mixed market, you must learn to distinguish authenticity from fake products to avoid being deceived.

Zou Jiaju, President of the Yunnan Tea Industry Association, reminded everyone at the first International Pu'er Tea Seminar in Yunnan Province on the 26th that not only the market, but also some books and even museums sometimes make mistakes. The level of confusion is evident. In order to reduce the possibility of being deceived, you should first understand some common sense about Pu'er tea from a historical perspective.

It is common to see red-stamped round tea sold under the "China Tea" trademark as a product of the 1940s. But in fact, the "China Tea" trademark was only registered in Beijing in December 1951.

"Panchen tight tea" produced in 1980 appeared on the market. The Panchen Lama only inspected the Xiaguan Tea Factory in Yunnan in 1986, so there is no "Panchen Tea" in 1980.

The so-called "Fenghuang Tuo Tea" from 1970 to 1980 on the market is labeled as being produced by Nanjian Tea Factory. In fact, Nanjian Tea Factory was only established in the 1980s.

Some places sell "Yunnan Pu'er brick tea" produced in 1957. In fact, Yunnan only started producing this kind of tea in 1977, with only two labels: 7581 and 7811, and the label has never been printed on the packaging. Some of them claim to have been manufactured in 1967, or were manufactured during the Cultural Revolution, but these are not credible either.

The "discus" sold in the market is said to be produced in the 1950s. In fact, the first batch of this tea was released in 1972.

A museum marked "1973-1977" under "Yinhao Tuocha". In fact, "Yinhao Tuocha" was only produced after 1987...

Zou Jiaju said that even the information in the museum has errors, which shows that it is necessary to conduct historical research on Pu'er tea. "There are many ways of counterfeiting now. Some people soak the wrapping paper in tea and then dry it to 'create' the era." He said that the Yunnan tea industry is preparing to compile a "History of Yunnan Pu'er Tea" to let people know more about it. A better understanding of Pu'er tea also clears obstacles for the development of Pu'er tea.

Common knowledge about identification of Pu'er tea

How to distinguish dry warehouse Pu'er and wet warehouse Pu'er

Dry warehouse Pu'er and wet warehouse Pu'er can sometimes be distinguished from the surface of the tea. It can be seen, but some were once stored in wet warehouses and were later changed to dry warehouses. They can often be identified from the bottom of the leaves after brewing. The Pu'er in the wet warehouse has gone through "mildew", which has a great impact on the authenticity of Pu'er tea. Ripe tea and wet warehouse tea often have very similar distorted tastes. There are also lighter, short-term wet Pu'er, which can be restored to the characteristics of dry Pu'er after brewing at 30-50%. With the current level of science and technology, it is not too difficult to control the environment of the dry warehouse. Only with a good dry warehouse can the most natural and beautiful aged Pu'er tea be stored.

How to taste fresh Pu'er tea

To taste fresh Pu'er tea, you must first be able to distinguish between raw tea and cooked tea. The answer to distinguishing raw Pu'er tea from cooked tea can be found from the aroma, color of the soup and the bottom of the leaves.

1. Identification by aroma

Because Pu'er ripe tea has been piled, it will produce a ripe smell. Generally, only dry warehouse ripe tea with a aging period of less than ten years (according to Traditionally, tea that has not gone moldy is dry warehouse tea), and you can smell a ripe tea smell from the surface of the tea. In about ten to twenty years, the surface cooked tea smell has disappeared, and the cooked tea aroma can be felt from the tea soup. In 1973, the first batch of cooked brick tea was made from the materials of Jincha. It was called [73 thick tea]. It has been more than 20 years now. No matter whether it is a tea or tea soup, there is no cooked brick tea. It smells like [agarwood]. Agarwood is the best cooked tea aroma that has been transformed from a cooked flavor after long-term dry aging. The smell of cooked tea, cooked flavor and agarwood are one of the most direct and effective ways to distinguish raw tea from cooked tea.

2. Identification based on the color of the soup

The tea soup of Gancang Pu'er tea is chestnut red, close to the color of heavy fire oolong tea. Even old raw tea, such as eight, The color of the tea soup of the 90-year-old Longma brand Tongqing Pu'er tea is only slightly darker than that of the 50-year-old Red Seal Pu'er round tea. The color of cooked tea is dark maroon, even close to black. Therefore, in the modern classification of tea types, Pu'er tea is classified as dark tea because of the color of the soup of ripe Pu'er tea.

