In recent years, the concept of "old tea" has become deeply rooted in people's hearts. Unlike the freshness of new tea, the mellow taste formed by the accumulation of time in old tea also makes tea lovers' taste buds nostalgic, and it has excellent health benefits.
Among the people, the medicinal value of aged Tieguanyin has long been self-evident. "Good after five years, precious after ten" is the best explanation for it. It is like a person with a story, rich in connotation, and versatile. Nowadays, various tea products based on aged Tieguanyin are also sold on the market, such as bitter melon tea, pomelo tea, and aged honey tea, which are not only novel and interesting but also worth trying.
"Aged Iron Charm" is Enchanting, Pressing into Cakes Makes Collection Easier
Generally, the industry believes that Anxi Tieguanyin must be aged for at least 10 years and stored properly without any strange odors or mold to be called old tea. Aged Tieguanyin stored for more than 10 years will present a sour aroma. After 15 years, the sour taste disappears, and the tea transforms into a herbal flavor with a sweet taste. Some tea drinkers jokingly say that this is the "aged iron charm," which is very enchanting. From old tea, one can taste the old soul of Tieguanyin, and after drinking it, one will become "addicted."
Aged Tieguanyin not only has a wonderful taste but also excellent health benefits. Ye Zhixiang, Deputy Director of the Tea Culture Collection Committee of the Fujian Collection Association, told reporters: "Anxi people have had the habit of storing aged tea since ancient times. Wrapped in a layer of kraft paper outside and a layer of white paper inside, the old tea is hung with a rope on the chimney where firewood is burned. The tea villages in Anxi are remote and bumpy, and medical conditions are not as good as in cities. Generally, when family members suffer from internal heat or gastrointestinal diseases, they would stir-fry the old tea with salt and brew it to drink. It often works miraculously, curing the illness quickly.
Due to the humid climate in the coastal areas of southern Fujian, storing aged Tieguanyin requires stricter conditions. Anxi Tieguanyin Group has one of the world's largest dedicated warehouses for aged Tieguanyin tea, ingeniously designed to be warm in winter and cool in summer. The aged tea is stored in large jars to prevent moisture regain. The tea needs to be lightly baked every 5 to 8 years and then put back into the tea jars. When leaving the factory, the aged Tieguanyin needs to be baked again.
Ye Zhixiang has started trial production of aged Tieguanyin tea cakes this year. In his view: "There are many benefits to compressing oolong tea into cakes, such as simple and environmentally friendly packaging, requiring only one layer of paper, convenient collection, quality and flavor comparable to loose tea. After compression, the tea has fewer gaps, less contact with air and oxygen, and the aging process slows down. Such products can also be standardized, scaled, and internationalized."
Mixed with Honey, Added with Citrus Peel, Chrysanthemum, Aged Tieguanyin Plays Mix and Match
In addition to the aged honey tea that is increasingly known to everyone, aged Tieguanyin is like a versatile item that can be paired with various flower teas, citrus peel, and olives, each with different health benefits. For example, adding 1-2 salted olives to aged Tieguanyin can quickly relieve bloating and reduce oil and greasiness; brewing it with an appropriate amount of citrus peel and chrysanthemum has the effect of clearing heat and reducing internal heat; if added with barley malt and medicated leaven, it can help calm the nerves and aid sleep; if added with red dates and longan meat, it has the effect of warming the stomach and strengthening the spleen. The "eight-treasure tea" that uses stevia leaves instead of rock sugar has a sweetness 200 times that of sucrose but extremely low calories, making it a sugar-free sweetener product without calories. It is often used as a sweetener in diets for diabetics or weight loss foods. Stevia leaves also nourish the liver, refresh the mind, aid digestion, regulate blood sugar and blood pressure, and help with weight loss and beauty, conforming to the modern lifestyle of pursuing low-calorie, sugar-free, carbohydrate-free, and fat-free health.
Bitter Melon Tea is Cool and Stomach-nourishing, a Wonderful Collision of Fresh Vegetables and Old Iron
In the hot summer, in places like Changkeng and Gande in Anxi, many tea farmers' homes are filled with fresh and plump bitter melons. The refreshing green color makes the scorching heat feel cool. These bitter melons are not for eating but for drinking!
Liu Jianping is considered an old hand at making bitter melon tea in Changkeng. He told reporters that although greenhouse bitter melons have a beautiful appearance, they are not bitter enough and do not have a strong enough taste when drunk, so it is necessary to choose farmhouse mountain bitter melons. There are also certain requirements for the age and storage quality of aged Tieguanyin; it must be at least 3 years old. After hollowing out the bitter melon with a tool, carefully stored aged Tieguanyin is filled inside.
Actually, aged Tieguanyin bitter melon tea is not a novelty; it has been around for twenty or thirty years. Chen Lianggui, a master of Anxi Tieguanyin tea processing, said that aged Tieguanyin was originally used among the people as a good product for reducing internal heat, relieving summer heat, and removing greasiness. If aged tea stored for more than 10 years is properly preserved, using it to make bitter melon tea has even better health benefits. For girls who love beauty, it also has the effect of weight loss and lipid reduction. Some people have even given it the name "Fresh Little Beauty."
After unique processing, the aged Tieguanyin bitter melon tea and the fresh bitter melon completely change their appearance. The outside is slightly crispy, and with a light break, the dark, glossy old tea is revealed. The brewing method is no different from that of Tieguanyin.