The label “ready to drink upon purchase, and improves with age” is often attributed to middle-aged Tea by consumers. And “buying with confidence and storing with peace of mind” represents the mindset of most consumers when purchasing middle-aged tea. Indeed, middle-aged tea is favored by consumers due to its good drinkability and high cost-effectiveness. So, what kind of middle-aged tea do consumers truly desire? Let's discuss it together.
The Appearance of High-Quality Middle-Aged Tea
We know that the quality of Pu'er tea depends on the ingredients, processing, and storage. A high-quality middle-aged tea presents an elegant appearance because of the perfect combination of these three factors. So, what does a high-quality middle-aged tea look like?
From the first sip, it's “that Cup of tea.” In the eyes of the general tea enthusiast, middle-aged tea is associated with “adequate aging” and “suitable for drinking.” If there's a middle-aged tea being brewed at a tea session, when we pick up our cups, we hope that the tea soup is mellow, carrying the weight of over ten years of aging. We hope that the tea soup is rich, imbued with the sediment of time. We hope that the aroma dissolves in the water, embodying the reserved fragrance of youth.
Smelling it feels like a refreshing breeze. When I Brew middle-aged tea, I have the habit of smelling the leaves after they've been steeped. High-quality middle-aged tea stored properly emits a refreshing scent, making one feel like they are basking in a gentle breeze. On the contrary, if the quality is poor or stored improperly, the leaves emit a chaotic scent. Tea that has been excessively damp during storage emits a dull and peculiar smell, akin to the humid wind before a summer storm, which is uncomfortable to smell.
Drinking it is both pleasing to the palate and stomach. For Pu'er enthusiasts, it's best when the tea tastes good and is also comfortable to drink, allowing one to drink freely without worry, even if they drink more than usual. This essentially refers to the drinkability of middle-aged tea. However, for individual tea enthusiasts, it also depends on the “suitability” for their own body. For example, those with poor digestion or a slightly cold constitution should pay attention to the amount and frequency of drinking young middle-aged teas. Rich in changes and intriguing. Some say that Pu'er tea without change cannot be considered good tea. For middle-aged tea, change is particularly important. This change has multiple meanings. The changes in taste and sensation on the tongue and in the mouth from one sip to another; the changes throughout the brewing process from the initial, middle, to the final infusions; the changes presented through different brewing methods such as Steeping, soaking, and boiling; and the ongoing changes during the process of tasting and storing. These various changes provide us with a rich sensory experience, making a cake of tea, or a session of tea, a connection between people, events, and emotions, and a carrier of beautiful memories. It can be said that change creates the charm of middle-aged tea.
Of course, consumers hope that the price of high-quality middle-aged tea is affordable, something they can buy and enjoy as part of their daily life. Consumers hope that the middle-aged tea they enjoy will improve with time, transforming into their ideal form.
In summary, consumers' expectations for high-quality middle-aged tea are “pleasing to taste, affordable to buy, stress-free to drink, and pleasantly surprising to store.”
Three Categories of Middle-Aged Tea Based on Different Objectives
Before consumers select middle-aged tea, they need to clarify their purchasing needs and objectives to accurately and economically choose their ideal middle-aged tea. According to the purchasing objectives of consumers, there are roughly three different categories of middle-aged tea.
The first category is middle-aged tea for immediate consumption. This type of tea is meant to be consumed right away, so the cup of middle-aged tea brewed should be enjoyable. This type of tea emphasizes present drinkability, requiring satisfactory drinkability, harmony, and pleasure in drinking. That means the tea has aged well and is relatively harmonious and tasty, suitable for regular consumption. If the purchasing objective is for immediate consumption, there is no need to focus on its potential for further aging, as it will be consumed right away. Discussing potential for further aging would be meaningless, although middle-aged tea that is enjoyable now usually has good potential for further aging. Therefore, for immediate purchase and consumption, it's best to select tea that has aged well but has average potential for further aging, which can be purchased at a more reasonable price.
The second category is middle-aged tea for short-term storage. A significant number of tea enthusiasts purchase middle-aged tea with the purpose of “tasting while storing,” because “it's good now, but will get better with time.” They buy the tea to consume some and store some, whether for three to five years or seven to eight years. If the purchasing objective is this type of tea, in addition to focusing on present drinkability, attention should also be paid to its potential for further aging. That means the tea should be enjoyable now and is expected to become even more enjoyable after storage. When the potential for further aging is promising, the present drinkability can be slightly compromised. That is to say, minor drawbacks in the current taste, such as a certain level of bitterness or astringency, or a lack of warmth in taste, can be overcome through continued storage and aging, so there's no need to worry about them.
The third category is middle-aged tea for long-term collection. The charm of aged tea is captivating. Every Pu'er enthusiast dreams of having some aged tea. If obtaining it is difficult or not readily available, they will store it themselves. Starting with middle-aged tea for storage is relatively stable and practical, as storing newly produced tea is hard to manage and requires patience. If the objective is long-term collection for over ten years, the key is to look at the potential for further aging, using present drinkability only as a reference. Some ancient tree teas with sufficient tree age are still very robust even when entering the middle-aged stage, with strong potential for further aging, and such teas are often suitable for long-term collection. Six years ago, I customized a batch of raw ancient tree tea cakes with eight years of aging. After six years, although the drinkability has improved, the tea soup is thick and full of the aroma of the mountains and forests, with ample strength. Drinking a session of this tea makes one sweat profusely, and those who cannot handle the strength often find their stomachs rumbling after a single session. Such teas, I plan to store for long-term collection.
How to Select High-Quality Middle-Aged Tea
Faced with numerous middle-aged teas on the market, how should consumers make their selections? In addition to evaluating and identifying them through tasting, consumers also need to master some techniques for judging storage conditions, ingredients, and manufacturing processes, enabling them to identify them fundamentally and make accurate selections.
First, judge the storage conditions. Storage is the second life of middle-aged tea. To evaluate the quality of a middle-aged tea, one can start by analyzing the storage conditions. When faced with a cake of middle-aged tea that we see for the first time over ten years or even longer after its creation, we may not know where it was stored (even if we “know,” we may not be sure). However, we can analyze its past storage conditions. Judging storage conditions can be done by observing the dry tea surface, the appearance of the tea soup, the scent of the leaves, and the vitality of the leaves. Middle-aged tea stored properly has clearly visible leaf strands on the surface of the cake. Getting close to smell reveals a restrained tea aroma without any off-flavors. Middle-aged tea stored improperly or severely dampened has unclear or even blurred leaf strands, and off-flavors or musty scents can be detected. Middle-aged tea stored well has a vibrant tea soup, bright and active leaves, a refreshing scent, and a pleasant aroma. Poorly stored tea has a dull tea soup, dark and less active leaves, a mixed and strange scent that overwhelms the aroma, or even no aroma at all.
Next, judge the ingredient quality. Some teas, despite proper storage and normal manufacturing processes, exhibit mediocre quality or are unsatisfactory. This is often due to the quality of the ingredients. Factors such as tree age, altitude, picking season, and suitability for processing all significantly impact the quality of the ingredients