Where does the term tea wash come from? Why wash tea? When people use a teapot to make oolong tea, they usually pour out the first tea water, which is called "washing tea". Some tea people explain this because they want to wash away the unclean inclusions in the tea, such as tea ash and dust. . They think that people who do not "wash tea" are "not hygienic" and "do not understand tea art". But have you ever thought that even the essence of tea is washed out without knowing it when "washing tea"?
In fact, according to scholars' textual research, the term "washing tea" was first used in the Northern Song Dynasty. After the fresh leaves are picked from the tea tree, they undergo preliminary production and refinement. There are many processes such as green making, kettle frying, rolling, baking, sieving, etc., not only to obtain the tea grade, but also to meet the hygienic standards. There are occasional inclusions such as tea ash and dust, which are poured out by pouring into boiling water and quickly removed. The first operation of making tea is mainly for steeping, which is conducive to the expansion of tea and the leaching of tea juice, so that the drinker can quickly feel the fragrance of the tea, instead of simply washing away the unsanitary things of the tea.
The first brewing tea has more effective ingredients, such as tea polyphenols, amino acids, ether extracts, etc., which are not only beneficial to human health, but also show the deliciousness of tea. According to related experiments, the aroma of tea and the ingredients beneficial to the human body begin to be leached 3 seconds after the first infusion. If the tea is poured after more than 3 seconds, the effective ingredients in the tea will be greatly lost. From the perspective of market economy, in order to broaden the market for oolong tea in my country and seek sustainable development by leaps and bounds, the term "washing tea" should be revised to "dip tea" or "warm tea" to be more precise and scientific.
