Spring 2005 long jings

[Michael Plant] Well, this thread is quite different. It's a focused and reasonable discussion among reasonable people. Also, as far as I see, no ill tempered vendors involved. Dejavu all over again, eh?

I can well understand how somebody, especially somebody relatively new to tea and tea groups, might be reluctant to say bad things about a bad vendor. But, if we stick to the facts and report on the teas and the service we get in an objective way, we help one another make intelligent choices. The information that has been shared here and elsewhere about SpecialTeas and about Mark T. Wendell has been very helpful to me.

On a related note, I often find that a vendor's reluctance to communicate usually means one of two things: Their knowledge of the teas they sell is sadly insufficient or they are trying to hide something. Michael

[Mike Petro]

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Melinda,

OK, well done. Their URL is . I think the style of tea they sell can be gotten right here in the Unitied States without hassle. Check vendors In this case, I would look at the Upton and SpecialTeas sites since both have a wide variety including flavored teas, etc. No need to put up with the kind of service you describe, especially for teas that are not rare or difficult to get. That's my opinion.

Michael

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I can buy it from retailers in the US, but I was trying to save some money by buying in bulk since the retailer I know of that carries it doesn't give a discount for larger quantities. In any case I know someone who knows someone in Malaysia so if need be I can just have that fellow pick me up some and ship it.

I wish I could find a Malaysian ethnic foods store, I can imagine they'd carry it since it's such a big tea in that country, but I don't find any locally or online. I find that sort of odd, since I believe one can find the Indian versions of Lipton (yellow label? Red label? whatever) in Indian stores here, in other words they carry the staple teas of the home country.

I've tried various CTC assams and black BOP from Java and Vietnam and none are quite the same. I really don't know why.

Thanks for the info Ripon. I'll give that a try. It's not much of a hassle. Usually I get a phone call from the credit card company and just have to tell them the charges are fine. They have great customer service and tea, so it's worth it.

Blues

Melinda,

In Zhejiang, the west lake Long Jing producing area is divided in 3 parts. One is "Shi (Shi Feng), the other is Mei (Mei Jia Wu), and the last one is Long (West Lake, xi hu)". Inside these three places, the tea trees that are growing in "Shi" and "Long" areas are mainly aged trees, and the harvesting date starts after the third April. The long jing that selling before is from a tree race called "long jing #43". This tea tree was developed by the Chinese Agriculture Technical Researching Center and it shoots up earlier than the original aged trees. This tea tree race LJ #43 is also planted in the "shi" and "long" area but because of the weather and location,the harvest started around the 28th March.

In the "mei (plum)" area, the main plantation is the LJ #43. The harvestg starts earlier than the other two areas. The first day of the harvesting was on the 25th March. On the 28th March (so in 3 days), there was only 4.6kg of high quality LJ produced; the price was 2800RMB ($340) for 500g.

Hope this helps.

The link brings to the news center of Zhejiang Province and it is a report especially about the new LJ from the 2005 harvest. However, it is in Chinese :-(

Jing

This is fascinating Jing...could you tell me, are the three areas different in altitude? Or what distinguishes them from one another as far as physical characteristics go, if anything..I realize it might just all be tradition.

Melinda

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Hi,

Before I launch into my diatribe, Linda you indicate that not all tea grown in Xi Hu is in fact Long Jing leaf. What exactly is Long Jing leaf and what are the most notable imposters?

This is particularly interesting since all the finest LJ's I've drunk have not hasd that chestnut aroma, but something far more complex, quiet, and subtle. All the lesser breeds however have been repleat with chestnut to various degrees. Come on everybody, why is Linda the only one who says this? On the TeaSpring site, as one example, all the LJ's are described as having a chestnut aroma to one degree or another. What's the deal, guys? Ripon -- forgive me if you didn't say it here -- also gets some chestnut out of LJ's of the finest types. So, should I give up and switch to Lipton teabags?

Michael

Hi Michael,

What I meant was that the tea leaves could be from other places. They can be Long Jing leaves from outside of Xi Hu area, or the worst case, they are not Long Jing leaves at all.

Linda