porcelain cup
Porcelain is mainly made of porcelain clay (called "Carlin" by Chinese and foreign scholars), and its iron content is generally below 3%, which is lower than that of clay. The firing temperature is higher than that of clay, about 1200℃. The carcass is firm and compact, and the surface is smooth. If it is thin, it can be translucent, the cross section does not absorb water, and there is a crisp metallic sound when knocking.
There are many kinds of porcelain tea sets, including porcelain tea sets, white tea sets, black tea sets and colored tea sets. There are pots, cups, plates, cups, bowls, lamps, spoons and so on.
Red porcelain tea set
Zisha tea set is made of clay with high iron content, which is called "mud in mud, rock in rock". The special purple sand is delicate in texture and bright in color. There are three kinds of purple mud, green mud and red mud. Because the proportion of clay is different, it can also get vermilion purple, chestnut red and begonia red, so purple mud is also called "five-color soil". The firing temperature of pottery made by purple sand ware is 1000 ~ 1200, and the texture is dense and does not leak. The surface is glossy and smooth, with small particles changing, showing sandy effect, with pores invisible to the naked eye, which can absorb tea juice and store tea fragrance, and the heat transfer is slow and not hot, even if it suddenly changes temperature, it will not break. Using teapot to make tea has mellow aroma and good heat preservation, which can preserve the essence of tea. It is generally believed that oolong tea, Tieguanyin tea and other semi-fermented teas brewed in Taiwan Province Province can best show the characteristics of tea taste.
Metal tea set
Metal tea set is made of gold, silver, copper, iron, tin and other metal materials, belonging to one of the oldest daily utensils in China. From the Qin and Han Dynasties to the Six Dynasties, tea as a drink gradually became a fashion, and tea sets were gradually separated from other drinking utensils. During the Northern and Southern Dynasties, metal utensils including tea drinking utensils appeared in China. In the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the production of metal utensils reached its peak. But since the Song Dynasty, the ancients had different views on metal tea sets. After the Yuan Dynasty, especially since the Ming Dynasty, with the innovation of tea, the change of tea drinking methods and the rise of ceramic tea sets, metal tea sets gradually disappeared, especially those made of tin, iron, lead and other metals. It is thought that using them to boil water to make tea will make "tea taste out of shape", so few people use them. Zhang Qiande of the Ming Dynasty classified gold and silver tea sets as inferior, and copper and tin tea sets as inferior. Common metal tea sets include gold and silver tea sets, tin tea sets and copper tea sets.
Lacquer tea set
Lacquer tea set is a kind of tea drinking utensil carved from bamboo or other things and painted with colors. The pigment used is cut from the natural lacquer tree, and the juice is refined and mixed with the required pigment.
Lacquer tea set is light and firm, with slow heat dissipation. In addition to practical value, it also has high artistic appreciation value and is often collected by connoisseurs. Therefore, people often put lacquerware tea sets as handicrafts in the living room and study, and become a part of bedroom decoration.
Lacquer tea sets are mainly produced in Fuzhou, Fujian. The lacquerware tea sets produced are colorful, including teapots and tea trays, and there are varieties such as "precious sand flashing", "golden agate", "glazed gold transformation", "antique porcelain", "carved filling" and "inlaid with silver", especially after the creation of new technologies such as ruby red gold sand and dark flowers, it is even more beautiful and moving.
Bamboo and wood tea set
Bamboo-wood tea set refers to a tea set made of bamboo or wood by turning, carving, cutting and weaving. Many products are made into tea cans, Chaze, tea sea, tea sieve, tea box, Chaze, bowls, polyester squares, tea sets, furniture and so on. There is also a bamboo tea set, which consists of an inner tube and a coat. Most of the inner tubes are ceramic tea drinking utensils. Jackets are made of bamboo, which is split, opened, kneaded and even made into soft bamboo filaments as thick as hair. After baking and dyeing, it is woven and inlaid according to the shape and size of the inner tube of the tea set, so as to make it a whole tea set. This kind of tea set is not only harmonious in color and elegant in appearance, but also can protect the inner tube and reduce damage; At the same time, it is not easy to burn your hands after making tea, which is of artistic appreciation value and is often used as a gift. The main varieties are teacups, small handles, saucers, teapots and saucers. , mostly complete sets of manufacturing, mainly produced in the hometown of bamboo and wood, all over the country.
Glass tea set
Glass tea set, as its name implies, is a tea set made of glass. According to its processing classification, it can be divided into two types: ordinary cast glass tea sets with low price and good quality and gorgeous carved tea sets with high price (commonly known as crystal glass). Glass tea sets are mostly cups, plates, bottles, kettles and other products. Because the glass tea set is transparent, green tea such as Longjing and Biluochun is brewed with the glass tea set. Cups and plates are misty, tea buds are slender, or flags and guns are staggered, floating up and down, which is pleasing to the eye and interesting.
