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Minerals that dominate the After Taste of tea

[2013.07.29] Posted By

茶葉の焼成実験

The after taste of tea is one of the most important criteria in selecting tea. To demonstrate that after taste can be influenced by the minerals that exist in tealeaves, I conducted an experiment to prove my point.

Experiment: Burning tealeaves into ashes and use them to brew tea

The aim of this experiment is to prove that organic substance has nothing to do with the after taste. Once tealeaves are burnt into ashes/charcoal, there are no organic substances remained there.

  1. I choseTai Ping Hou Kui Special tribute as the subject of my experiment. This is the tea that gives very strong after taste and the leaf is long enough.
  2. Burn the tea leaf until it is completely transformed into ashes/charcoal.
  3. Brew tea with the tea ashes (place ashes/charcoal into the tea cup)
  4. Conduct tasting

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The tealeaf of Tai Ping Hou Kui

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Continue burning until the tealeaf is completely transformed into ashes.

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  1. Hot water as a control
  2. Hot water + burnt tea leaf
  3. Hot water + Fresh tea leaf

As I expected, No.2 and No.3 gives the same level of after taste. It shows that minerals can influence the intensity of after taste. In fact it is very shocking to see that the ashes/charcoal make water taste softer and smoother. It was a very strange feeling.

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The burnt tea leaf gives lighter body than the fresh tea

The one interesting result is that the “BODY” of water decreased when I tasted water treated with the ashes of tealeaf. As far as I know, it is either calcium or potassium that is dictating the body of tea. I assume that these minerals might have undergone oxidation. Due to the change of chemical formula, it may have reduced tea’s body.

2Ca + O2 → 2CaO

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