White Tea Collection: Loose Tea or Compressed Tea? Which to Choose?

Fuding's white tea industry has a saying: One-year tea, three-year medicine, seven-year treasure. This saying sounds very much like marketing talk.

But when you truly taste a properly stored 2013 aged white tea cake and a brew of newly picked loose tea from that year, only then do you understand the difference between the two and the meaning of this saying. This article will discuss the difference between loose tea and compressed tea, and whether there is a distinction in quality between them.

Two forms, born of the same origin

For white tea, the starting point of loose tea and compressed tea is exactly the same: fresh leaves undergo withering and drying. In terms of raw materials, there is no difference between loose tea in a tin canister and tea that is later pressed into a cake.

For loose tea, its processing ends here; from tea garden to tea warehouse, it only undergoes dehydration, so it can retain the fresh vitality of new tea for a longer time. Also because the processing is simple, the buds and leaves of loose white tea remain intact, and the white pekoe also remains intact; when put into a gaiwan, you can see the tea leaves slowly unfurl.

Compressed white tea is different: it adds four steps to the basic white tea processing: briefly steaming the tea leaves to soften them, wrapping them in cloth for shaping, pressing them into shape with a mold, and then low-temperature drying to reduce the moisture content to a level at which it is not prone to mold during storage. Among them, steam is the most critical of the four steps; it can moderately soften the leaves without cooking the tea, so as to shape it; at the same time, steam also slightly disturbs the cell walls, allowing the tea's own natural pectin to be released and bind the tea cake together.

By the way, "compressed" does not only mean round cakes. Our 2022 Linshengsong white tea brick is pressed with a rectangular mold; the 2022 Xueyun White Peony is pressed into small tea pieces that can be broken apart by hand. For them, only the shape is different; the principle is actually the same, and different forms are merely to meet the needs of daily tea drinking.

During storage, differentiation gradually appears

The main differences between loose tea and compressed tea are in the storage stage: space occupation, fragility, and transformation performance over the years. First is space, and this is the easiest to understand. Loose white tea is bulky, and at the same weight it occupies about 3 to 4 times the space of a compressed tea cake. If you need to store white tea in large quantities, then this gap will make you prefer compressed tea; Second is fragility. Loose tea has a delicate texture, while traditional transport mostly uses cardboard boxes; during transport, the leaves of loose tea rub against each other, and vibration also shakes off the white pekoe of the buds and tears the thin, tender leaf strips. Thus, what is finally reflected in the tea liquor is a dull taste and a worsened appearance of the brewed leaves.

Compressed tea is different; its initial creation was to a large extent to solve transport problems, and it is usually wrapped separately before being put into boxes, so it does not have these problems of loose tea. On the contrary, flavor considerations came later.

Third, the difference in long-term transformation. Compressed tea can form a relatively stable micro-environment inside the tea cake; temperature and humidity penetrate slowly, transformation advances evenly from the outside to the inside, and tea quality is stable. Loose tea has a huge surface area directly exposed to air, transforms faster, and has a higher degree of flavor openness; but if the storage environment is slightly improper, the tea is very likely to spoil.

Choosing loose tea or compressed tea requires different trade-offs. For us at whiteteain, our products embody this trade-off. Many aged Gongmei on the market are pressed into tea cakes, while our 2017 Special Grade Gongmei is intentionally stored in loose-leaf form for seven years; this tea has prominent honey and woody aromas, and its aroma is outward. Whichever form you choose is acceptable, but storage principles must strictly follow standards such as dryness, protection from light, absence of off-odors, and a stable environment.

After years, flavors diverge

Both loose tea and compressed tea become mellow with storage time, but there are differences in the direction of transformation. For loose tea, it retains original characteristics such as fresh briskness and high lifted floral aroma. Its crispness does not disappear; it merely becomes softer.

For example, White Peony stored for seven years still has clean and bright tea liquor, has lost its pungency, and after drinking leaves a clear sweetness in the throat. If you like this light and airy feeling of white tea, then you are advised to choose loose tea.

For compressed tea, it transforms into another flavor. Because compressed tea undergoes the step of steaming, it releases pectin; after the pectin slowly transforms, the texture of the tea liquor becomes thick, which tea friends often call a rice-porridge mouthfeel. At the same time, bitterness and astringency fade more thoroughly, the tea liquor becomes sweet and round, and a warm dried jujube aroma is produced.

In terms of aroma, their directions are also different. Loose tea has a clear aroma and is rich in floral notes: at the new tea stage, loose tea presents orchid and gardenia aromas; after about three years of storage, a faint hay aroma emerges; further on, there is an elegant bamboo charm. Compressed tea has a more restrained and condensed aroma; after slow transformation, it presents red jujube aroma and mild medicinal aroma, closer to an old-wood scent rather than floral notes.

Buying tea cakes: first identify the pressing process

If you are preparing to buy compressed tea, you first need to observe its pressing process. When buying, you can pick up the tea cake and observe it.

If the tea cake has a complete shape and some elasticity, and when observed along the edge you can still see the layers formed by stacked leaves, then this tea cake is a relatively ideal choice. But if the tea cake is hard as a stone slab, the edge is smooth and shiny, and no leaf layers can be seen, it means it was pressed too tightly or pressed while wet, and you need to choose carefully.

Perhaps tea friends will ask, if I have already bought a tea cake that is pressed too tightly, how should I handle it? Based on our experience, we can give everyone a simple handling method: wrap it in a clean cloth, tap the edge against the palm, and then pry it; leave it in a dry environment for a few days. Old tea cakes, after being pried many times, often loosen slightly.

In choosing specifications, you should also choose according to your own needs. Traditional round cakes generally include a 357-gram size, as well as 100-gram small cakes, 200-gram small cakes, tea bricks, and tea pieces. Small specifications do not mean lower quality; they are just easier to finish. For people who drink tea alone, I personally suggest choosing small specifications, such as a 100-gram small cake, because compared with a 357-gram large cake, it can be opened and finished more smoothly.

Should one buy loose tea or compressed tea?

For this question, there is no standard answer. In my personal experience, you can judge from the following two aspects.

First, how much storage space can you provide and how much energy can you invest in caring for it? If your storage space is limited and your energy is also limited, I personally suggest choosing compressed tea, because compressed tea is easier to care for; it can be stacked, can tolerate small humidity fluctuations, and has a low maintenance threshold.

Second, what kind of tea liquor flavor do you pursue? If you prefer the fresh brisk brightness of white tea and drink it often, then choose loose tea. If you like the red jujube aroma that shows age after transformation, you can choose compressed tea.

Experienced tea friends often buy both types of tea. Loose tea, for daily drinking in the season; while compressed tea, left for ten-year long-term aging. This method, as new tea friends, you can also use as a reference.

Whether you choose loose tea or compressed tea, it is a good choice. When choosing, you should pay more attention to the tea's own foundation. Because with high-quality raw materials and proper storage, time will make good tea.