Jade tea set
Jade tea set refers to a tea drinking utensil made of jade stone carving. The raw materials of jadeite tea set are real jade (nephrite and jadeite mentioned above), turquoise, agate, crystal, malachite, lake, ruby and other colored stone jade. Make pots, cans, cups, lamps, cups, bowls, etc.
Fruit shell tea set
A tea set with shell refers to a tea set made of shell, which is mainly carved from hard shells such as gourd and coconut. Can be made into water ladle, tea storage box, etc. For example, Lu Yu's "Tea Classic" mentioned the making of ladle, which has been used until now and is still very common in the vast rural areas of China. Water scoops are mainly produced in the north, and coconut shell tea sets are mainly produced in Hainan.
I remember Xu Cishu in the Ming Dynasty said in the Book of Tea: "Tea is made of water and soup is made of fire. The four are connected and indispensable. " Tea, water, utensils and fire are all closely linked, which just echoes what we said about how to make good tea.
Making tea seems easy. Put the tea in the pot, pour in hot water, wait a while, then pour it out, and you'll finish making tea! On the surface, Tieguanyin tea, like the decomposition action above, can get a good tea soup! However, the first step to make tea well is to look at tea, know tea and study its characteristics! I personally study tea tasting. In addition to the above written records, I can distinguish different teas and tea sets more carefully in the actual process of making tea, so as to get a good taste of tea soup.
In the process of making tea, Tieguanyin in Anxi, Fujian and Tieguanyin in Muka, Taiwan Province have different rope-like appearance and baking degree after making tea, and also have their own characteristics in tea soup performance, especially in soaking methods. Now the main points are as follows:
Anxi Tieguanyin:
In the process of making tea, Anxi tea is not "kneaded" like Tieguanyin in Muka, Taiwan Province. The appearance of tea leaves is distinct, and Tieguanyin produced in Anxi will also be slightly baked. When it comes to Hong Kong teahouses or export products, the tea rhyme of Tieguanyin will be changed by baking tea. Therefore, if you want to soak the fragrance of Anxi Tieguanyin or the "official rhyme" of Tieguanyin, you must also consider the degree of baking.
To show the characteristics of tea fragrance, it is advisable to use Zhu Tao jars with high firing temperature. The appearance of the pot should be flat and round, and it is not advisable to choose a high-grade straight pot. This is to let the rope-shaped Anxi Tieguanyin tea fully soak in the water soup, and smoothly release the tea rhyme and floral fragrance of Tieguanyin!
Why not use a high pot? My experience is that if you can't pour the tea until it doesn't leak, the tea left in the tall pot will release tea tannins, which will cause a bitter dilemma when you pour a cup of tea.
I think people who drink Tieguanyin can accept the rich tannins and the long lasting flavor of caffeine. But the bitterness caused by excessive soaking is hard to accept!
Flat pot, it is easy for the cable-like Anxi Tieguanyin to be comfortably installed inside, without pressure and crowding. With a good pot shape, tea will happily release the aroma of the whole body, and will also disperse all the rhymes!
The above applies to Tieguanyin, which is lightly baked. If you encounter Tieguanyin, which is roasted moderately, how to avoid "burnt taste"?
Choose a teapot with low sintering temperature. If you meet the old Tieguanyin, remember to fill the teapot with tea when making tea, and come out quickly, so as not to release the burnt smell!
Tieguanyin rhyme in baking fire, high-density tea, fast tea tasting, can be squeezed out in a short time, just like the feeling of a cup of Italian espresso: the entrance is very strong and the throat is very sweet.
If you want to make baked Anxi Tieguanyin tea with strong aroma, the pot type is not limited, but it should be appropriate.
How about the amount of tea? Put the tea leaves into the pot, which is subject to six-point fullness, and because the tea leaves are broken after baking, be careful not to block the water outlet, and rush quickly to get the real taste!
The retention time of each tea in the pot should not be too long, and it should end after four or five consecutive infusions. This method of tea tasting is generally used by experts. After soaking once, brew continuously for four or five times. Put the tea soup in the sea of tea, and then slowly share it with people who love tea. Also known as "soaking sperm" method.
This is a kind of "extraction" essence soaking method, which is characterized by soaking tea at one time without leaving any aftertaste.
