What is Dark Tea? A Complete Introduction to Chinese Dark Tea

Base Introduction of Black Tea
Black tea, one of the six traditional Chinese teas, is named after the distinctive black color of the dried tea as well as the tea broth. Like white tea, black tea is a unique tea in China, and the production process of black tea is relatively complex. Black tea is a post-fermented tea, the so-called post-fermentation, refers to the tea leaves through the high temperature treatment and then stacked fermentation, which is the biggest difference between black tea and other tea. Tea leaves in the post-fermentation process, there is a certain temperature and humidity, the role of beneficial microorganisms, so that the substances in the tea leaves undergo a series of changes, the color of the tea leaves gradually deepen from green to black-brown, the taste becomes rich and mellow, eliminating bitterness and astringency, and ultimately turned into black tea.

History of Black Tea
There is a saying in China that black tea is a kind of tea formed on horseback. The first appearance of black tea in China was during the Tang and Song dynasties in China (618-1279 A.D.), when green tea produced in the southern regions of China needed to be transported to the north, so it was packaged in the shape of bricks, large cake shapes, squares, and cubes so that it could be easily transported using horses. Tea is transported over the mountains to Tibet, Xinjiang and other places in China on the way, the rainy day tea is often wet, to the sun when the sky is clear and sun-dried, in this dry, wet and wet interactive transformation process, moisture-absorbent tea is very easy to moisture discoloration, hot and humid environment gives microbes a very good living environment, the coarse and old tea began to be slowly fermented under the action of microorganisms. This unexpected situation produces fermentation of tea leaves. The color of the green tea leaves gradually turned black, the aroma and flavor changed, and this quality style of tea is more popular among the consumers in Tibet and Xinjiang, China. The reason behind this is that the herdsmen along the Chinese border eat beef, mutton and dairy foods all year round, which are fatty and not easy to digest after eating, causing a bulging and uncomfortable tummy, and the black tea formed from this accidental situation has the effect of relieving fatigue and promoting digestion.Over time, people will be green tea or refining process plus the process of a Worcestershire, it produced the later black tea. Tea in the border ethnic minority people live in an extremely important position, because China's Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia provinces due to geographical and climatic reasons, these areas can not be planted tea trees, the required tea can only be transported from thousands of miles of southern China. Therefore, since China's rulers since the Tang Dynasty, tea was used as a very useful material to control China's border areas.

The main origins and varieties of black tea
Anhua black tea is only a representative of the black tea category in China, which is a vast area with abundant tea plant resources, and there are many other types of black tea. According to China's provinces and regions, in addition to Hunan's Anhua black tea, there are also the above mentioned Sichuan black tea (Ya'an Tibetan tea), Guangxi black tea (Liu Bao tea), in addition to Shaanxi black tea (Jingyang Fu tea), Yunnan black tea ( pu erh tea black tea), Hubei black tea (old green brick tea), Anhui black tea (Keemun An tea).

Brewing Methods for Drinking Tea
For the choice of tea set, it is recommended to use Yixing Purple Sand Pot. Avoid choosing glass cups such as tea brewing black tea, because of historical reasons formed by the habits of consumption and processing habits, the vast majority of black tea products using raw materials for the maturity of the higher degree of fresh leaves, tea leaves are very much tea stalks. Cake tea pry open also very fine tea leaves, glass cup can not brew black tea.

The amount of tea, the amount of tea or the proportion of tea and water has a great impact on the whole bubble of tea, 100cc or so of the bowl we recommend throwing tea about 5 grams of tea is appropriate, and one side of the recommended ratio of tea and water to control the 1:20. throw more tea is easy to be bitter and astringent, too little can't reflect the flavor of the aroma of the black tea.

Steeping time, brewing time to tea concentration suitable for the drinker's taste as a standard. Generally speaking, drinking Hunan black tea, brewing time is suitable for about 1 minute, so that the tea soup flavor will be more full and rich. Good black tea can be repeated brewing, the number of times for 5 to 7 times, with the increase in the number of times of brewing, brewing time should be appropriately extended.

The benefits of black tea to the body
Black tea is less irritating to the stomach and intestines
Regular tea drinkers know that tea stimulates the stomach and its main substance is the caffeine in tea, fresh tea, caffeine content is higher than the content of fermented tea, so it is best not to drink fresh green tea on an empty stomach, or it will cause stomach upset. Black tea is a post-fermented tea, in the process of making black tea needs to be fermented, in this process, the caffeine disappears in large quantities, and already does not stimulate the stomach and intestines. The fermentation process of black tea will produce lactic acid, acetic acid and other organic acids, which can improve the environment of intestinal flora and promote digestion. It is especially effective in relieving symptoms such as gastrointestinal discomfort and constipation. According to a study conducted by Nanjing Agricultural University in China, the organic acids in black tea can stimulate gastric juice secretion, promote food digestion and absorption, and help maintain the balance of intestinal flora.

Black tea relieves grease and promotes digestion.
Business acquaintances often socialize, meat, too greasy food eat too much, not easy to digest, over time the fat will produce deposits, resulting in obesity, stomach bulging, a threat to health. Often drink some black tea can promote the digestion and decomposition of these greasy, meat food. In China's border areas, such as Tibet, a popular saying, not a day without tea, three days without tea is sick,” the saying, because the border areas are often meat milk as a staple food, black tea can promote digestion as well as the dissolution of grease, which is why the black tea in China's border areas known as the ‘tea of life’! This is also the reason why black tea is called “tea of life” in the border areas of China. Black tea promotes digestion mainly because the catechins and theaflavins in black tea can combine with fatty acids in food to form insoluble precipitates, thus reducing the body's absorption of fat.

Regulates blood lipids and blood sugar
Black tea produces theaflavin, a unique pigment ingredient, during curing and fermentation. Tea fucoxanthin helps to inhibit cholesterol absorption, so black tea has the effect of lowering blood lipids. In addition, the tea polysaccharides in black tea are also believed to have certain hypoglycemic effects. According to a study conducted by the School of Medicine of Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China, theaflavin can significantly reduce total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) levels in mice, which has a significant effect on lipid regulationSummarize
Chinese black tea is a kind of tea unique to China, and is one of the six major types of tea. Black tea requires fermentation during processing, and the final product is named for the distinctive black color of the dried tea as well as the tea broth. Black tea has a long history of development, having appeared in China during the Tang Dynasty, and is an essential substance for China's frontier regions, known as the tea of life. With the development of tea chemistry, more and more health benefits of black tea have been proved, such as the role of black tea in promoting digestion and regulating blood lipids and blood sugar.

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