Hooray! Your tea mail has arrived. It is looking good. Smells good too. Time to try out the tea. Wait! I suggest humbly that your new arrivals need time to be awake. The tea needs awakening. The Chinese call this procedure as xin cha.
Xin Cha literally means tea awakening.
There are a few reasons why you should adopt 'xin cha' as part of your Chinese tea routine.
- your tea which you had ordered overseas would likely had been air-flown to your doorstep. I had found out, on the internet, that checked- in luggage and goods like postal boxes or other goods are placed in the cargo compartment of the airplane. The cargo hold, if we assume a commercial airline, would be less insulated than the passenger cabins. I read that the temperatures in the cargo hold, during flight, would be around 7-10 degrees celcius. It is pretty cold and understandable as there is less insulation than the passenger cabins. This would meant that your 'tea' would had experienced a cold moment while it is in the air. Did my tea hibernate? I do not know. But internet chat forums seem to suggest that tea buyers/drinkers find their purchased tea tasted better after 2-3 weeks after arrival, than if it was drank immediately when they had received their box. This may imply or suggest that the tea needed time to 'acclimatise' itself (I think you understand what I am trying to say).
- I had mentioned that breaking up a tea cake, brick or tuo, storing the tea pieces in a tea caddy and drinking the tea 2-3 weeks after the 'breakup' seem to make the tea more aromatic and tasty. I had suggested to my tea readers to try breaking up half a cake, storing the pieces in a tea caddy......and do a comparison by brewing up tea from the caddy and brewing tea by chipping off some tea from the unbroken tea cake. The difference is clear in that the broken up tea pieces taste better.
These 2 points I had highlighted seem to suggest that pu erh tea needs a stable temperature and any drastic change in temperature may 'upset' your tea and the tea may need time to acclimatise/ stabilise itself. Breaking up a tea cake may also imply that the tea have the opportunity to be fully exposed to the air and to 'stretch out' which seem to make the tea better In taste and aroma after the breakup. Yes, it seems like mambo jumbo. But .....there is a clear difference if you employ these methods. It might be a great idea when your overseas tea mail arrives at your door, you break open your pu erh cake/ brick (at least a quarter of it) into a tea caddy and brew the tea after 2 weeks.
I strongly encourage my pu erh tea readers to 'xin cha' their pu erh. This is not a tedious or expensive exercise. It does make a better brew.
- I had mentioned that breaking up a tea cake, brick or tuo, storing the tea pieces in a tea caddy and drinking the tea 2-3 weeks after the 'breakup' seem to make the tea more aromatic and tasty. I had suggested to my tea readers to try breaking up half a cake, storing the pieces in a tea caddy......and do a comparison by brewing up tea from the caddy and brewing tea by chipping off some tea from the unbroken tea cake. The difference is clear in that the broken up tea pieces taste better.
These 2 points I had highlighted seem to suggest that pu erh tea needs a stable temperature and any drastic change in temperature may 'upset' your tea and the tea may need time to acclimatise/ stabilise itself. Breaking up a tea cake may also imply that the tea have the opportunity to be fully exposed to the air and to 'stretch out' which seem to make the tea better In taste and aroma after the breakup. Yes, it seems like mambo jumbo. But .....there is a clear difference if you employ these methods. It might be a great idea when your overseas tea mail arrives at your door, you break open your pu erh cake/ brick (at least a quarter of it) into a tea caddy and brew the tea after 2 weeks.
I strongly encourage my pu erh tea readers to 'xin cha' their pu erh. This is not a tedious or expensive exercise. It does make a better brew.
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