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Color Allows Us To Appreciate Tea
From The Modern Art of Tea
by Cai Rongzhang
Translated and abridged by Luo Zhaohua
Drinking tea can be divided into six stages—first is "Enjoying the tea," then comes the appreciation of how the leaves infuse; after it infuses, we appreciate the aroma and color of the infusion, then we lift the cup and drink. Finally, we inspect the dregs.
Generally speaking, if someone shows you tea leaf from which all of the liquor has been poured off, you should be able to tell how old or young the leaf was when it was picked, how well it was withered and fermented, and how heavily it was fired. These are the things that a tea master inspects when scrutinizing tea.
Not all tea leaves are better off if picked young, as there are some which should be a little older (but not too old). Teas such as Long Jing, White Down Wu Long and White Tea should be picked when young, when the tips have not yet opened and have a downy covering; these teas are called "White Down" teas [Bai Hao, the origin of the word "pekoe"]. With this very high grade of tea, the more tips present, the better the tea.
On the other hand, teas such as Qing Cha [country greens], Dong Ding, Tie Guan Yin and Shui Xian should be picked when the leaf is longer and has opened. The dregs should show fully matured leaves; the presence of unopened buds would be considered a defect.
The color of the dregs will be greener if the tea was lightly fermented and more red if the fermentation was heavier. If the color was darker and the leaf feels stiff, the tea was more heavily fired; a lighter color and silkier feel means it was fired more lightly. When tea leaves ferment, they do so from the tip and edges; during infusion, you will see more green color as the leaf opens. With teas that have been fermented more than 20%, the tips and edges of the leaf are red when opened; this is called "Inlaid with Gold."
During withering and fermentation, damaged tea leaves will scar. For this reason, high grade teas are picked by young girls so that the leaves are not damaged by the application of excess force. If the withering is not done well, the water content of the leaves can be too high—if this happens, the dregs will appear somewhat translucent. Tea liquor produced by this kind of leaf cannot help but be bitter and overly astringent.
You should be able to tell different teas apart by their dregs, but don’t be so critical-minded as to expect yourself to be able to identify all of them unerringly; if someone tells you that they can do this, they are probably exaggerating the amount of tea they drink.
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