Can Osmanthus flowers be brewed as tea? The benefits and making method of osmanthus tea
Osmanthus, also known as rock osmanthus, is one of China's ten traditional famous flowers. The flowers grow in the leaf axils, with a gamopetalous corolla split into four lobes, and are small in shape. Some people have heard of osmanthus cake, so can osmanthus flowers be brewed as tea? The answer is of course yes. Osmanthus tea made from osmanthus flowers as a raw material is a Chinese specialty tea. It has a soft aroma and a pleasant taste, and is loved by the public. Osmanthus also has the benefits of warming and tonifying yang qi, whitening the skin, eliminating toxins from the body, relieving cough and reducing phlegm, and nourishing health and moistening the lungs!
In making osmanthus tea, during each process such as collection, blending, production and packaging, it strictly goes through 8 procedures: preparation of the tea base, harvesting fresh osmanthus flowers, scenting the tea base with flowers, turning the flowers to release heat, sifting out flower residue, re-drying, packaging with filter mesh, and storage for quality preservation. Production is most extensive in Guilin, Guangxi, Xianning, Hubei, Chengdu, Sichuan, Chongqing and other places.
1. Collecting fresh flowers
The fresh osmanthus flowers used are generally preserved by sugaring or salting. If fresh osmanthus flowers are directly sun-dried or oven-dried, because too much essential oil is lost, they almost become flower residue without aroma. The preserved osmanthus flowers can be added and used in a very wide range; indeed, osmanthus sour plum drink, osmanthus lotus seed soup, osmanthus lotus root starch, osmanthus tangyuan and osmanthus wine all cannot do without osmanthus.
2. Scenting
Osmanthus tea is a precious scented tea made by scenting refined tea base with fresh osmanthus flowers. Its fragrance is rich and lasting, and the tea color is green and bright, deeply favored by consumers.
1. Raw material ratio: generally 50 kg of refined tea base is matched with 15 kg of fresh osmanthus flowers, and this may be appropriately increased or decreased depending on the grade of the scented tea.
2. Tea base preparation: select fresh tender tea leaves with 1 bud and 2 leaves as the raw material, and use the new tea-making process of “high-temperature fixation, rapid rolling, safe drying” to make green tea base. The tea base leaves are required to be tender, with tightly rolled strips and a fragrant smell, and a moisture content below 5%. When cooled to 26-30°C, it can be scented. Refined finished green tea may also be used, heated to 30°C and then scented.
3. Osmanthus harvesting: during the full blooming period of osmanthus, pick when the flowers are in a tiger-claw shape, golden yellow, and just beginning to open from the bud, ensuring gentle picking, loose placement and quick transport. Absolutely do not beat them with bamboo poles, so as to avoid damaging the flowers and turning them red. After fresh flowers are brought back, promptly remove flower stalks, leaves and other debris and scent them as soon as possible. Osmanthus has varieties such as golden osmanthus, silver osmanthus, red osmanthus, four-season osmanthus and monthly osmanthus, among which golden osmanthus has the richest and most lasting fragrance and superior quality.
4. Scenting the tea base with flowers: first spread a layer of tea base on a clean bamboo mat or white cloth, then evenly add a layer of osmanthus flowers according to the raw material ratio. Repeat in this way, layer by layer of tea and layer by layer of flowers, to form a pile, with the top layer covered with tea base for pile scenting. If the indoor temperature is below 20°C, cover the tea pile with white cloth to keep the temperature stable and encourage the fresh flowers to release fragrance normally. When there are fewer osmanthus flowers, scenting with the tea base may be carried out in a wooden box or other container according to the above method.
5. Turning the flowers to release heat: turning the flowers means spreading the tea pile open to cool. When the tea base has absorbed fragrance for 2-3 hours and the tea pile temperature has risen to 40°C, promptly spread the tea pile open and turn it up and down once to let it release heat. When the tea pile cools to below 30°C, it must be gathered back into a pile for a second scenting, so that the tea base absorbs fragrance evenly.
6. Sifting out flower residue: when the osmanthus flowers have become wilted and the flowers have turned purplish red, and the tea base feels soft to the touch without sticking to the hand, scenting should be ended. Spread the tea pile open, sift out the flower residue, and after drying it may be blended into the tea.
7. Re-drying: when the tea base absorbs fragrance during scenting, it also absorbs a large amount of moisture, with moisture content as high as 15%. It should be re-dried as soon as possible to reduce the moisture content to about 5%, so as to avoid mildew.
8. Packaging and storage: after drying, it becomes osmanthus tea. Let it cool naturally for 24 hours, then seal and package it according to weight specifications in fine paper bags and composite film bags, and put it into cartons. It can then be supplied to the market or stored in a ventilated and dry room. Pay attention to preventing moisture and mildew and preventing rodent damage. The storage period should not exceed 1 year.
