Beginner tea enthusiasts often face a challenge: how to quickly assess the quality of the tea in front of them. To be frank, understanding and recognizing tea requires long-term experience and exposure to a large number of samples – there are no shortcuts. However, there are some general rules that can help you eliminate distractions and focus on more standardized samples for learning and comparison.

01 Before brewing

1. Observe the dry leaves: Overall – those with neat and uniform strands, without excessive debris or impurities, are considered superior; those with uneven sizes and obvious color differences are inferior.

2. Observe individual dry leaves: Those with tightly twisted strands, lustrous appearance, and natural colors are superior; those with loose and scattered strands, dull appearance, overly bright or particularly dry and lifeless colors are inferior. Genuine tea has a naturally pleasing color, while fake tea may appear unnatural.

3. Smell the dry leaves – those with pure and strong aroma are superior; those with peculiar or inconsistent aromas are inferior. However, not all good teas are very fragrant, especially aged teas, which may have no noticeable aroma when dry. Here, it's important to distinguish between a faint aroma and an inconsistent one. Simply put, the aroma can be faint but not inconsistent.

02 Brewing

2. Smell the lid – first, there should be no unpleasant odors when hot, plus a rich and pure aroma that lingers on the wall after cooling down; if there are acidic, astringent, burnt, or other odd smells when hot, and the aroma is inconsistent and doesn't last, it is inferior.

03 During Tasting

2. Aftertaste – the real test begins as the tea goes down your throat. If the tea goes down smoothly, the aroma lingers in the mouth and nose for a long time, and there is a strong sweet aftertaste and saliva production, it is superior; if there is a prickly sensation in the throat, the aroma is weaker than when the tea is in the mouth, the tongue feels dry, and there is a sticky film-like feeling in the mouth, the tea likely has many issues, such as low-grade raw materials, inadequate production techniques, or damp and hot storage conditions.

04 After Tasting

1. Observe the infused leaves – the infused leaves are like a woman's skin, hiding no secrets. This is a very deep subject, but today we'll only cover a few simple points.

2. Flexibility: good infused leaves should be naturally spread out, soft, and elastic (similar to skin). Those that are too stiff or too tender are not considered high-quality. Gently rub the leaves with your hands; those that don't easily break apart are better than those that crumble at the slightest touch.

3. Uniform color: if the infused leaves show a uniform color, they are superior; if they are mottled, with varying shades of light and dark, be cautious. Infused leaves with scorch marks indicate poor production techniques. There should not be significant variations among the leaves.

4. Luster: after removing excess water and letting the infused leaves air-dry for a few minutes, those that retain their luster are superior to those that quickly lose moisture and become dry. This is similar to the skin's ability to retain moisture.

Recommendation: Almost all types of tea can be brewed with a gaiwan, whereas Teapots have fixed spouts that can cause finer teas (such as small-leaf black teas) to spill out. Additionally, gaiwans allow for better control over the brewing speed and pouring method. If you want to enjoy the aroma of the lid during tea tasting, then a gaiwan is even more suitable. The reason for choosing white porcelain is that this material preserves the original flavor of the tea better compared to celadon, blue porcelain, and purple clay, allowing you to appreciate the true taste of the tea. This is particularly important for beginners.

2. Small White Porcelain Tasting Cup

Recommendation: Choose white porcelain for the material. Like the gaiwan, other materials can affect the flavor of the tea, and clay/purple clay can leave the scent of the previous tea, impacting your judgment during tasting. For beginners, trying various types of tea is essential for gaining experience. Therefore, tea ware made of non-absorbent materials is more appropriate.

Recommendation: A glass tea sea allows you to visually observe the tea liquor as soon as it is poured from the gaiwan. Judging the color and clarity of the tea liquor is an essential part of tea evaluation.

4. Electronic Scale

Recommendation: Different types of tea require different amounts of tea leaves when brewing. For example, Green Tea typically uses 3-5g, Black Tea 4-5g, and Oolong Tea usually 7-8g, so having an electronic scale ensures a more accurate amount of tea.

Recommendation: With a strainer, excessive tea dust can be filtered out. Additionally, beginners may find it difficult to control the size of the spout, and a strainer can prevent too much tea from flowing into the tea sea