Dem Delightful Stems

...

So, how much for using "delightful"? And what about forms of the word, like "delight", or "delighted"? Would I have give you credit every time I used your word? :-)

I've read that the reason there is stem in these oolongs is because they often use the entire leaf shoot. The only problem I can think of is that the stems add to the overall weight of the tea. This has got me wondering what 100g of stemmy oolong would weigh if all of the stems were removed.

StudentA%uKd.98653$Wo.16687@lakeread081/28/05 12: snipped-for-privacy@notmail.com

If you have to ask, you probably can't afford it.

We'll work something out, student.

Of course. But, for the cost of a small planet, I could sell you the rights.

Hope this helps.

Michael

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Some vendors do sell the same tea stemmed and de-stemmed. The price of the later is of course considerably more.

Michael

I'm going to say the stem in the three types of Taiwan Tea from Good Young is no more than 15% by weight. Lots of leaf weight versus stem weight. I'm wondering in this case of leaf on stem is a result of some mechanical harvesting which AFAIK is still only produced by labor. Even if produced by labor I'd say still cheaper than plucking each leaf by hand. I've seen other posts in this thread mentioning stem being a problem in oolong. I've never seen an oolong where I thought broken loose stem was a problem perse. Traditional methods involve plucking and not pruning. I mention these teas as a wonderful example of leaf on stem for your viewing pleasure. I also think an excellent example of price and taste in a commercial tin.

Jim

Michael Plant wrote:

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Jim,

My contention was that the stem might not be a problem at all and *might* add something to the tea. I say this because some of the most delightful wulongs and TGY's I've drunk had a lot of stem. But, I'm must a poor country boy, so who knows.

Michael

I was looking in ebay last night and some one was offering toasted tea stems. I did not rember the Ebay number, as I wasn't interested. trying toasted stem may add to our tea smarts

You can also buy toasted tea stems cheaply in most grocery stores catering to Japanese people in the USA, in my experience.

/Lew

[Michael Plant]

Seems more than reasonable. I'm suspecting that a lot of tea taste and aroma "strength" variations are due less to concentration than to balance. So adding a bit of some notes might relatively suppress or enhance other, more important ones.

And as amoebas multiply by dividing, addition can result in subtraction. Adding stems might also result in selective removal of some components by complexation, chemisorption or other mechanisms.

Perhaps some adventurer will segregate a twiggy lot, brew both compnents plus the mixture, and report back to us all.

-DM

[Dog Ma] [Michael again] Lew, didn't we once drink a green and herbacious kukicha you had gotten from Ito En or some such place? It was quite good if I recall, and worlds away from the standard roasted stem tea commonly found in grocery stores, as you posted elsewhere.

Michael

It's called Kukicha twig tea. My version you could widdle the ends and make toothpicks. Absolutely no leaf. Stem is from fine plucking and twig or stalk from coarse plucking.

Jim

Lewis Per>

The green kukicha is one of my favorite teas. I usually get it from Den's Teas, but have found it in Japanese grocery stores also. Den's was much better. It's stems and some leaf. A sweet and mellow tea. I tend to lean towards Japanese greens, though I like many Chinese.

Blues