Many tea lovers’ initial understanding of white tea hair comes from the thin white hair floating on the tea soup when the silver needle of white tea is brewed. However, even people who often drink white tea, in fact, the tea hair of white tea only stays on a relatively simple understanding. So today, let’s have a comprehensive understanding of white tea.
What are these fine hairs (Bai Hao)?
The fine hairs, known as “Bai Hao” in Chinese, are a layer of tiny downy hairs growing on the back of young tea buds. When dried, they appear white. If it does not fall off, the tea leaves will appear white, which is white tea. After soaking, pekoe is still attached to the tea leaves, because the amount of hair is a sign of tender fresh leaves and good quality, but the amount of hair is related to varieties, seasons and ecological environment. This layer of white fuzz not only plays a protective role, but also adds fragrance and freshness to white tea. Generally speaking, the more tender the fresh leaves are, the more tea hair they have.
Why can the fine hairs enhance the aroma and freshness of white tea?
Haoxiang (the unique fragrance from the fine hairs) is the variety fragrance of white tea. This layer of fine pekoe can produce the glandular cells of aromatic substances. It has high free amino acids and crude fiber components in its body. The soft smell of the mixture of various amino acids and the woody taste of crude fiber become an important source of the fragrance of white tea. In some varieties, the weight of tea hair can even reach 10% of the total weight of tea, which not only smells that the amino acid content of pekoe is higher than that of tea body, but also brings a unique “hao wei” (the distinctive taste from the fine hairs) to white tea soup, which tastes fresh and refreshing.
Are the fine hairs beneficial to human health?
The main ingredient of tea hair is theanine, which is beneficial to the human body. Some people may feel uncomfortable because the throat is too sensitive to tea hair, and the tiny tea hair sticks to the inner wall of the throat. Naturally, the discomfort caused by this reason is not limited to tea hair, but also other foods with tiny hairs. Pekoe contains a lot of amino acids and nutrients, after several times of brewing, the tea soup will be transparent and clear, in the brewing technique is also need to pay attention to, such as pekoe silver needle, white peony white tea, to use the way of water injection around the wall, do notPour boiling water directly on the tea leaves to avoid scalding the tea leaves.