Why is the old tree white tea getting sweeter and sweeter?
( 1)
This has a lot to do with the age of the tree.
The metabolism of carbon-containing compounds is the main substance of high-aged tea trees. The total content of carbon-containing compounds is high, and the contents of sugar and tea polyphenols in fresh leaves are high. This tea soup tastes thick, sticky and sweet.
The metabolism of young tea trees is mainly nitrogen-containing compounds. This kind of tea soup tastes fresh and refreshing, but its sweetness, consistency, viscosity and foam resistance are poor. Therefore, after the tea table of young trees with low age is soaked, the tea soup is scarce and tasteless.
(2)
It has something to do with the growing environment of tea trees.
The environment in which old tree tea grows is often deep mountains and forests. Few people live in these places. Therefore, the primitiveness and ecological diversity of forests have been well maintained. Tea trees and surrounding trees are mutually beneficial and have good resistance to pests and diseases, so there is no need to use pesticides. In addition, due to the government's control, tea merchants and farmers have a strong awareness of ecological protection of old tea trees without pollution and pesticide residues, thus ensuring the quality of tea from the source.
As the winner of the brutal competition in nature, the roots of old tea trees are very developed, often going deep into the ground for more than ten or even dozens of meters, and all the water and nutrients needed by tea trees are completed by the roots. Therefore, the old tea tree can absorb more minerals and trace elements deep underground, and the tea contains caffeine, vitamin B2, vitamin C, amino acids and other substances, which makes the old tea taste better and last longer.
(3)
Where does the sweetness we feel in tea soup come from?
Because the old tree tea itself is rich in substances, coupled with reasonable processing procedures and suitable storage conditions, tea has been continuously oxidized. The longer the time, the more complete the oxidation degree, and the stronger the fragrance of tea will become. The quality of tea will become more excellent over time, and the tea soup will become more and more mellow.
The sweet substances in tea flavor are mainly water-soluble monosaccharides, disaccharides and hydrolyzed polysaccharides. Monosaccharide mainly includes glucose, fructose, ribose and so on. Disaccharides mainly include maltose, sucrose and lactose. Monosaccharide and disaccharide are both soluble in water and are sweet substances in tea flavor. Polysaccharides are mainly starch, cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin, which are the main carbohydrate, but only about 1%-2% of them are starch, and most of them are cellulose and hemicellulose. Polysaccharide belongs to oligosaccharide (oligosaccharide), which is insoluble in water, but can be hydrolyzed. After hydrolysis, it is reduced to glucose under the action of salivary enzyme, which makes the taste sweet.
(4)
There is another reason that makes old tea trees sweeter and sweeter, and that is the wood fibrosis of tea trees.
The older the tree, the higher the degree of wood fibrosis and the more sugar it contains. In the brewing process of white tea, the substances contained in it are leached in sequence, among which some odorous substances such as tea polyphenols, theophylline and amino acids are leached first. Tea lovers can make use of the amount of tea and the concentration of soup produced by each tea. Generally, after five or six times of soaking, these flavor substances have been completely leached, and cellulose has also been completely soaked. A large amount of sugar in cellulose is precipitated and hydrolyzed under the action of sialidase to produce sweetness.
Generally speaking, the above three aspects are the reasons why the old white tea is sweeter and sweeter. Tea lovers can be used as a reference index to judge the year of white tea when drinking, and generally there is no mistake.
Of course, the output of old tree white tea is very small, which is rarely seen in the commodity tea circulation market. Most of them are hidden by high-end consumers or production enterprises and tea merchants for their own drinking or gift sharing. Therefore, the price of old tree white tea is high and the output is low. It is suggested that tea lovers should not blindly follow the trend and buy carefully.