Xiao Chen is a tea lover from Shanghai. He began learning tea art at the age of eight, studied tea evaluation in his youth, and has long frequented major tea markets, thus harboring many reflections in his heart. He shares these through "Tea Words Observing the World," hoping to mutually encourage with everyone. To discuss and appreciate tea, one must first correct one's mind and principles, and only then can one grasp the true delight in tea.

Exactly what tea qi is varies among different schools. I am a straightforward person and find it hard to comprehend explanations that drag in concepts like "qigong," "yin-yang energy," or "cultural energy." Based on my limited knowledge of tea studies, the term "tea qi" actually appears frequently. In traditional understanding, tea qi mainly refers to two things: First, water vapor: Ming Dynasty's Cheng Yongbin in "Tea Record" wrote: "To discern qi, it is like light mist, like faint smoke, like condensed clouds, like spreading dew—this is the qi of the nascent brew; when it becomes misty and full, that is the qi of maturity; beyond that, it is overdone." The other refers to "tea character," meaning the taste of the tea and the abundance of its contents: Ming Dynasty's Xu Cishu in "Tea Commentary" stated: Meng tea "from Shandong is actually moss from the Mengyin mountains, entirely lacking tea qi, only slightly sweet." Regarding "tea qi" that denotes tea character, it simply means good-tasting tea, tea that feels like tea—tea with a reasonable proportion of polyphenols, theine, and theanine. This requires no further explanation.

In fact, any "physically felt tea qi" currently mentioned in the market actually refers to "tea character"—the physical reactions produced by the effects of tea's contents on the human body. Some attribute immediate reactions like hiccups, flatulence, sweating, palpitations, chest tightness, etc., to the action of "tea qi"; others refer to long-term healthcare functions as tea qi. Simply put, these are the effects on the human body from substances within tea leaves: polyphenols, caffeine (theine), various trace elements, and still-active biological enzymes. People then imaginatively combine these reactions with certain concepts to form "spiritual-level" tea qi. For example, palpitations result from excessive caffeine intake—try drinking 1 liter of coffee or beverages like Red Bull to see; reactions like hiccups or flatulence: relevant papers point to trace elements in tea such as germanium (Ge) (refer to CNKI and Taiwanese papers). This element is abundant in Korean ginseng (ginseng supplements qi), and in fact, sweet potatoes, soybeans, and broad beans also contain large amounts (hence eating sweet potatoes causes flatulence). It's worth noting that typically our bodies are not deficient in such trace elements, but due to industrial pollution, the activity of these elements decreases. Therefore, germanium preserved in aged Pu-erh tea through other microbial activity has higher activity, better producing these physiological reactions (however, no current papers indicate germanium is an essential trace element for humans, nor are there any strong clinical proofs that this element aids human immunity). Additionally, there are active proteases, which are more abundant in aged Pu-erh tea. Generally, if tea undergoes high-temperature fixation (above 150°C), almost any enzyme activity is nearly zero; but other microorganisms generated during later storage reintroduce these enzymes, and these enzymes have higher activity: active proteases have clear functions in promoting gastrointestinal health.

Saying all this is just to explain: tea qi is not some mysterious thing, and everyone's physiological reactions differ; do not view tea qi like "the emperor's new clothes." It's normal not to feel tea qi. For instance, someone who regularly consumes coffee may not easily experience palpitations; those who often take ginseng may not react to these trace germanium ions; people with poor gastrointestinal tracts are more likely to react to active enzymes. In fact, this tea qi is absolutely not within the scope of tea evaluation criteria. Compared to hard indicators like appearance, color, liquor color, turbidity, and relatively consensual subjective indicators like taste and aroma, the concept of tea qi is too vague and unsuitable as a standard for judging a tea's quality.