"Drink new tea, age old wine" - this is a summary of people's long-term experience with tea drinking. The color, aroma, taste, and appearance of new tea give a fresh feeling, described as "bright and fragrant." Year-old tea, whether in color or taste, always has a "stale and dull" feeling. This is because during storage, under the effects of light, heat, water, and air, some acids, esters, alcohols, and vitamins undergo slow oxidation or condensation, forming other compounds unrelated to tea quality, while the effective quality components people need relatively decrease, ultimately causing tea quality to develop in an unfavorable direction, resulting in stale odor, stale taste, and stale color.

China has numerous tea varieties, and not all teas are better when new. Some tea varieties actually improve when stored for an appropriate period. In fact, some newly roasted famous teas like West Lake Longjing, Biluochun, Huangshan Maofeng, Mogan Huangya, etc., immediately after high-temperature roasting, can easily cause internal heat if consumed right away. If stored for 1-2 months, not only will the tea soup become clear and crystal, but the taste will be fresh and mellow, with green and moist leaves, while unstored tea has a slight grassy smell, and short-term stored tea has a pure and clean fragrance. Another example is Wuyi Rock Tea, which is abundant in Fujian - year-old tea反而 has a rich aroma and mellow taste; Hunan's dark tea, Hubei's Fuzhuan tea, Guangxi's Liubao tea, Yunnan's Pu'er tea, etc., as long as stored properly, not only won't deteriorate but can even improve tea quality, having collection value. This is because during storage, these teas mainly form two types of gases: one is the stale gas formed during slow aging, and the other is mold gas formed by a small amount of mold; the two gases mix and harmonize, resulting in a new aroma that people welcome.

Of course, most tea types are better when new. So in the market, among the dazzling array of teas, how to distinguish new tea from old tea? Today, we'll teach you a few tricks.

First, observe the color. During storage, due to the effects of oxygen and light in the air, some pigment substances that constitute the tea's color undergo slow automatic decomposition. For example, the decomposition of chlorophyll in green tea causes the color to gradually change from the fresh emerald green of new tea to dull yellowish-green. The oxidation of ascorbic acid (vitamin C), which is abundant in green tea, produces theabrownin, making the tea soup yellowish-brown and unclear. For black tea, the oxidation, decomposition, and polymerization of theaflavins, which greatly affect black tea quality, along with the automatic oxidation of tea polyphenols, cause black tea to change from the blackish moist color of new tea to grayish-brown.

Old Beijing residents prefer jasmine tea, and many consumers think that the darker the tea soup color, even reddish, the better, believing such jasmine tea has strong taste, dark color, and good quality. Actually, this is not true; good jasmine tea soup should be golden yellow, while dark-colored, even reddish jasmine tea is often old tea, or a blend of new and old tea.

Second, taste the flavor. When selecting tea, we must sit down and taste it. No matter how good the tea is, it can only be appreciated through tasting and comparison. Due to the oxidation of ester substances in old tea, which produces a volatile aldehyde substance or water-insoluble condensate, the water-soluble effective components decrease, thus making the taste change from mellow to weak; at the same time, due to the oxidation of amino acids in tea, the fresh taste of tea weakens and becomes "sluggish."

Third, smell the aroma. Due to the oxidation, condensation, and slow volatilization of aromatic substances, old tea changes from fragrant to low and turbid. Scientific analysis shows that there are over 300 components constituting tea aroma, mainly alcohols, esters, aldehydes, and other substances. During tea storage, they both continuously volatilize and slowly oxidize. Therefore, as time passes, the tea's aroma changes from strong to weak, and the fragrance type changes from the fresh and rich fragrance of new tea to low, dull, and turbid.

We believe that by mastering these elements, as a consumer, through careful appreciation in daily life, distinguishing new tea from old tea and choosing good tea suitable for drinking is not difficult.