This goes for Tie Guan Yin and some of the crop of longjing.
It has been told to me by several shop bosses and people in the business that the 2005 crop of tea isn't very good due to the poor weather conditions this spring (cold and rainy). I have tried the 2005 Xi Hu Longjing, and although it isn't as crisp as the 2004 spring tea, it's quite acceptable and nice.
The 2005 Tie Guan Yin will be picked around the first of May, but preliminary sampling has concluded that the crop isn't as good as last year. Due to my lack of Chinese understanding of farming jargon, I couldn't understand exactly what "not as good" means, but I'm sure it has to do with the overall taste and 'hui gan' and 'kou gan'.
I've heard the same through a Japanese reviwer, commenting that the 2005 Shi-fen Long Jing is of lower quality than that of last years.
I also believe that the 2005 Taiwan spring oolongs are affected by heavy frosts in the early spring, which considerably lowered yield. Some stores are actually refiring last year's production and marketing it this years'.
Indeed. I was talking with a dealer last week and he tried to sell me some "chun cha" (spring tea) Tie Guan Yin; which, firstly was impossible due to it hasn't been picked yet and secondly the smell was quite unfresh. It was the autumn pick of TGY that he was trying to pawn off as the new (xin) cha.
Taiwan tea won't be as bad due to the fact that it is grown and picked
4 times a year whereas the TYG crop is only done twice.
"Mydnight" skrev i en meddelelse news: snipped-for-privacy@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
I am very confused. Kam from
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has just informed me that all of their teas are fresh crops from this year, and I had asked him specifically about their Ti Guan Yin King! Am I being cheated?
hi all - anyone else been a little less than overwhelmed with the new '05 greens?
i've only tried two so far - an emperor long jing and some melon seed. my enthusiasm is well under control so far......................................p*
Hi Pilo, glad to hear your input as I know you're a green fan too...
I am drinking melon seed right now but I have no previous experience with the type to judge. Not a lot of help, sorry. FWIW, the only type of tea I've had this spring so far that smelled particularly good to me was the Emperor Long Jing from Teaspring. But it didn't smell as strongly as the Snow Monkey I got from Holy Mountain at Christmas, though the Emperor did have more depth to it's scent, in my opinion, that made up for it.
I am very well satisfied with the mei jia wu and shi feng long jing that we got 2 weeks ago. And, yesterday we got the first pick premium dong ting bi luo chun and well it is good!
Our anxi supplier/friend told us that picking for TGY will start in May. So, it is quite impossible to get spring TGY for now. But you can get some Huang Jin Gui though and other Se Zhong.
Concur with Seb (below). This is as good a place as any to place a couple notes. "Shi Feng Long Jing High Mountain Aged Tree" from Jing Tea Shop is complex and curious. Leaf is deep green, with imperfections in manufacture that suggest human hands at work. The liquor color is yellow, the leaves sink slowly, some more immediately than others. Aroma is that of vegitation, grass, roasting duck (sic), all this quite pronounced off the wet leaf, and more gently from the cup. Taste follows. Aftertaste is startling in its sweet ting, perhaps in the first and second steeps too startling and slightly disassociated/separated from the rest of the profile. (I speak here of the sweet quality.) Aftertaste/finish balance out more naturally in the third and fourth steep, the ting remains -- a "citrus" note? -- and the aroma, while less complex, is still very much there. This is a curious tea with complexity, style, and will be a positive addition to anyone's Long Jing collection this year. I don't know yet what Seb charges for this. It is among the most complex Long Jings I've experienced ever.
Seb, more details to follow off-group. I also drank your MJW LJ HMAT, but won't comment in any detail until I've given it a second try, hopefully later today. It was the better formed of the two, and the more delicate all around. Morning, however is my tea tasting time, and to do justice to any subtlety it has, I'll need to approach it earlier. Please do respond to my comments here though on the Shi Feng. Also, what's this "High Mountain Aged Tree" thing? I never heard of aged tree associated with Long Jing, but maybe we're looking at the primordial trees of Long Jing manufacture. Please tell us more.
BTW, as you've all undoubtedly guessed, I've got samples from Seb and Jing.
Thank you (and Mydnight) for clearing it up for me. I have confronted Kam with your replies, and he admitted that he was wrong and has already corrected his site, including an apology for the misinformation. Now he announces that the new TGY will be out May 10th. Does it sound more reasonable?
Gyorgy
"SEb" skrev i en meddelelse news: snipped-for-privacy@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
associated > with Long Jing, but maybe we're looking at the primordial trees of Long Jing > manufacture. Please tell us more.
The aged tree of Long Jing is for those old trees that are growing on the high mountain, which are several decades years old. These type of Long Jing trees can grow pretty tall, some of them can be higher than a human being. So the local tea farmer call them aged tree. Some of the aged trees would be cut at some point due to some reasons such as, blocking the main path to the mountain, plant diseases and insect pests...for the ones that got cut, the local tea farmer will call them "aged tree with new bush". Normally, 5 years after, the harvest of the "aged tree with new bush" will be sold for an expensive price as the original tea tree.
Also because of their location is very hard for the tea farmer to fertilize, They get their food and drink all by themselves, pure organic tea. So the harvest from the aged trees are quite limited and the leaves look thinner and weaker than the young trees that are planting at the low mountain or tea gardens. Their appearance is not as fine as the younger ones. However, the taste of the tea is more pure, mellow, the fragrance is more subtle but real. And the other thing is they are heavier than the younger and fertilized trees.
Yes, it definitely does. Thanks. This is quite different of course from what a farmer in Yunnan would mean regarding a large Yunnan leaf tree destined to become Pu'erh. Up to now, I had thought that the area around West Lake was flat, so the idea of mountain is new to me in this context. Just how high is the high mountain aged tree grown?
Also, I would hope that the trees, having proved that they don't need fertilizers, would be left alone even if the farmers could get the chemicals to them. That is, I would hope that it isn't just the inconvenience that stops the farmer from adding chemicals.
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