Artistic Tea (tea of art?) what is the chinese term?

There are all kinds of art tea. What you got just appears to be a generic translation of one or more of the types of art tea. The stuff really doesn't taste very good and it's only meant to be viewed anyway. I helped someone correct their English translations about this kind of tea just last week. We changed "bundle" or "pellet" to ball.

first to Space Cowboy

---- artisan or craft tea 工藝茶--- i also found this too "bloom>You see Hua used quite a bit but that could mean

you are right as > There are all kinds of art tea. What you got just appears to be a

when you say bal, is it ball tea or tea ball? oolongs are sometimes rolled into semi-ball or pellet shape like dong-ding, so i just am wondering does that make any complications?

-icetea

I don't mean the leaves are rolled into balls like Wulong, I mean they are literally shaped into large balls or pellets. It's really round and slightly smooth on the outside like a ball. It kinda reminds me of a type of toy I would play with as a child. You take this small pill and put it in water and as the outer layer of the pellet disolves, it opens, and an animal shaped piece of rubber emerges. It's sorta the same with this tea except the ball is a bit larger.

Anyway, the "artisans" (factories, actually) that develop these "teas" put plastics, coloring, and other materials into the leaves to maintain their shape and color.

It's just my opinion, but I would never drink this nonsense. I've bought the tea a few times as decoration for one or two of my tea gatherings, but we never drink it.

The flowers are real. The artifical part comes in when they spray it with plastic coating and tie it with thread. If you want to drink that stuff, go ahead.

Wow, 80RMB for 50g. I know a place here with the exact same thing you describe that goes for 100RMB for about 500g. They didn't mark it up simply to cover the shipping costs; they mark it up like that to cheat foreigners.

Basically everybody is charging $1/5g/ball. The one dealer says to buy in bulk to get it cheaper. I just did that with the other. I don't see evidence of residue in the pot or on the ball. In this case all the balls are whole leaf so easier to tie off. You would think it would be easy to roll between to two palms and cause to fall apart. It doesn't. Maybe the leaves are sprayed with something to make them conform to the particular flower. But it's not obvious and doesn't affect the taste. I'd be more worried about heavy metal from smokestacks and pesticides.

Jim

Mydnight wrote:

...I delete me...

That sounds like Fairy Peach green tea I get in Chinatown. It is a ball but no flower. The jar has the pictures of the flowers. I just looked and those are tied with nylon but no evidence of spraying. It is one of the best green teas I've tasted from China.

Jim

Shen wrote:

Of course it wouldn't be obvious, that's why you can actually buy it abroad. The guy admitted that there is thread in the leaves and whatnot; that's the least of what he would admit or know about the tea. Some of those teas are simply beautiful to look at; do you think that's completely natural? Most tea factories add coloring and dyes to their teas for appearance sake but I couldn't imagine what goes into this tea. There is nearly nothing 100% organic in China, production is too expensive.

Anyway, it's up to your tastes. All the bad stuff I've heard about most mainland teas these days, I've been sticking to mostly greens and teas from Taiwan and Japan.

Some folks making them just use hairspray, or they'll use diluted white glue.

--scott

You tend to generalize with no specifics besides gouging and fakery.

Jim

Mydnight wrote: ...I delete me and you...

What other specifics do you need? I think gouging and fakery would be enough to deter most people from buying a certain product. It's also widely known that a large amount of additives are used in this tea, which would be another reason.

There are some things that I simply cannot explain to you, a person that has never been to or lived in China. Your Western logic, and mine also at times, causes us to see things from a Western point-of-view. Things here are night-and-day different from most other places in the world. Gouging and fakery is the reason China has such a good economy right now and why it will fail in the future.

My Western tongue can't taste any contamination so far. I also can't taste the artifical additives in our food supply. I'm looking for Chinese sites that explain the processing. I came across a Chinese site yesterday that said all you need is dried flower, malleable Yinzhen style leaf and some string. I think Chinese knowledge about tea is readily accessable to Westerners who care to learn. My particular interest is learning Chinese characters and terms for tea.

Jim

Mydnight wrote:

These are the Chinese characters for the style loosely translated as 'curly stripe shape'.

KWIC Juan Qu Tiao Xing

Jim

Space Cowboy wrote: ...I talk to me...

Hey I don't want to step in and ruin a good argument here, but... I will say from my own experience (which includes both western and non-western) that as with anything it is not a black and white issue. I have had "artistic" tea with a man who has been a "master" of the Japanese Tea Ceremony and he certainly would not drink or serve something contaminated in any way. However, I have personally bought a number of artistic teas of varying price and found it to be a mixed bag. One had actual plastic in it which was the worst I found ever, and one seemed to had an off taste that could be desribed as chemical-tasting. But for the most part they have been decent and drinkable. Not the best tea in the world, but respectable.

Just as with anything though, I'm sure some is lovingly produced that is very detailed and skilled which also costs a fair bit and there are the $0.75-$1.00/ball that are a crap shoot whether you will go blind from additives or enjoy a mediocre cup of tea... or be blinded *while* drinking a mediocre cup of tea.

Now, back to your regularly scheduled fight... ;)

- Dominic

Also the characters for sea anemone:

KWIC: hai kui

Jim

PS: You can tell I don't have too much to do today.