Tea from Asian/Chinese stores and also Pu Erh

I think there may have been a translation error when the our esteemed colleague said "chemically" processed. I suspect Ripon probably "meant" artificially inoculated. Really it is aspergillus cultures, not chemicals, that are used to ripen puerh.

This only applies to black (ripe) puerh where the leaves undergo a second fermentation. During this second fermentation it appears that "cultures" are often introduced to speed up the process. These cultures, much like a yogurt culture, mimic the ageing caused by the naturally occurring yeasts that are responsible for the transformation in green (raw) puerh.

Mike Petro snipped-for-privacy@pu-erh.net

Dear Hugo De Naranja:

Your concern is very much practical about pricing of good teas. Example, Long Jing or Lung Ching(Dragonwell green tea) has many verities and the price comes by quality and different tea processing plant. There are many confusing information about the quality- Imperial Shi Feng Long jing and regular Long Jin has far difference in taste- their in China, they classified LJ in three different categories-

I got more information about the quality but after drinking more then ten different LJ- I found out Imperial Shi Feng Long Jin was the best(It is my personal experience). Right now, I am also drinking another kind of LJ- Named Xi Hu Long Jin, also a good one but far thinner then Imperial Shi Feng Lon Jin. I don't know, how they price this teas.

My understanding is- this is join practice by both local and Chinese sellers. We don't know the truth unless, we go to China and do some further research. Michael, Mike Petro and myself- we all are going to China. I don't know, how they will conduct their research. But I am going to stay a month and hiring a local translator and also going with some contact(include some tea research Institutions and local tea masters). I always wonder about pricing and I hope- I will get minimum a basic concept of pricing mechanism. It is true, good teas are expensive but how expensive? I can't answer you right now.

Also, I was disturbed to hear that most Pu

The reason I said Chemically processed- some plant use one kind of synthetic pesticide(I don't know the name, sorry). Again, the most confusing information I ever got is about Pu-Erh Cha. But I came close to the processing method. Again, I won't come down with any conclusion until I verified some information in China.

You will never be able to say a final, straight answer about Pu-Erh Cha. But taste can tell you about the quality and processing but not by the dry leaves reading.

Thanks.

Ripon Vienna,VA

Don't buy any. Or maybe aged Puer dating back to before the Chinese "independance".

It's a concerned for any food produced in China. It is said that over 98% of continental Chinese tea gardens use chemical products as pesticides or to enhance the growing of the tea. There are regular testing done in Europe by consumer magazines and they find traces of the products in the tea leaves. The quantities varying from fairly acceptable to close to toxicity. In theory, Chinese governement is now aware of the problem and tries to improve the things.

If "naturality" is your concern, for Chinese tea, you should limited your choice to Taiwan teas, they are more advanced, less focussed on increasing the quantities and more opened to the concept of biological agriculture and all their teas are now in the "acceptable" range at least.

I don't think you will be allowed to verify that sort of thing. The Chinese government has never been that open-minded.

What any tourist can see in China is that tea for making Puer is massively produced in large dry weathered mountain areas of Yunnan, hundreds km away from jungle-weathered Xishuanbanna. It seems they can grow tons and tons in the mountains, so that gives much cheaper Puer, but there is a difference of quality of the leaves.

Kuri

I apologize for misunderstanding you Ripon. When I see the phrase "chemically processed" I think about what occurs "in the factory". What you are referring to is what I know as "organic vs non-organic farming" and refers to the growing of the plants. I personally would call a pesticide treated tea plant as a non-organic tea. Yes, it is true that a lot of pesticide, and chemical fertilizer, is used in Chinese Tea agriculture. Primarily by the factory owned plantations I think, it my understanding that most of the "small" farms cannot afford such products. Fortunately, I have seen a significant move towards "certified" organic puerhs lately, especially on the high end products.

Mike Petro snipped-for-privacy@pu-erh.net

Cheap store prices versus expensive retail prices isn't only a Chinese conundrum. That also applies to Indian and Ceylon prices. I think the market works correctly. Essentially it is mass market versus selective estates. My local tea shoppe sells selective estates teas hard to find anywhere else so I pay a premium. The Arab brands sell the best Ceylon so paying a premium to the local tea shoppe is a waste of my money. In the final analysis it is your pocketbook and tastebuds. If you have access to diverse ethnic markets you can't go wrong with choice and price. The local tea shoppe owner is in high rent district and now has employees so the premium I pay isn't just for the price of the select tea. Tea is an agricultural crop so the concern about Chinese methods applies across the board. I'd think if over application of pesticides were a problem you'd see toxicity signs in the population of tea drinkers or even in the industry workers. I'd think Britain would be the first to know and I haven't heard any alarm bells. Standard tea processing is no more than controlling the decay of the leaf with no need for artificial ingredients.

Jim