Anhua pine needles

Introduction to Anhua Pine Needles

Produced in Anhua County, Hunan Province. According to historical records, tea trees have been "growing naturally on cliffs and watersides" in Furong Mountain and Yuntai Mountain in Anhua since the Song Dynasty. During the Daoguang period of the Qing Dynasty, Tao Shu, the governor of Anhua, wrote "Furong River Bamboo Branch Poems", "Just after the Grain Rain, I saw flags and guns, arranged fire pits and made boxes, there were many female companions on the top of Wurong Mountain, and I picked fairy tea with mist fragrance", which vividly described the landscape of tea picking and processing at that time. The "Furong Green Tea" and "Yuntai Cloud and Mist" teas produced were once listed as tribute. However, after several changes, the picking and processing methods have been lost.

In 1959, the Anhua Tea Experimental Station sent scientific and technical personnel and workers to Furong Mountain and Yuntai Mountain to explore the famous tea heritage and absorb the characteristics of famous tea picking and processing at home and abroad. After four years of trial production, summary, improvement and finalization, they finally created a green tea treasure - Anhua Pine Needles.

The quality characteristics of this tea are that it has a straight and beautiful appearance, and is emerald green and uniform, just like pine needles; it has a strong aroma, a sweet taste, a clear and bright tea soup, and the leaves are tender. It has good appearance and quality and is very lovable. It has participated in national agricultural product exhibitions and national tea competitions for many times, and has been listed as one of China's famous teas; in 1964, it was collected for overseas exhibitions and received unanimous praise from Chinese and foreign people; in May 1986, it participated in the national famous tea evaluation and won the title of high-quality famous tea from the Ministry of Commerce; in August 1985, Matsushita Satoshi, chairman of the Japan Fengming Council, and Associate Professor Sano of Aichi University, made a special trip to Anhua for a visit. After tasting "Pine Needles", they praised it highly, especially the aroma of the tea, which they believed far exceeded the Gyokuro tea known as the pearl of Japanese green tea.

The raw materials of Anhua pine needles are picked very carefully, with the standard of one bud and one leaf at the beginning. The processing technology is divided into eight processes: fresh leaf spreading, killing green, rolling, frying, cooling, shaping, drying, and picking. The fine shaping of Anhua pine needles is clever in the shaping process, which is the key process to form the straight and beautiful shape of pine needles. First, put the fried blanks in a special kneading box, light a fire under the box, and keep the box surface temperature at 50--60℃, and throw a pot of fried blanks each time. The shaping method is to hold the tea in both hands, rotate left and right, and push evenly. Rub and shake to rub the tea strips straight. In the process of rubbing tea, the palm and fingers exert force together, the tea strips rotate in the palm, squeeze out from the upper and lower hands, straighten into strips, and scatter in the box. After the tea strips in the hand are rubbed and scattered, repeat the process. The whole shaping process takes about 40 minutes, making the strips slender, tight and straight like pine needles, and showing white hair, which is moderate. Then dry and pick, and collect.

In recent years, in order to popularize famous teas and produce more products, while ensuring the special grade pine needles and pine needles No. 1, we also use one bud and two leaves that have just begun to unfold, and process them into Anhua Pine Needle No. 2, which is cheap and good in quality and more popular with consumers.

The efficacy and function of Anhua pine needles

Weight loss and fat reduction health care function

After the human body eats a lot of fat, some of the fat accumulates in the gastrointestinal tract and peritoneum, resulting in early abdominal obesity. When there is too much fat, it is mobilized to the liver for oxidation, which can increase the lipids in the liver and accumulate in the liver, forming "fatty liver". Some fats are converted into: total cholesterol, esters, triglycerides, etc. As the lipids in the body increase, cholesterol accumulates on the arterial walls, forming atherosclerosis, vascular hardening, and poor blood flow. In modern life, as people's lives continue to improve, the number of obese people in China is also increasing. Therefore, health care and caring for health have also been mentioned in people's daily lives. In particular, cardiovascular diseases among middle-aged and elderly people are on the rise. Risk factors for lipid metabolism disorders in the human body include excessive intake of saturated fatty acids. Lipid metabolism disorders and a lifestyle lacking in activity can lead to systemic diseases such as secondary hypercholesterolemia. The mortality rate of patients with total cholesterol levels higher than 200 mg/dl (5.2 mmol/L) is significantly increased, and when the total cholesterol level reaches 240 mg/dl (6.24 mmol/L), the mortality rate rises sharply. For every 50 mg/dl (1.3 mmol/L) increase above 200 mg/dl (5.2 mmol/L), the cardiovascular mortality rate doubles [5]. It can be seen that human lipid peroxidation is the enemy of human health! Domestic research shows that the tea polyphenols and B vitamins contained in scented tea can reduce triglycerides by 50%. At the same time, it can increase the oxidation of cholesterol, increase the excretion of fecal neutral sterols, hinder the lipidification of free cholesterol and reduce the synthesis of lipoproteins. Scented tea can also effectively remove "free radicals" in the human body (that is, a group of harmful substances produced by the human body during the process of breathing and metabolism while consuming oxygen). It can reduce or reduce cholesterol intake, and has a good effect on oxidizing fat and reducing lipids. Regular and appropriate drinking of scented tea is one of the effective ways to promote healthy weight loss and reduce lipids.

