Is it necessary to rinse your tea? (Refer to Taiwanese teas)

In order to avoid eating pesticides, is it relatively safe to rinse the tea? 

In order to remove the dust and pesticide residues attached to the surface of the tea in the picking and manufacturing process, many people will pour off the first infusion (rinse the tea) when tea first brewed, which is called as "warm up tea" or “wake up tea” by tea enthusiasts. In fact, in order to rinse and uncurl the tea, to discard the first infusion of tea liquor, is not only unnecessary but also a waste of a lot of good healthy ingredients.

Dr. Tea, Xu Weiting, indicated that tea contains tea saponin, polyphenols, vitamins and other nutrients, all of which are released in the first infusion, with the increase in the number of brewing, those dissolutions decreased accordingly. 

As for the issue of pesticide residues, the chief of TRES Mr. Chen Guiren said that in every year’s tea competition, the first infusion is used for tasting, he joked: "As a tea judge in the tea competition, I was appointed to taste 300 samples from 300 suppliers, and immediately discharge from the ranking, if there’s any pesticide dissolved, I would get poisoned as soon as after I tasted the teas!"  

He also pointed out that Taiwan's tea cultivation and production technology are relatively mature, plus with extremely high regulations of the inspection standards in Taiwan, more importantly, most pesticides are fat-soluble, unless to consume the tea leaves directly (such as matcha, tea powder and other tea will be eaten into belly ), otherwise it is difficult to dissolve in the water for Taiwanese teas. 

A few years ago, the ex-chief of TRES Mr. Chen Yoren had actually detected in the laboratory, there only four were water-soluble among 110 kinds of statutory pesticides used in the tea industry. And then to further experiment the kind with the highest water-soluble concentration, the dissolved pesticide is quite minimal. If it would be hazardous to health, drinking 88 ~ 90 liters at one time is a must.

Ms. Ye Yilan, a famous tea enthusiast who often consumes teas from various countries also pointed out that instead of wasting the first steep, be strict and serious to select good teas are more important. Taiwan's pesticide inspection is fairly equal to EU standard, even stricter than Japan's. She is quite confident of Taiwanese teas. For the sake of safety, she consumes imported teas with EU certification, teas from Darjeeling and Sri Lanka tea estates producing teas with natural agriculture method.

The end.

Translated and edited by Adm./Fong Mong Tea Corp, all rights reserved.

Origin from: http://www.commonhealth.com.tw/article/article.action?nid=72015 May 1st, 2016