Putuo Organic Green and Imperial Green 2006 ?

You know, Zhejiang borders Anhui and Hangzhou is close to there. Perhaps what they sold you was some decent grade Mao Jin (feng) or some kind of Bi Luo Chun variety? Mao Jin has a tendril look to it.

Hi, This is the picture from Imperial's site:

The tea itself is deep green, curled. Shen Mydnight wrote:

It should be Bai Cha variety. Usually grown in An Ji and Xin Chang of Zhe Jiang Province.

Shen wrote:

Dominic snipped-for-privacy@h48g2000cwc.googlegroups.com8/23/06

Yes, to all your points. I agree. I want to know something of the tea, too. I'm just reporting a Chinese approach. Then too, the Chinese consumer might already know the basic info we still need. Michael

Lewis snipped-for-privacy@panix1.panix.com8/23/06 11: snipped-for-privacy@panix.com

No, agreed. But, it's the price of said tea that sets us off. Michael

Mydnight, don't know about Mao Jin (feng), but the tea Shen is discussing is definitely not BLC. The leaves are rather long and fine, unlike those teeny tiny BLC leaves. Taste is not the same either Michael

There's nothing up front the seller could possibly say that would help you determine if you should ante up for a single gram. You don't have to be smart to drive a Mercedes just rich. When I pay more than penny/gram for tea I am simply indulging myself. However the more I know the better it taste but it is not an absolute requirement.

Jim

Michael Plant wrote:

I have a hard time believing this one, as it violates all rules of supply and demand, and the Chinese have better business sense than that.

Pricing is not a meritocracy, least of all in China. If enough of anything is produced, it becomes cheap, regardless of how delicious it is. Keeping secret the source of a delicious tea fools the drinker into thinking the supply must be scarce to justify the price, when the price is otherwise unjustifyable. Changing the name to be vague changes the demand.

I see something fishy here; perhaps he found a good tea from a province not known to make that tea, and kept the name and details vague so we don't find out it's just a very good "long jing" from, say, Hunan or Sichuan.

Not that any surprise lay in Roy Fong's being mysterious about his teas: take a look at his pu'er cake listings to find out--well, to find out absolutely nothing! Few of them contain years; almost none list factories; pictures are blurry and too small to determine factory or visually confirm claims; and a simple taste reveals that, while they may be good, they're not as old as he's claiming or they're poorly aged at best. Considering he's the only vendor in California even selling sheng pu'er cakes in his store, I really hope for more information to be placed on his site. I'd love to eat my words and use the tea to wash it down!

But for now, buying some of his teas compares to buying a pricy unlabeled bottle of wine.

~J

PS: It's silly if anyone expects tea to be approached only from Eastern perspectives (id est, "Who cares about information? It tastes good! Stupid Occidentals!"). There is much we can offer tea from our western perspective, even as we approach it in an Eastern manner. A culture of access to truthful information about products is one of those.

Agreed on all points.

Here is what I posted in my review of his site....

"On the up side they are very knowledgeable and well established. They have a wonderful site with a lot of information including a very good Gongfu presentation. On the down side there are very few vintages listed and grades and factories are not always listed. Their descriptions are very eloquent but offer little substance regarding the pedigree of the tea. Pricing tends to be on the upper end of the scale."

-- Mike Petro

snip snipp snippp

I am chomping at the bit to say shit but I won't. Michael

snip snip snip

I wasn't referring to untruthful vis-a-vis truthful information, nor was I making a case for not supplying information; rather, I wanted to suggest that there is a point at which my mouth can make these decisions without my mind in full gear. Between mouth and mind, the main act takes place in the former; all else is chaff, but admittedly chaff can be fun. Michael

Here is the jipinguanyinwang I mentioned earlier is this thread:

It's the same expensive price. How much you gonna buy now you know a tradename,grade,county,province. Be sure to include that information in your review along with the price when you find out how great it taste. You can't make a personal decision about the taste of tea independent of specifics. I can. I don't even need to know the country. You are now allowed to cuss.

Jim

PS I'm not buy> snip snipp snippp

Space snipped-for-privacy@75g2000cwc.googlegroups.com8/25/06

Well it turns out you were right all along. Knowledge is indeed power. Now that I know that this tea:

• Moistens the throat

• Beneficial to the liver and stomach

• Helps to soften skin

I will be buying it by the boat load. Thanks for passing the URL along.

I guess even good old Silk Road Trade isn't above a bit of BS now and again. Or should we call all their hype into question? You could manure a field with it, especially when you add the reference to the emperor of China, who incidentally never let his intellect interfere with his tea taste.

Cordially, Michael

Between the mouth and the wallet, the mind is always mediator! :)

My mouth says, "Yes!" my wallet says, "Uh-oh, not again! Mind, please help!" and my mind tries to get them to agree...

~j

Boy oh boy I done it good this time... I really didn't mean to derail this thread or start any flames... I just like to know some basics on expensive tea I buy. If I'm spending big money I'd like to know what I'm buying to even some small extent. It doesn't make it taste any better, nor does it make my wallet cry any less... it just lets me build some connection to the tea and also prevents me from wasting money on some over-inflated tea.

I know that a number of folks 'round here buy from Silkroad, but I tend to stay away from them for re-damn-diculous statements like the one above: "Moistens the throat" ?!?!?!? WTF, are you serious? No thanks... Just tell me the name of the tea, the type, maybe a province or region, and a tad on how it is processed and leave it at that (or expound further on any of those and it is a plus). Any hype, BS, serious health-talk, and mysterious ultra-limited secret suppliers instantly close my wallet and ensure it will never be opened in that shop again. It's just me, but thems are my rules.

- Dominic

You are limiting yourself if you need to know the demographics of the teas you drink. You won't buy any cheap teas identified by country only. You won't buy any blossom teas because it is the art and not the maker. You won't buy any CNNP ChiTse Puer teas in Chinatown. There is no guarantee the tea you are drinking is what the vendor told you and by definition you're paying too much anyway. You haven't got the cliche find a vendor you can trust. You'll get more answers when YOU gain their trust. You need to apologize to whoever Mr Fong is and shred your credit card.

Jim

PS I hate someone asking a question and getting opinions then making a pronouncement based on a resume and irrelevant criteria. While I'm here Fair Trade is an attempt by owners to keep out Unions of any industry. I'm tired of socially orchestrated correctness by vested interests. I don't drive a SUV. I don't buy expensive teas for any reason. I purposely decided not to become a billionaire. However I waste my money as I see fit whenever it trickles down. There was a time when I didn't have a nickel to spend. I'll hate myself in the morning because I usually sleep on it overnight.

Shen wrote:

la-de-dah-I-don't-know-what-it-is-how-you-came-by-it-I-like-it-so-I'm-gonna-buy-it

la-de-dah-I-don't-know-what-it-is-how-you-came-by-it-I-like-it-so-I'm-gonna-buy-it