How many kinds of black tea are there according to picking standards? Is tea the best tea? Is the tender tea better than the third leaf?

If it is the same tree, will the tea taste the same? What I want to say is that the taste of tea, even if harvested from the same tree, tastes completely different from different parts. Even if it is the same tea tree, different picking parts will lead to different tastes.

In China, almost all picking is done by hand, so tea trees are not as beautifully pruned as in Japan. In particular, Phoenix single bush and Pu 'er tea production area, tea tree does not prune branches, but like apple trees and persimmon trees, in the form of a bush to make tea. Tea made this way is called arbor in Chinese. Even if it is the same tree, the tea leaves taste different in different places. Definitely not nuances that only professionals can understand. In fact, anyone can see a dramatic difference. Not only tea, but also fruit. Even a tree tastes different depending on where it is harvested. For example, apple trees, picking apples from trees and picking apples from trees taste different. Even under the same sun conditions, the tips and roots of branches taste different. The apical bud and the lateral bud taste different tea words, the best taste is the tea growing at the tip of the branch. Plants have two kinds of buds, one is the terminal bud, and the other is the lateral bud, which grows on the side of the branch. In the case of plants, not all buds grow together, there is a dominant structure of terminal buds, terminal buds grow fast, lateral buds will grow slowly 1-2 weeks later. This terminal bud dominance is linked to a plant hormone called auxin. Therefore, at the beginning of the season to tea garden, although the tip of the branch tea has grown into a bud 2 leaves or a bud 3 leaves, but the lateral bud next to the branch or small bud. The buds at the top are very strong, sweet and smooth, and of high quality, while the buds at the side are light and refreshing. The premise of harvesting by machine is that tea buds should grow at the same rate. Therefore, pruning branches in autumn will trim off the terminal buds that originally thrived first, thus promoting the growth of lateral buds. In this way, the growth rate of tea buds will be unified. In contrast, tea with terminal buds removed, consisting only of lateral buds, will taste lighter in any case than tea in the arbor form. Do you still want to drink tea made with only terminal buds, knowing the fact that terminal buds taste very good? The method is actually very simple. Tea picked in the first week of the season has only basic terminal buds. Because according to the mechanism of terminal bud dominance, the first to grow is the terminal bud. After the first tea picking, after another week, tea picking is carried out again in the same tea garden. At this point the harvest of terminal buds has been completed and replaced by lateral buds that have grown. By the way, this side bud is not tea number 2. Both terminal buds and lateral buds are the best tea. Although they are all No. 1 tea, it is important that the quality of the terminal buds and lateral buds will change. After picking the first tea (terminal bud and lateral bud), after more than a month, the tea will germinate again. This is called 2 cups of tea. In Yunnan, if the tea produced in the same tea garden, whether it is terminal bud or lateral bud, the price is similar. In addition, according to the producer's policy, after tea processing, batches centered on terminal buds and batches centered on lateral buds picked later are mixed to homogenize quality. In addition, the geographical location of green tea and oolong tea production areas is also very close to the market, so the initial lotto formed by the terminal buds is evaluated according to the value of the tea, and then the trend of selling at a higher price than the buds.

Tea picking isn't always the earlier the better. Readers reading this might think that the earlier the tea is picked, the better the quality. However, things were not that simple. For tea, the growth of tea in tea plantations at high altitudes will slow down. In addition, the older the tea tree, the slower it grows. Also, naturally grown tea without fertilizer grows slower. Tea with these three conditions grows very slowly and will not germinate until the end. Slowly growing tea, rich in minerals, forms a rich aftertaste, aftertaste of very high quality. In contrast, tea at low altitudes, heavily fertilized, and younger ages grows very quickly, and tea is ready very early in spring. Therefore, if we only focus on the germination period, the quality of tea gardens with late germination is higher. However, if we focus on the quality of tea in a specific tea garden, the tea picked in the first week after germination is composed of terminal buds, and the quality is better.