There is so much white tea, only white peony is in love.

There is an entry in the Chinese Tea Dictionary: "according to the manufacturing methods and the oxidation rate of tea polyphenols, tea produced in modern China can be divided into six categories, namely, green tea, white tea, yellow tea, oolong tea (green tea), black tea and black tea." Fuding white tea is one of the six categories of tea.

When did Fuding White Tea start? The exact date is difficult to verify, but the folk story of "Grandpa Niang grows tea to cure illness" has a long history. When talking about Yao, the peasant girl who lived in Caibao Village at the foot of Taimu Mountain was kind and willing to lend a helping hand to others and did a lot of good deeds. She takes growing blue as her career, and the villagers call her Lan Gu respectfully. One year there was an epidemic of measles, which spread to the villages around Tamu Mountain. Seeing that the disease took the lives of many young children, Lan Gu was so anxious that she led the villagers to the mountain to find medicine, but to no avail. At night, Lan Gu dreamed of Xianweng in Antarctica and pointed out that there was a tea tree at the top of her "Hongxue Cave". After picking, she dried the leaves and brewed them with boiling water, which is a good medicine for measles. Taking advantage of the moonlight, Lan Gu found the tea tree among the hazel trees at the top of the cave, picked and dried the tea leaves and distributed them to each village, ordered them to cook tea for the children, and finally cured the sick. From then on, people planted tea trees everywhere on Mount Tai Mu. The kind of tea came from the mother tree of "Hongxue Cave". The sun-dried tea became white tea, which was called "Green Snow Bud". Lan Gu became an immortal in Tai Mu Mountain, and people offered her as a "great-aunt" and first became the ancestor of Fuding white tea.

There are roughly three wishes to be expressed in folktales: first, white tea has a long history; second, white tea has a healing effect; and third, praise and respect for the great grandmother. Every time I go to Fuding, I can hear this folklore, and when I hear more stories, I often believe it. However, will is not a substitute for reality after all, and legends generally cannot be used as historical evidence.

Maybe the age of Empress Tai is too far away, so there is a story about Chen Huan's bond with tea. It is said that during the 19th century, Chen Huan, a native of Chulantou Natural Village, Guotuo Village, nodding Town, was a filial son. His mother was blind and his family was poor and unable to catch medicine to cure his illness, so he had to eat fast with a kind heart and pray for the gods to protect his mother. One day, Chen Huan went to the mountain for farming and dozed off when he was sleepy. It was really a daydream. Someone told him in the dream that there was a tea tree on the opposite hill. Its bud leaves were boiled into juice to wash your eyes, which could cure your mother's illness. After Chen Huan woke up, he found the tea tree and did the same to restore his mother's eyes. After the great joy, Chen Huan transplanted this mother tree and continued to breed, thus getting rich from tea, so some people believed that Chen Huan was one of the first tea farmers to transplant Fuding white tea. The story is also the guidance of the master in the dream, can not get rid of the stereotype, true or false, is still a legend.

Zhang Tangheng, a famous Chinese tea scientist, wrote "Chinese Tea-making Technology", which reads: "in the sixty years of Qianlong (which should be the first year of Jiaqing-1796), Fuding tea farmers picked the buds of ordinary tea varieties to make silver needles." In the entry of "Baihao Silver Needle", the Great Dictionary of Chinese Tea considers that the creation time of Baihao Silver Needle coincides with it, so the tea industry generally sets 1796 as the founding time of white tea. There are different views on many issues in history, and there is still a debate about when white tea was founded. I think this is normal and needs further research.

White tea has many characteristics, slight fermentation "closer to nature", warm taste suitable for public drink, medicinal home storage, aged tea cakes easy to store. Of course, the economic value of white tea is considerable, and tea farmers and tea merchants have benefited a lot. Coupled with the fact that they were brought to Southeast Asia by overseas Chinese in the early days, there are overseas circulation channels. In the Fuding tea area, white tea must be highly respected.

The tea song "she Family praises White Tea", which was written in the late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China, sings:

"White tea is as white as an immortal, born beside the rock. It is the nectar branch of Mother Buddha and has been practicing for thousands of years. White tea as white as silver, the ancients respectfully known as detoxification spirit, cool detoxification and heart fire, go to practice medicine to save thousands of people. White tea is a vast expanse of whiteness, spitting pearls at night and reflecting light at night. The she family calls it a cash cow, making tea rice through foreign countries. The vast expanse of white tea goes to foreign countries to change silver taels, to change back to silver teahouses, and to pick green tea to make tea through the ages. "

There are 5 reasons why there is so much white tea and you have a soft spot for white peony.

In fact, white peony is not the most beautiful, in terms of beauty, Baihao silver needle may be more beautiful than him, white silver needle root bud looks pleasing to the eye. On the rich fragrance of flowers, the new craft white tea adds a light kneading process, the aroma is more intense and prominent, you can tell at a smell.

Why is there a special preference for white peonies?

One is the appearance: as beautiful as flowers. Although the appearance is not as chic as the root bud head of the silver needle, the white peony is pure into a blossoming shape, which is enough to make people intoxicated. The so-called buds and leaves are even branched into flowers, which really look like flowers in full bloom. The bud on the back of the leaf is exposed, with a green face and white background, and the local people also call it "azure and white". Its leaf surface and veins are different in color, showing the shape of "green leaves and red tendons", also known as "red wrapped", rich in color.

The second is the aroma: refreshing melon aroma. Endoplasmic white peony not only retains a strong fragrance, textbooks call it fragrant honey rhyme, but I personally feel that in addition to fragrance, it presents a refreshing melon aroma. Its clear feeling is richer than that of Baihao silver needle, and more complex than the single leaf fragrance of Shoumei.

Third, the taste is more rich. This is also one of the reasons why many tea lovers like it. It is inevitable that the simple bud head is not rich enough, and the proper addition of leaves can increase its irritation. It also creates a throat flavor similar to Zhengshan race, Dahongpao and even Pu'er tea, which is really the comfort of tea soup sliding down the throat.

Fourth, the feeling is rich after aging. If the content is not rich, it does not have aging value. How can it be aged without something? Therefore, tea with rich contents such as Pu'er tea often tastes better after aging, and white peony also satisfies this characteristic, which is not like the singleness of Baihao silver needle, the aging effect is not obvious, nor is it like some single medicinal fragrance after longevity eyebrow aging. White peony still has considerable richness after aging, so it is a kind of enjoyment to leave a little white peony to watch him change slowly.

Fifth, the price of performance is more moderate than the above. Bai Hao Silver Needle is not the most cost-effective in business, because it is simple to pick or draw bud heads, so generally poor product prices are also above the white peony. On the other hand, the white peony has a rich taste and the price is not too high. in fact, on the whole, it is more affordable than the price of green tea. Although Shoumei Gongmei is cheap, it lacks a kind of fragrance and less aesthetic appearance worth appreciating.

Of course, we also have to see that different white teas have different characteristics, everyone has different preferences and emphasis, a good-looking appearance is worth ten to me, and may be worth twenty points to you, this is no good or bad, just a choice.

But no matter what you choose, I like white peonies so much.