3. Identify from the bottom of the leaves

The bottom of the raw Pu'er tea leaves in Gancang is maroon to dark maroon, which is very similar to the bottom color of Taiwan's Oriental Beauty tea. The texture of the leaves is plump and soft, full of freshness. A brew of Tongqing Lao Pu'er tea leaves reveals the freshness and vitality of a hundred years ago. The bottom of the leaves of ripe Pu'er tea are mostly dark chestnut or black, and the texture of the leaves is thin and hard. If it is heavily fermented, it will be obviously charred, like some older leaves that have been roasted by the hot sun and have been soaked in water for a long time. However, if some ripe tea has not been piled for a long time and the degree of fermentation is not heavy, the bottom of the leaves will be very close to the bottom of the raw tea leaves. On the contrary, there are also some raw teas that cannot be dried immediately after being rolled, such as tea leaves, which are delayed for a long time during the production process. The bottom of the leaves will also turn dark brown, and the color of the soup will be lighter and darker, which is different from just mild fermentation. The cooked tea is the same.

How to identify Pu'er tea

In Taiwan, there are many people who can judge the quality of oolong tea, but there are very few people who have the ability to judge the grade of Pu'er tea. Wang Xiqun, the general manager of Kunming Tailian Tea Company, revealed privately that most tea shops don't know how to determine the grade of Pu'er tea. Anyway, everyone can't figure it out. People buy whatever they want, and the result is that the price represents the quality, and the price represents the quality. Quality does not represent price.

General Manager Ding Rongfu of Kunming Yongxing Tea Factory used his decades of experience in tea making to explain to reporters how to identify the quality and grade of Pu'er tea by observing its appearance, soup color and taste. . General Manager Ding said that when looking at Pu'er tea, you should first look at the appearance. Whether it is tea cake, Tuo tea, brick tea, or other teas with various shapes, you should first look at the strip shape of the tea leaves. Whether the strip shape is complete, whether the leaves are old or tender, and the older leaves are smaller. Large, young leaves are thinner. If the appearance of a piece of tea cake does not show obvious strips (the lines formed by the pieces of tea leaves), but appears broken and thin, it is made of inferior quality.

The second thing to look at is the color of the tea leaves, whether it is dark or light, and how glossy it is. The authentic one is the color of pork liver. Pu'er tea aged for more than five years has such a black and reddish color; thirdly, look at the color of the soup. The brewed tea soup of good Pu'er tea is transparent and shiny, with an oily bead-shaped film on the soup. What's not good is that the tea soup will turn black and black; the fourth thing is the smell. The fragrance cannot come out, and there is no aftertaste. For aged tea, it depends on whether it has a unique aged flavor, which is a very sweet taste rather than a "smelly smell". General Manager Wang also added that if you can test soaking, you can see whether the soaked leaf base is complete and whether it still maintains softness. Also, when it comes to tea cakes, we should also pay attention to whether the internal and external quality is consistent, rather than the kind of "good tea" with tea residues on the outside and "covered tea".

According to the "Yunnan Provincial Local Standards" for Pu'er tea formulated by General Manager Wang and others, the basic quality of Pu'er tea must meet the following conditions: normal quality, no deterioration, and no peculiar smell; Pu'er tea must be clean , does not contain non-tea inclusions; Pu'er tea must not be colored and does not contain additives; the appearance of Pu'er tea cakes must be smooth, neat, and evenly thick.

General Manager Ding also showed off a cake of whitish Pu'er tea made entirely from bud tea. It looks different in color from the general brown and black cooked Pu'er tea cakes, and also different from the greenish color of the raw cakes. Differently, this kind of tea cake is considered the best of Pu'er tea and is not easy to see in ordinary Pu'er tea stores.

In addition, when it comes to determining the age of Pu'er tea, General Manager Ding believes that there are not many old teas on the market, and it is not easy to judge. People should pay more attention when buying. In principle, the smell emitted by Pu'er tea cakes can be used as a reference for judging the year. Those with a glycol smell should have been aged for five to ten years, those with a flat smell without any other odors should have been aged for three to five years, and those with a raw or mixed smell are considered new. Finally, you can also look at the looseness of the tea cakes, because after oxidation in long-term contact with the air, the tea cakes will become looser.