People who want to study tea art can pick up Tieguanyin tea residue and study it carefully after extraction and soaking: if the tea itself is soft and has not been baked by baking fire, only "dead bones" are left, which means that the tea roaster slowly "stews" it with his own heart (baking tea with slow fire), instead of trying to cover up the inferior tea with baking fire, which is equivalent to baking the tea dry, leaving only a charcoal smell, which is not good tea.
Before the cross-strait opening up, there were four or two packs of mainland tea on the market. This kind of tea bag is often confused with inferior tea, which is baked and carbonized to hide people's eyes and ears. Tea tasters can only drink a pot of burnt tea with charcoal flavor. Baking tea, which contains the art of baking tea, was originally intended for long-term storage after baking, but it has become the chief culprit in transforming low-grade tea.
Anxi Tieguanyin, sold in tea houses in Hong Kong or Southeast Asia, is difficult to retain the original fragrance of Tieguanyin during transportation and preservation, and it has its own taste of warming fire!
However, if you want to make a real taste in the roasting fire and have a special "roasting taste" after roasting tea, you must carefully choose the tea set, the amount of water injected, and master the time of pouring tea!
If the roasted tea leaves are placed in a porcelain jar, the sour taste of the fruit will naturally be produced after oxidation and desalination. At this time, if it can be handled properly, it should be moistened with fruit acid and sweet with fresh air. If the brick pot is replaced when brewing, the possibility of absorbing dry taste in the pot will increase, which will bring a soft and smooth feeling to the tea soup.
Baking fire is to prolong the life of tea. How to distinguish baking power from good or bad tea? Check whether the tea bottom is soft or hard. To test whether the tea maker has made a real roasting smell, as long as he smells the tea soup fiercely, if it has a "charcoal smell" for a long time, it is inferior. When the tea soup is finished, the sour fruit fragrance appears at the bottom of the cup, which is a good product! If the ashes left by charcoal burning smell fragrant, it is a loss of interest in tea.
Those who know how to appreciate the taste of roasted tea can learn from it.
"Baking" gives a real taste. Only by soaking the real taste can we know the real taste of Tieguanyin! To make a real taste, you must first put a proper amount of tea.
Muka Tieguanyin:
The number of Tieguanyin in Anxi and Muka is obviously different. The quantity of tea leaves is actually interactive with the size of tea-making equipment. Due to the tight knot of tea shape caused by Muka Tieguanyin's twisting, leave a stretch space for her when putting tea, so that she can fully distribute the true fragrance of tea!
Therefore, in the wooden fence, choose a pot to soak Tieguanyin, which should be wide and not narrow. My experience is: a round pot is better than a pot, and a high pot is better than a flat pot; The sintering temperature should be higher, and the mud with strong water absorption is better, and cinnabar and purple sand are both good. This pot has good heat preservation, and the tea soup in the pot is not easy to cool down, so the water should be moderate and should not be soaked for a long time. Moreover, Zhu Mud has strong conductivity, so it is necessary to grasp the timing of pouring tea soup. Remember: after the first sip of tea soup is poured out, you must pour out the remaining tea soup at the bottom of the pot to avoid the release of Tieguanyin theophylline, which will affect the sweetness of tea soup and fall into the dilemma of biting your tongue and pricking your gums!
For tea farmers, the fair mug, soaked in three grams for three minutes, is the best way to get the real taste. If you drink well now, it will be better to go back and make a pot. In fact, this statement is debatable. The curled shape of Taiwan Province Muka Tieguanyin tea, combined with the characteristics of slow fire baking, will "crush" the soup flavor if there is no excellent and moderate space for making tea, which will make good tea lose its characteristics and even waste Tieguanyin's "official rhyme" in vain, in exchange for a "miserable" taste! Meanwhile, water is the key. With only unfiltered tap water at home, it is difficult for powerful tea people to reverse their disadvantages!
Therefore, it is difficult to make a good wooden fence Tieguanyin, nor can you travel around the world with a general rule. For example, some people say that Tieguanyin can be brewed at 95 degrees Celsius and left for 10-20 seconds. This statement must be clear about the shape of the teapot it chooses. Where is the water used? And how to boil water?
My experience is that it is the most correct to make tea with boiling water at 100 degrees Celsius, especially Tieguanyin tea, which can only be released at high temperature! The key is to master the right amount of tea at the same time, which is generally lower than the amount of oolong tea, and reduce the soaking time and speed up the time of pouring tea soup!
In short, we should pay attention to the roasting degree of Anxi Tieguanyin, and then increase or decrease the amount of tea. The pot should be flat and sintered at high temperature in order to bubble out the "official rhyme"; However, to reduce the consumption of tea, use a round pot to widen the pot body and leave room for the bottom of the leaves. The time for pouring tea is faster than that of Anxi Tieguanyin.