3. Main varieties
Osmanthus has a rich, elegant and lasting fragrance. Whether scenting green tea, black tea or oolong tea, it can achieve relatively good scenting results, and it is a widely suitable fragrant flower for tea.
1. Osmanthus baked green tea
Osmanthus baked green tea is a major variety among osmanthus teas, with the largest output in Guilin, Guangxi and Xianning, Hubei, and some is exported to Japan and Southeast Asia. Its main quality characteristics are: the appearance has tightly fine and even strips with a dark green, oily luster; the flowers are like gold hidden among the leaves, golden yellow in color; the aroma is rich and lasting; the liquor color is green-yellow and bright; the taste is mellow, fragrant and palatable; and the brewed leaves are tender yellow and bright.
2. Osmanthus oolong
Osmanthus oolong is a traditional export product of the Anxi tea factory in Fujian, the hometown of “Tieguanyin”. It is mainly sold to Hong Kong, China, Macao, China, Southeast Asia and Western Europe. It mainly uses summer and autumn tea of the current year or the previous year as raw material. Its quality characteristics are: the strips are thick, strong and heavy; the color is brown and lustrous; the aroma is elegant and meaningful; the taste is mellow and sweet with a returning sweetness; the liquor color is orange-yellow and bright; and the brewed leaves are dark brown and soft.
3. Osmanthus broken black tea
Osmanthus broken black tea is an achievement obtained by the Tea Making Teaching and Research Office of Southwest Agricultural University in using natural osmanthus to scent broken black tea and add fragrance, replacing artificially flavored black tea. The product received favorable comments when sent to the United States and France. Main characteristics: the appearance has tight, fine and even granules; the color is dark and lustrous; the fragrance is rich; the taste is sweet and refreshing and palatable; the liquor color is red and bright; and the brewed leaves are red and even. When processed into tea bags, the fragrant charm is especially delicate and long-lasting, lingering for a long time.
4. Guilin osmanthus tea
Guilin osmanthus tea is produced in Guilin, Guangxi, and began production at the Guangxi Guilin Tea Factory in the 1970s. Its quality characteristics: the fragrance is strong, clear and elegant, and the liquor color is golden yellow. Small packages use colored paper boxes and come in two specifications, 100 grams and 250 grams.
5. Guizhou osmanthus tea
Osmanthus tea Guizhou osmanthus tea is produced in Guizhou. Quality characteristics: taking the first grade as an example, the appearance is tight, fine and has downy tips, with even strips and a dark green, somewhat lustrous color; the internal quality has a fresh, lively and strong aroma
and pure flavor, a fresh and refreshing taste, a green-yellow clear and bright liquor color, and brewed leaves that are green-yellow and bright, fine, tender and soft.
6. Xianning osmanthus tea
Xianning osmanthus tea belongs to green tea osmanthus tea. It is produced at the state-owned Baidun Farm in Xianning City, Hubei. Quality characteristics: the appearance conforms to the grade standard for scented tea base issued by the former Ministry of Commerce, and the tea has scattered golden yellow dried flowers interspersed in it; the internal quality has a clear yellow and bright tea liquor, a rich osmanthus fragrance, and both tea fragrance and flower fragrance coexist, with a mellow and rich taste. The moisture content of the finished product is 7.5%-8%. Osmanthus contains organic components such as propyl decanoate, ionone and linalool oxide. It is warm in nature and has effects such as dispersing cold, removing stagnation and reducing phlegm, and can strengthen the health benefits of green tea.
7. Pucheng osmanthus tea
Pucheng is known as the hometown of Chinese red osmanthus. Pucheng red osmanthus from Fujian is one of China's fine osmanthus varieties. Locally it is commonly called red osmanthus, and it belongs to the Oleaceae family, Osmanthus genus (Osmanthus), red osmanthus variety group (Aurantiacus Group). The main variety is large-leaf red osmanthus.
4. Main benefits
The benefits of osmanthus tea are warming and tonifying yang qi, whitening the skin, eliminating toxins from the body, relieving cough and reducing phlegm, and nourishing health and moistening the lungs. The effects of osmanthus tea are soothing the spirit, nourishing yin and moistening the lungs, and it can purify body and mind and balance the nervous system.
Osmanthus tea has the benefit of warming and tonifying yang qi. Indications: hypertension of the yang qi deficiency type. Symptoms include vertigo, dizziness, waist pain, aversion to cold and cold limbs, loose stools, clear and abundant urine, pale tongue proper, white coating, and deep, thin pulse.
Osmanthus tea has preventive and therapeutic effects on bad breath, unclear vision, urticaria, duodenal ulcer, and stomach cold and stomach pain.