Why compress loose tea into cakes?
White tea is not stir fried or kneaded, and the loose shape of the tea leaves occupies a large warehouse cost. In addition, the white tea leaves are crisp and fragile, resulting in high transportation costs. Compared to loose tea, cake tea has a regular shape, is easy to store, saves tea storage space, and is convenient to transport to reduce losses.
White tea does not kill the green, undergoes slight fermentation, is not stir fried or kneaded. In terms of aroma, new tea will have a hint of fresh green flavor to some extent. However, after pressing the cake, the green flavor is reduced and transformed into woody aroma, aged aroma, etc.
Research by relevant personnel has also confirmed that pressing cakes has a certain improvement and enhancement effect on the aroma of white tea. Pressed cake processing is more conducive to the formation of woody and medicinal aromas based on substances such as cedrene and cedarol during the aging process of white tea, and is a scientific and effective way to accelerate the aging of white tea.
What are the differences in style between loose tea and pancake tea?
The soup of loose tea is more refreshing and fresh. More in line with the standard flavor of white tea – fresh, fragrant, mellow, refreshing, clear, sweet, and lively.
After pressing the cake, some cell walls are broken, and cell fluid, pectin, etc. overflow and adhere to the leaf surface, reacting with oxygen in the air, slightly accelerating the transformation rate of white tea cake.
The aroma of white tea cake leans more towards the sweet fragrance of nectar, with a mellow and glutinous taste, and a more warm and mellow feeling. Has a sweeter and more mature flavor than loose tea. In the future, fruit aromas such as jujube and honey medicine are more likely to appear in the transformation.
Is the quality and form of white tea related?
Some people believe that loose tea is the best, while pancake tea is not. The quality and form of white tea are not closely related, but rather depend on the raw materials and craftsmanship. If it is aged tea, storage conditions also need to be considered.
Cake tea only needs to ensure the quality of raw materials and the pressing process. If you don’t pass off inferior tea cakes as good, how can you say that tea cakes are not good if they are made of inferior materials such as gold, jade, and fluff? Anything existing must be reasonable.
As long as the raw materials are good and the craftsmanship is excellent, whether it is loose tea cake tea, it is “delicious”
Process flow of pressing cake:
The process of pressing white tea cakes includes weighing, steaming, kneading, pressing, spreading, and drying.
Weighing: Before pressing the cake, it is necessary to weigh it first, as there may be some loss during production. Therefore, in order to ensure that it weighs enough, more loose tea is weighed during weighing.
Steam softening: After weighing, cover the tea measuring tube with a cloth and place it on the steam engine to soften the tea leaves and restore their elasticity and toughness.
Rubbing: Place the steamed tea leaves into a cloth bag and use both hands to rotate and knead the bag. Under the force, the white tea leaves gradually clump together.
Pressing: Place the tea leaves wrapped in a cloth bag into the cake mold of the press machine, set the pressing force, and press them into shape.
Spread: After pressing the white tea cake, it should be wrapped in cloth and placed on a sieve to dry, allowing the tea cake to breathe and remove moisture
Remove the heat, wait for the tea cake to dry for a while, and check if the tightness of the tea cake is appropriate.
Drying: After the tea cakes are dried, they are placed in an oven for low-temperature drying, which usually takes about three to four days. Nowadays, automatic baking machines are usually used.
What is the impact of cake pressing technology on quality?
The quality of white tea can be affected to some extent by the quality of the cake pressing technique. For example, the steaming, pressing, drying and other processes in the cake pressing process may seem easy and simple, but in reality, they test the master’s skills everywhere.
The process of steaming to soften may seem simple, but if not steamed enough, the tea cake is prone to breakage. If steamed too much, it can cause the loss of substances and aroma in the white tea, affecting the taste of the soup.
Pressing should be done with appropriate elasticity. If the pressure is too loose, the tea cake will become loose and easy to scatter, making it impossible to obtain the mature, unique aroma and taste of the white tea cake. It is better to drink loose tea directly. And it is not conducive to later storage and conversion.
If the pressure is too tight and the force is too heavy during shaping, the tea cake will become hard and difficult to dry later, and the internal transformation of the cake will be slow, making it difficult to pry open when opened.
The drying process is also a difficult point, and the most important thing to avoid is that the surface of the tea cake has already been dried, but there is still excess moisture left inside the cake. Such tea cakes are prone to moisture and deterioration after storage. Or if the temperature is too high, the finished tea cake may have a strong fire smell or even a burnt smell.
To dry slowly at low temperatures, it usually takes at least three to four days, but not too long. During this period, people cannot leave casually. They must keep an eye on it at all times, such as power outages or machine malfunctions, which need to be dealt with immediately to prevent the cakes from getting stuck in the box and emitting a bad smell.
The master flexibly controls the temperature and time of drying according to the weight and elasticity of the pressed cake. Too high or too low temperature, too fast or too slow drying are not good.
