Tea Bai Hao Yin Zhen: benefits and harms, brewing, reviews

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

For true lovers of delicious tea, there is an elite variety of drink - white tea Bai Hao Yin Zhen. Until the eighteenth century, it was served exclusively at the imperial table, and it was also forbidden to take it out of the country. Those who violated this order could even be subject to execution. In this article, you will learn about the most delicate, refined and subtle taste of this drink, and we will also talk about how to brew Bai Hao Yin Zhen. After all, it is precisely the observance of the correct process of making tea that is the key to obtaining a surprisingly tasty drink.

Varieties of white tea

There are several main types of reduced fermentation tea:

1. Bai Mu Dan is the highest grade of tea produced from raw materials after the second harvest from the bush. To create it, not only buds are used, but also 1-2 blossoming leaves.
2. Gong Mei - The bright and tart taste of this tea is achieved through a combination of young leaves and thin twigs.
3. Show Mei - this tea uses buds, mature leaves and twigs collected duringthe second harvest of the same bush as for Gong Mei tea. Due to its strong aroma and rich color, this tea is sometimes equated with red teas.
4. Bai Hao Yin Zhen "Silver Needles" - an elite variety obtained by collecting the first buds before the leaves bloom. Another type is produced from the same tea raw materials - "Silver Threads". Tea for him is rolled into balls and is subject to only one brewing. It is with this variety that we propose to get acquainted in more detail in the following sections.

Description

Bai Hao Yin Zhen is a tea grown in the only province of Fujian, which is located in the northern county of China. The name of this tea in translation from Chinese sounds like "silver needles". Such an original name was given to tea due to its appearance - the needle-shaped leaves are covered with the finest whitish hairs, which gives them a silvery tint. In addition, the beautifully shaped buds with a sharp tip are also silvery green in color and densely covered with fine white hairs.

Bai Hao Yin Zhen tea gets amazing taste qualities due to a sharp change in air temperature day and night, as well as due to other climatic features. Every day, throughout the entire growing period, the leaves are saturated with valuable amino acids formed during the most complex chemical reactions. With the onset of night, all processes that form the taste and aroma of tea stop for a while, which allows you to accumulate vitamins and beneficial nutrients.

History

In the homeland of Bai Hao Yin Zhen tea, there is a beautiful legend about the origin of this drink. In ancient times, China was overtaken by such a severe drought that people were deprived of their crops for many years. A famine began in the country, from which people began to die en masse. Then the elders decided to search for a miraculous plant whose juice could save people. However, the black dragon guarding this plant was so cruel that it turned everyone who approached it into stone statues. Many young and strong young men who went in search of a saving plant never returned home. But one day, a beautiful girl was able to defeat the Dragon by cunning and get the seeds of the future white tea. By sprinkling the juice of the plant on stone statues, the girl was able to revive people.

Collection Features

Do you know how serious the Bai Hao Yin Zhen tea harvesting process is? To collect tea raw materials, bushes of the Da Bai Cha variety are used, which have a fairly early growing season. The very first buds appear in late February-early March, when the entire bush is covered with white villi that protect the plant from the cold. The picking process begins strictly from March 15 and continues only until April 10, since later buds begin to open and leaves ripen, which is unacceptable for this type of tea.

Unopened buds are harvested by hand, carefully picking off the top branches, trying not to disturb their appearance. After that, the branches are removed, and therefore no more than 500 grams of young buds are obtained from 10 kilograms of the collected raw materials,which after drying give 100 grams of tea. Harvesting is carried out in dry and calm weather, in the morning hours - from 5 to 9 o'clock. In addition, there are special requirements for tea pickers:

• On the eve of the harvest, do not eat foods with a strong aroma, such as garlic and onions, the smell of which can affect the taste of tea;
• It is forbidden to consume alcoholic beverages, which can reduce the concentration of the picker and also adversely affect the aroma of the crop;
• Perfume, deodorants and other products with a strong smell should not be used on tea harvest day.

Only if all deadlines and requirements are met, it is possible to create an indescribable drink.

Tea production

The tea production process can be divided into four main steps.

1. Harvesting, the features of which we discussed above.
2. Drying.
3. Warming up.
4. Final drying.

After picking, the tea leaves are well dried in the open air. Moreover, the drying is alternated: first in the sun, then in the shade. At this stage, the raw material loses up to 90% of moisture. Dried leaves are sent to the oven for heating, drying and fermentation. The temperature in the furnace is maintained at a constant level of +45 °C. The fermentation of tea should not exceed 7%. After that, the tea is finally dried and sent for storage.

Taste

Bai Hao Yin Zhen has a very unusual creamy taste,formed due to the minimal processing of tea raw materials. The texture of the tea is both viscous and light. Floral shades are complemented by a subtle aroma of apricot. In the gentle and refined aftertaste, a long duration was not noted, but the aroma of the drink persists for a long time. According to numerous reviews among the inhabitants of our country, the taste of tea resembles birch sap. In its historical homeland, this tea is even called "living water".

Useful properties

Bai Hao Yin Zhen helps slow down the aging of skin cells. The constant use of white tea removes heavy metals from the body, strengthens the walls of blood vessels and improves heart function. In addition, white tea is an excellent prevention of caries (it is included in some toothpastes). Bai Hao Yin Zhen normalizes metabolic processes, relieves symptoms of fatigue and anxiety, relaxes and has a beneficial effect on the nervous system as a whole. White tea has a record high content of antioxidants that protect the body from cancer. Even pregnant and lactating women are allowed to drink Bai Hao Yin Zhen.

But despite a number of useful properties, white tea should not be consumed excessively. This is especially true for people with digestive problems. It is recommended to drink tea little by little to protect the heart and kidneys from unnecessary stress.

How to brew?

White tea Bai Hao Yin Zhen is important to brew correctly to reveal and preserve the unique taste andmagical scent. For brewing, it is necessary to prepare porcelain or glassware that will not affect the aroma of the drink. Preference should be given to a special cup - gaiwan, which is used for personal tea drinking or a company of 2-3 people. This container holds from 50 to 200 milliliters of drink. In the homeland of the drink, it is not customary to drink it in portions of more than 30 milliliters. Bai Hao Yin Zhen must be brewed no more than five times, after which it becomes completely pale and loses its taste.

Before brewing, a gaiwan or teapot is rinsed with hot water, after which the tea leaves are poured. One teaspoon of tea leaves is enough for two servings of tea. After that, it is poured with hot water, which is immediately drained. It is very important to use not boiling water, but hot water, the temperature of which does not exceed 80 ° C. Only repeated brewing fully reveals the taste of tea. Water is used spring or purified from hard impurities. The brewing period gradually increases each time from two to four minutes.