Lu An Gua Pian

Lu an gua pian is a green tea speciality tea and one of the top ten classic green teas in China, produced in the Dabie Mountain area of Lu'an City, Anhui Province, China. Its external shape is like a single slice of melon seeds, no buds and no stalks, the colour is green, the soup is clear and bright, the aroma is rich and lasting, and the taste is fresh and sweet. It is a precious product among green teas. It has a long history and was once the royal tribute tea during the Ming and Qing Dynasties and is well-loved by tea lovers.

Lu An Gua Pian Tea Details

Name: Lu an Gua Pian
Ingredients: Fresh tea leaves
Craftsmanship: Traditional craftsmanship
Taste: thick and sweet
Aroma: Fresh and sweet
Net weight: 200 g
Shelf life: 540 days
Storage: dry, ventilated, protected from the sun, moisture, and odourless.

Lu An Gua Pian Picking

Lu an gua pian has a very strict picking standard, mainly picking single leaves, but also using single bud or one bud and one leaf, one bud and two to three leaves or three to four leaves. We usually pick Lu an gua pian within ten days before and after the rainy season,i.e.,. mid to late April in the spring. Tea leaves from this period are of the best quality, rich in nutrients and unique aroma. When we pick the leaves, the leaves should be intact and tender, avoiding old, diseased, and insect leaves. The new shoots grow to one bud, two or three leaves, or three or four leaves, and can be harvested when there are one or two large sheets per branch, leaving the young leaves and fish leaves on the shoots, and waiting until the young leaves grow to a certain maturity before harvesting. The picking method we use makes the fresh leaf material of Lu an gua pian more delicate, which is conducive to the later production of superior quality tea.

Lu An Gua Pian Production Process

The production process of Lu an Gua Pian mainly includes several key steps such as fresh leaf picking, slicing, stir-frying and baking:

Fresh leaf picking: mainly one bud, two or three leaves, commonly known as ‘open face’ picking, at this time the leaf growth is basically mature;

Sifting: breaking off the young and old leaves from the new shoots into separate piles;

Stir fixation: divided into raw and cook pot, raw pot temperature of 100°C or more, the role of fixation; cooked pot to shape the main fried dry, while frying and patting, so that the tea leaves gradually become a slice.

Stir drying: including the frist fire, small fire and old fire, the frist fire temperature is about 100°C, dried to eight or nine after picking off yellow flakes, bleached leaves, red tendons, old leaves and other impurities. The small fire requires the tea master to keep turning and spreading the tea leaves until the tea leaves are fragrant. The old fire is the last baking, requiring a high fire temperature, strong fire, baking, and turning until the leaves are green with frost so that the tea is dry and achieve the best colour,aroma, and shape.

Lu An Gua Pian Brewing:

1. Brewing tea: First, use a little water to warm the tea leaves, the water temperature is generally 80°C because the spring tea leaves are more tender, if you use 100°C to brew the tea will make the tea leaves damaged, the tea broth turns yellow, and the taste also becomes bitter and astringent.
2. Shaking fragrance: ‘Shaking fragrance’ can make the tea leaves give full play to the aroma so that the contents of the tea leaves are fully dissolved into the tea broth.
3. Appreciate tea: When the tea soup is cooled to the palate, the taste of the tea soup should be tasted in small sips and swallowed slowly so that the tea soup is in full contact with the taste buds of the tongue and the taste of the famous tea can be appreciated in detail.

Lu An Gua Pian Characteristics

1. Colour of tea soup: The tea soup of Lu an Gua Pian after brewing is clear and translucent, turquoise or clear and bright, slightly apricot-yellow, and also said to be grass green.
   2. Aroma: The aroma of Lu an Gua Pian is elegant and quiet, long lasting, slightly floral or orchid, and mixed with corn, beans, or jasmine and other different levels of aroma. During the brewing process, the aroma will gradually emanate, intoxicating.
   3. Taste: Lu an Gua Pian has a refreshing, mellow, and sweet taste, with a thick texture in the mouth and a freshness that gradually takes over the tip of the tongue. After tasting, it leaves a cool and sweet flavour in the mouth with a long aftertaste.
   4. Appreciate leaves: After brewing, the bottom of leaves is tender green or turquoise, the leaf is complete, the edge of the back of the roll is spreading, like a melon shape, and the size is uniform.

Lu An Gua Pian Benefits

1, High nutritional value: Lu an Gua Pian has the highest nutritional value of all green tea among the teas because all the leaves tea growth cycle is long, tea photosynthesis time is long, and the tea accumulation of nutrients.

2, Anti-aging: Lu an Gua Pian contains antioxidants to help resist aging. Because the process of human metabolism, if over-oxidation, will produce a large number of free radicals, easy to age, but also make the cell injury. SOD (superoxide dismutualisation) is a free radical scavenger, can effectively remove excess free radicals, to stop free radicals on the human body damage. The catechins in Lu an gua pian can significantly increase the activity of SOD and scavenge free radicals.

3, Inhibit bacteria: Lu an Gua Pian antibacterial research shows that catechins on the human pathogenic part of the bacterial inhibitory effect but at the same time do not harm the reproduction of beneficial bacteria in the intestine, so Lu an Gua Pian has the function of intestinal rectification.

4, Lowering blood lipids: Scientists do animal experiments show that tea in the catechins can reduce plasma total cholesterol, free cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, as well as triacylglycerides of the amount of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol can be increased at the same time. Experiments on human beings have shown that it has the effect of inhibiting platelet aggregation and reducing the incidence of atherosclerosis. Lu An Gua Slices contain flavonols, antioxidant effect, can also prevent blood clots and platelets from grouping, and reduce cardiovascular disease.

5, Improve indigestion: Recent studies show that the six Ann melon slices can help improve indigestion, such as acute diarrhoea caused by bacteria, you can drink a little bit of six Ann melon slices to alleviate the situation.