Enhance cardiovascular health function

The most important risk factors for coronary atherosclerosis are advanced age, male sex, high blood lipids, high blood pressure, smoking and diabetes. The reason is that the blood supply to the intima and part of the media of the artery is directly supplied by the lumen. Oxygen and nutrients in the blood directly penetrate into the intima and media. Therefore, lipids can also easily penetrate, and the aggregation rate of circulating blood platelets increases, resulting in a release reaction [6], causing organic stenosis of coronary artery atherosclerosis and myocardial ischemia, and reduced myocardial vitality. Some patients may directly suffer from coronary artery spasm, reduced coronary blood supply, and a series of side effects. In recent years, the mortality rate of coronary heart disease in China is about 42/100,000-49/100,000 for men and about 31/100,000-32/100,000 for women. The mortality rate of men is higher than that of women, and it is higher in cities than in rural areas, and it is generally on the rise. It can be seen that diseases such as coronary heart disease, myocardial infarction, cerebral hemorrhage and cerebral thrombosis pose a serious threat to human health. The tea pigments and vitamin C contained in scented tea can reduce the deposition of cholesterol in tissues, increase fibrinolytic activity and reduce the concentration of fibrinogen, while also dilating peripheral blood vessels and preventing thrombosis. It helps prevent vascular obstructive lesions and the progression of the disease. It can also prevent recurrence after myocardial infarction and prevent arterial thromboembolism. Drinking scented tea is very beneficial for middle-aged and elderly people, and can effectively protect the heart and prevent cardiovascular disease. Drinking scented tea every day and forming a good habit can reduce the original risk factors of heart attack by about 45%.

Side effects and contraindications of Anhua pine needles

1. Green tea is easy to oxidize and difficult to store. The tea polyphenols in green tea are strong antioxidants, so it is very easy to nourish itself. Although it is not yet conclusive that tea polyphenols are the reason why drinking tea can make people live longer, the tea brewed from oxidized old tea is coffee red and has no tea aroma, and its taste has greatly deteriorated.

2. Most people drink light tea and are not used to strong tea. Therefore, the amount of tea they drink is not enough for health preservation.

3. Beware of "urea tea". What is "urea tea"? In the past few years, tea was in great demand and in short supply. Tea farmers in some places had a "technical innovation". After picking tea leaves in the morning, they sprayed urea solution on the tea trees in the afternoon. The next morning, the tea leaves grew very long again. In this cycle, the tea production increased dramatically. Therefore, when drinking tea, you should recognize the brand and quality, and never be greedy for cheapness.

How to brew Anhua pine needles

High-quality tea needs to be assisted by brewing techniques and brewing rules in order to taste the good taste of the tea.

1. Prepare tea: The quality and characteristics of the "Anhua Pine Needle" tea or Qiuxi Silver Coin, Anhua Silver Coin, Yuntai Spring Bud, Wuhan Gold Coin, Qianqiu Dragon Bud, etc. in the "Anhua Tea" series should be introduced to the students so that they can understand and have some knowledge of them.

2. Prepare water: "Tea is nourished by water, water is stored in the container, and soup is made by fire. The four are interdependent, and if one is missing, it will be useless" (Xu Cishu of the Ming Dynasty). Anhua high mountain spring water, pine springs and bamboo springs in the mountain streams are of better quality.

3. Tea appreciation: Put the prepared "Anhua Pine Needle" dry tea into a tea saucer or a small tea sample plate and send it to the guests for appreciation, including appreciating the shape, color and smelling the aroma of the dry tea.

4. Place tea: Use a teaspoon to take tea leaves from the tea can and place them on the cup. The amount of tea to place depends on the type of tea you are tasting.

5. Brewing: Cup or covered bowl. Usually brewing is done in two steps. First, pour a small amount of boiling water into the cup or bowl (about 1/4 of the capacity of the cup or bowl) to wet all the tea leaves. Let it stand for about a minute to allow the dry tea to soak and stretch, and then pour boiling water to about 3/4 of the capacity of the cup or bowl. When brewing, lift the kettle up and down three times, which is called "Phoenix Nodding Three Times", which means the host bows to welcome the guests. At the same time, with the help of the impact of the boiling water when lifting and pouring, the tea leaves are turned over, which is convenient for the tea leaves to be brewed and the concentration of the tea soup is uniform.

6. Brewing in a pot: After placing the pine needle tea in the pot, pour boiling water into the pot at once to brew the tea.

7. Divide the tea: After brewing the tea in a pot, pour the tea into teacups. A pot of tea is usually divided into 4 to 5 cups. Pour the tea into the cups in a circular motion or evenly.

8. Serving tea: After the tea is brewed and poured into cups, it is brought to the guests on a tea tray, and the chef invites the guests to have some tea. The guests take the tea and also express their gratitude.

9. Tea tasting: After the guest receives the tea, he should taste it while it is hot, admire the color of the tea soup, smell its aroma, and then sip the tea soup carefully. Do not swallow it down your throat, inhale while swirling it with your tongue, taste it repeatedly, swallow it slowly, and enjoy the mellow and sweet aftertaste of Anhua pine needles.

10. Add water: When the guest has finished half of the tea in the cup, add boiling water and let the guest continue to taste it. Pine needle tea can be added with water 3 to 4 times. When brewing in a pot, brew it in the first, second, and third times. Xu Cishu of the Ming Dynasty pointed out that "a pot of tea can only be brewed twice. The first brew is fresh and delicious, the second brew is sweet and mellow, and the third brew is enough."

Medicinal value of Anhua pine needles

It has a good effect on diseases such as hypertension, myocardial infarction, cerebral hemorrhage, arteriosclerosis, asthma, stroke, oral evil (oblique), periodontal disease, bad breath, and aphasia.