No matter what kind of tea it is, it has its own quality and grades. In daily life, whether we buy or drink tea, we need to have the ability to identify tea so as not to buy low-quality tea.


How to distinguish between good and bad tea?

Roughly, the quality of tea can be distinguished from two aspects:

Tea identification from the appearance: mainly from the aspects of tea strip, tenderness, luster, purity and others. 

The internal quality evaluation of tea identification: mainly from the aspects of tea aroma, taste, liquor color and soaked leaves.


So what are the criteria for a good cup of tea?

The first standard of good tea: the liquor color is transparent and bright.

This is the most intuitive standard to judge whether the tea is good or not, regardless of whether the tea liquor is red, green, black, white or yellow, the key is to be “transparent”.


The second standard of good tea is that the bitter taste spreads from the tongue, but not converges.

Tea is definitely bitter or astringent, which is its nature. But the key lies in whether it can be dispersed quickly. If the bitter taste stays in the mouth all the time, the so-called “staying with the tongue”, the tea should not be regarded as good.


The third standard of good tea: no peculiar smell, strange smell, water smell.

1. Peculiar smell means that it is not the taste of the tea itself, but that the tea absorbs other flavors in the process of production and storage. Once the peculiar smell is absorbed, it could hardly be removed, and even the best tea is destroyed.

2. Strange taste refers to the unpleasant taste of the tea itself, such as musty taste. Strange taste often shows that there is something wrong with the tea and there are harmful substances, such as Aspergillus flavus etc.; drinking it is harmful to health.

3. Water taste refers to the separation of tea taste and water flavor, resulting in a beany flavor. The smell of water often appears when the tea liquor becomes light. Generally good tea will not be separated, but be light and not beany.


The fourth standard of good tea: the tea leaf is fresh.

Freshness is a common feature for the leaf of good tea.

The leaf is fresh, showing that

1. The raw material of tea is good, and the leaf is the reduction of tea green.

2. The tea is made with good craftsmanship, and the tea is not made to death.

3. Brew the tea properly so that the tea leaves are fully boiled, but the tea is not over brewed and suffocated.


For those who like to drink tea, it is very important to know how to distinguish between good and bad tea.