如何识别做旧老白茶

Artificially aged white tea is one of the market's biggest traps. Common methods: (1) Wet-piling—mimicking ripe pu-erh, high-temp high-humidity rapid fermentation, 7-15 days to fake '10-year' appearance; (2) High-temp roasting—baking at 120-150°C for hours to force oxidation and darkening; (3) Spraying—spraying water, sealing, and heating to accelerate transformation. Identification: (1) Color—faked tea is uniformly black without gradual color transitions; natural aging shows progressive shades; (2) Aroma—faked has musty, scorched, or watery notes; natural has pure aged aroma; (3) Spent leaves—faked are black, inelastic, crumble when pinched; natural are brown with vitality; (4) Taste—faked is thin with throat-locking sensation; natural is smooth and mellow. Price warning: '10-year aged tea' at ¥99 is definitely fake.