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A matter of some delicacy

It's autumn, and thoughts turn to decay. Specifically, I've been thinking about how delicate green teas are. Seems to me that, as a first approximation, Chinese greens are a whole lot less delicate than Japanese greens in the sense of how rapidly they become dull or bitter once the airtight package has been opened.

I've been thinking about why this might be, and the answer seems so obvious that ... how could it be right? Chinese greens are usually whole-leaf teas, and senchas are almost always chopped. Could that be all there is to it?

/Lew

Reply to
Lewis Perin
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Hmmm, I have my doubts. Leave tea has a smaller surface to the air than chopped tea, any lavour change resulting from the exposure to air should be swifter with chopped leaves. I once had superb Japanese tea, coming direct from Japan by air-mail, vacuum sealed in an envelope. After two weeks this tea was ruined, bearing no resemblance to the almost minty aroma of the first day. I think there are more forces at work that distinguish China from Japan greens, wish I knew which ones. JB

Reply to
J Boehm

my impression was that most senchas are not chopped, but rather twisted. i can't recall ever seeing a sencha (or any japanese tea for that matter) that has been what i would call chopped, or ctc.....p*

Reply to
pilo_

I love decay!!

And yer absolutely right.. which is why I like Chinese so much better than Japanese. The cut parts of Japanese are much more fragile. Japanese reminds me of lawn cuttings and the chlorophylly taste is not to my taste.

Reply to
Falky foo

That would actually prove Lews point, not detract from it. On that theory, since sencha is torn/chopped/whatever (and it is in pieces compared to my Chinese, I've noticed that too.) then the extra exposed inner surface might matter. But one other thing that might make a difference...would it matter that Japanese tea is steamed and Chinese is pan fried? Would the wet treatment on the sencha break down cell walls more? Thoughts to ponder.

Melinda

Reply to
Melinda

Lewis snipped-for-privacy@panix1.panix.com12/2/04 17: snipped-for-privacy@panix.com

Lew,

Crunch up some Chinese green leaf, repack it, then wait and see. I actually think there might be more to it than that. But, my "thinking" is *not* based in science, as I'm sure you're by now aware.

Michael

Reply to
Michael Plant

Hmm, you're asking me to ruin my tea for science.

Hundreds of years from now, science will have caught up to you.

/Lew

Reply to
Lewis Perin

Interestingly enough, the Culinary Teas blurb on its Sencha says it's pan-fired:

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Reply to
Bluesea

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