I have come into contact with many tea friends in daily life. Although everyone has different needs, when choosing Pu'er tea, most people like loose tea. They always feel that loose tea is easy to brew, but cake tea is difficult to pry, making it more troublesome when brewing.
. Pu'er tea is divided into loose tea and pressed tea . Pressed tea is divided into brick tea , pillar tea, Tuo tea , golden gourd tea... But the most common one is cake tea, so why can cake tea stand out among many tea shapes, especially by many tea companies? Here is a answer for tea friends.
1. It is conducive to transportation and storage, maintaining fragrance and flavor
1. Pu'er tea is produced in Yunnan, and Yunnan is located on the plateau, with a undulating terrain and narrow and rugged mountain roads. Pu'er tea is mostly transported by manpower, while Pu'er loose tea is transported in low efficiency and is very easy to damage during transportation. Therefore, in order to facilitate transportation, Pu'er tea is pressed, Pu'er tea tea cake is the most important pressing shape.
2. Pu'er tea pressed into a cake shape takes up less space than loose tea, which is more conducive to storage and reduces the cost of Tibetan tea. Moreover, the temperature and humidity inside the tight tea body are relatively stable, and the aging is uniform and long-lasting, and storage-resistant.
3. After the pressed tea is stored, the fragrance and taste are better than loose tea. In addition, cake tea has more fun to appreciate and play with than loose tea.
2. The cake shape makes the later fermentation and transformation more in line with the characteristics of Pu'er tea
1. Reducing the oxidation rate of tea quality is more conducive to preserving
. The surface area of spherical under the same volume is the smallest of all shapes, followed by cylindrical shape, but the spherical shape has rolling properties and is not conducive to transportation. Therefore, when ancient tea people pressed Pu'er tea, it was an extremely wise choice to choose a cylindrical cake shape.
Similarly, the same Pu'er tea, with the same pressing force and the same weight, the surface area of the tea cake is the smallest except spherical shape. The small surface area means that the contact surface with air and light is smaller, which can greatly reduce the oxidation rate of polyphenols, ketones and chlorophyll in the tea, so as to be preserved for a longer time.
2. It is more in line with the characteristics of Pu'er tea becoming more fragrant as it grows,
If you just want to reduce the oxidation rate and preserve Pu'er tea, compared with other shapes, it is more scientific and reasonable to be spherical. Under the same circumstances, the spherical surface area is the smallest of all shapes. Under the same storage, the smallest surface area means the slowest oxidation rate, but is this what Pu'er tea needs?
For example, if Pu'er tea is stored in a vacuum environment that is isolated from oxygen, there is almost no difference between saving for ten years and not living, because the conditions required for the conversion of Pu'er tea are no longer met.
Pu'er tea becomes more fragrant the older it is. This result is based on the post-fermentation and oxidation conditions. The oxidation rate is too fast, which will lead to uneven fermentation, and too slow will make the fermentation too slow. So from this point of view, the cake shape between loose tea and spherical shape is the most suitable.
3. The oxidative fermentation degree is more uniform and stable
Regarding the impact of cake shape on the later transformation of Pu'er tea, the more common sayings are as follows: First, Pu'er tea is pressed into a cake, and the absorption and evaporation of moisture have little impact on the pressed Pu'er tea, so microorganisms and aromas can be better preserved. Second, Pu'er tea is pressed tightly into a cake, so that the temperature in the air has little impact on the internal pressure of the tightly pressed tea, and the microorganisms in the tea can survive better. Although the conclusions of these two points of
are correct, the statement is not detailed and rigorous enough. Water and temperature are the main factors that affect the later transformation of Pu'er tea. This is the difference between wet warehouses and dry warehouses. The main scientific basis for the role of
cake tea in this is that oxygen must enter the cake tea to oxidize its internal tea quality, which is a slow penetration process. Except for loose tea, the cake shape will be compared with other tea shapes, which will facilitate more uniform penetration of oxygen; the same is true for moisture absorption and evaporation. The cake shape is not likely to cause excessive local humidity compared to other tea shapes.
and the temperature influence is related to the temperature dispersion of the cake shape.The thickness of the cake-shaped tea is not large in its longitudinal distance, so the temperature concentration effect is not strong and the temperature can spread faster. Therefore, when the temperature changes are not very severe, the physical properties of the tea cake can play a certain "self-regulation" role.
Moreover, the aging of Pu'er raw tea is a spontaneous oxidation reaction, which will release heat, and the cake shape is more conducive to the dissipation of these heats. In summary, what the cake shape creates is a relatively stable condition for the late fermentation and transformation of Pu'er tea.
3. Humanistic emotions
1. The embodiment of the idea of "the sky is round and the place" in traditional Chinese philosophy. There is a saying in purple clay that "the square is not the same style, and the round is not the same aspect". Tea cakes also have two types of shapes: "round tea" and " square tea ". Round cakes and tea symbolize the distant sky, and square brick tea represents the earth of virtue.
2. The most talked about cake tea is naturally "Qizi Cake", and the homonym of "Qizi" is a wife. It is said that in ancient times, tea farmers wanted to sell Pu'er tea to Qinghai-Tibet and other places, and they were not at home for a long time, and the tea cake just happened to be the seven cakes, so the tea farmers named the Pu'er tea of Qicake "Qizi Cake" to miss their wife and children in their hometown.
To sum up, Pu'er tea is popular among tea friends and can be summarized as follows:
in terms of practicality: conducive to transportation and storage, and maintaining fragrance and flavor.
In science: the shape of the cake makes the later fermentation and oxidation more in line with the characteristics of Pu'er tea.
In terms of humanistic emotions: the pie shape fits traditional philosophy and has beautiful meanings.
This is why Pu'er tea cakes have always been loved by tea friends.
This article is sourced by Nan Mingjiaren, author: Ziyu; the picture is from the Internet, and the copyright belongs to the original author. If it infringes your rights, please leave a message to inform and delete it.
