Effectiveness of Aged Tea - 30 years old wulong from Taiwan

After the last words of  the last post I had an illness. Nothing serious, but it came as  a living contradiction of the lesson of that post and my old tea and health theory-complex. In tea circles old tea is considered as a daily treatment for many diseases and  many types of green tea, or blends of fresh green with medicinal herbs is a matter of effective medicine. Old is better, due to the ancient wisdom myth and age-long experience.  There are many facts to confirm it in the modern science, but no evidences and methods exists for the measurement of the effectiveness of a certain tea. A certain tea doesn't exist, only the liquor of my tea and my moment tea.

                                  
For example researches of the last two decades show the effects of made tea and tea infusion on blood lipids, blood pressure and other cardiovascular disorders, we know even more about antibacterial, anti caries and anticarcinogenesis activity of tea, but nobody can declare his own tea is an effective medicine against this or that disease, without evidences of composition and true and equal preparation methode of a certain medicine tea prepared at home.
                                 
As chemistry this infusion is bright, shining and yellow-brown due to the water soluble flavonols (kaempherol, quercetin, isoquercetin) Some of this flavonols goes under a transforming process in course of the years guided by fungus and mycrobas. Dark yellow colour is formed by carotenoids and chlorophyll-degradative products, such as pheophorbide A and B. Secondary poliyphenolic compounds are formed during the early and the after fermentation process and this materials, (theasinensin, or oolongtheanin found only in wulong teas) give a unique aroma and flavor to the tea.

For me who believe tea is an effective drug,  is possible to form a measurement of it in the daily life. Tea is a very effective and chiefly preventive material for myself which must be completed with a conscious and healthy daily nourishment and a complex modus vivendi. If you live healthy in a sane environment, if you prevent yourself with the adequate means, if in your spirit you retain balance, peace and forgiveness and you have also fortune, you will not become ill.

   Now I bring out to support my fortune a very old wulong (oolong) tea from Taiwan, it doesn't ware any creditable name, or aging dates, the farmer call it a 30 years old Dong Ding, but it doesn't look at all as a present day or a semi aged tight rolled  Dong Ding. It looks like a big industry small leaf tea mixed with some young shoots twisted in small snails and needles. Judging the age is relatively simple, you see the shade of the leaf, the colour of the infusion and in particular the shade of the infused leaf. The original color of the leaves is very dark indeed, traditionally baked taiwan oolong becomes toned dun and puke in the course of the unlearnt time. I use for this tea a very slow black yixing tea pot without a ball filter. After a deep and hot washing infusion, which serves to exorcise unwanted fungus and microbas, we begin our long trip on this very strain tea, the character of which is a herbal, spicy experiment accompanied with some bitterness on the beginning and insistent flower aroma in the aftertaste.
                          
                          
                                     Bright yellow infusion in the latter stage
                             
                                  Leaves are opening in the yixing pot

                           
                                Leaf judging is important activity for any tea drinker

The pungency of this tea is good for my throat, the bitterness gives a support for my heart and venues, mold taste is antibacterial and helps my digestion, sweet taste is sign of polysacharyds, which maintains very effectively my blood-glucose level. The only fact not so good for me is sourness and some acidity particularly in forced aged, and in semi aged oolongs.  30 years ago, when this tea probably was harvested,  I didn't cared about this factors, it was  more important the neighbor girlfriend and much more the following match of the "mundial".

Two teas, four days, one week

Four days without posting, but not without tea. To be accurate three days with two teas. The previous Yi Wu wild arbor tea was enough for two days and an another, but an aged puerh for another two. To overdrink a tea is dangerous and we must select carefully what type of tea we are drinking in a certain day. Maybe a young tea-man does better with more tea, but not without consequences. In this matter I drink every day a matcha and choose an other one, possibly not more. When I choose a young, wild sheng puerh it is enough for two days and I rarely drink more than 1-2 puerh in a week. I don't drink more shu puerh, eventually some aged one and I rather prefer some other type aged hei cha. (shu puerh is also a hei cha produced with big leaves - da yi cultivars). Now let's taste the second puerh of the weekend.  This is an aged sheng san cha, scattered Tea (散茶). Usually the loose-leaf puerh is the raw material of the compressed tea which is just rarely a green tea (mao cha) but more often a shu puerh. This tea seems quite like a shu puerh, because its appareance is dark, with the characteristic earthy flavor. I didn't take a picture of the entire 5 Kg sack of this loose-leaf tea, therefore  on the photo above only several pieces of the compressed tea is visible. It became compressed in the course of years in a big tea jar. This is a very old, "low quality" mao cha with stalks, leaf venues, big leaves, buds blended and than incidentally aged (forgot) in my friend tea shop in Taiwan.

                        

 The tea was there surely "since the end of the high school" - it must be around 30 years old. The price was friendly respect the age thanks to the "no name, no recipe" stage. We use this tea after two times short washing at 90 Co. Voluntary or casual, this blend became very good balanced. Astringency in the first 5 infusions it presents no special bitterness and completely missed off flavor, moderate cha qi and caffeine as in the aged teas, where the potency moves in the course of the years in complex flavours and aftertaste. The colour of an aged sheng is typical dark, scarce of red, with many oils on the surface of the cup, and the infusion is deep. From the 5th to the10th infusions some sour state can be noted and the tea begin to transform in an ethereal state. From the10th to the 15th infusions the color gradually disappears and comes on the stage the infinite aged tea sweetness. After 15 infusion we can infuse the tea again and again to obtain an almost colorless very long sweet infusion. Drinking this tea and the other young wild tea we feel curated against every illness.
 
                                                                    15 th infusion