Which brand has the most authentic green or white tea?

What, to your mind, makes tea authentic?

Tea processing isn't very complex, and tea is the kind of thing that is hard to adulterate, except with other (cheaper) kinds of tea. So for the most part, I don't think tea can be anything other than pure, although it can be something other than what it's labelled.

I will say that there are a number of suppliers out there, and Upton's comes to mind first, that have a wide variety of different teas and are pretty good about making sure that what it says on the label is really what is in the box. So you don't order some single estate Darjeeling and wind up with Argentinian finings. But honestly, the issue of provenance really isn't all that serious with tea.

--scott

Tea names are finished agricultural goods sold on the open market. Tea brands are packaging names. Puerh factories might be the exception that take raw tea material and produce a finished product like a canning factory. There are questions where say more Dareeling is consumed than sold or what makes a tea organic or why two English Breakfasts taste different. But tea is tea if it is camellia sinensis. The tea industry doesn't work the way I understand your question.

Jim

Zoom wrote:

[Zoom] [Michael] Freshness is a bigger issue, I think. You will get fresh, well kept green tea with pedigree from . (Don't forget that final "s" in the URL or you will pull up the wrong web site.) They have a selection from most areas of China.

Authenticity can of course mean many things. Adulterated, or not. From the region and of the type advertised, or not. Harvested in the year stated, or not. If you are relatively new to green tea, I would recommend making sure your green tea is fresh, and less on the other aspects. Adulteration is rare. Also, brew at a lower temperature so as not to ruin the tea. (Green tea brewed in boiling water is destroyed green tea; you will have prepared something more akin to spinach soup.) Hit around 170 to start and work your way up or down.

Don't buy green tea in supermarkets or grocery stores since they cannot and will not keep it fresh.

Michael

Weed and tobacco are cheaper than tea. I've never seen one example of alien adulteration. If you suspect something just look at the dry and spent leaf for any inconsistencies. You'll have to take someone's word when it comes to fines and dust but uniform color and particulate is a minimum. I did find more expensive cork than cheap puerh in tea bags. Maybe the original poster is confused between what the general public means for tea versus what we mean in this group. I worked in a canning factory during college and anything can come down those shutes. I imagine puerh processing might be similar.

Jim

toci wrote:

I'll take foil, nitrogen packs, sealed tins anyday over zip lock bags from the websites probably filled from open containers because it is inconvenient to put the lid back on each time. My local tea shoppe has a packager with some empty volume reduction and air tight seal and filled directly from 2kg nitrogen packs.

Jim

Michael Plant wrote: snip-a-thon

Okay more expensive. They would probably be cheaper if not the cost of criminal justice for weed and taxes for tobacco.

Jim

Space Cowboy wrote:

Space snipped-for-privacy@g49g2000cwa.googlegroups.com11/1/05

09: snipped-for-privacy@ix.netcom.com

Jim,

If you note, I did *not* say don't buy tea from your local "tea shoppe"; I said from a supermarket or grocery store. It sounds as though your local tea shoppe owner is careful, caring, and resourceful. No offense.

I agree with you about many, though not all, of the web sites.

Michael

Space snipped-for-privacy@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com11/1/05

09: snipped-for-privacy@ix.netcom.com

We are well aware that interdiction drives prices up, leading to bigger profits for the distributer. I can't speak to the tobacco issue.

Oh, man. Somebody's cut this mao feng with marijuana again....

--scott

I countered with the implication I don't see a problem with buying from a supermarket and grocery store. My local tea shoppe doesn't do foil,nitrogen pack,or tin packaging. However that packaging is better than anything I've seen for loose tea.

Jim

Michael Plant wrote:

Hmmm, I missed the original post, my filter must have got it. Anyway I have researched packaging quite a bit, both in the course of my job and in the pursuit of my hobby. I have rigged the appropriate apparatus in my home to do vacuum sealing and/or nitrogen sparging on all of my perishable teas. See

for a pictorial. I have also used iron-oxide oxygen scavengers but they are inconvenient unless you are doing a lot of packages.

Jim's statement IMHO is based more on web-o-phobia that it is in fact. There is little difference between a good refillable container and an opened nitro-pack. The tea in a nitro-pack is only maintained at the peak of freshness until you OPEN the bag. Once you open the nitro-pack the very first time all of the nitrogen is displaced by air containing oxygen and the tea starts going stale at that point. Every time you reopen the foil Ziploc bag more fresh oxygen is introduced. Tea can become just as stale in this manner as in a double lidded tin for example. Either container can also be left open by negligent vendors. The fact is that most vendors get their tea in these nitro-packs unless they are buying in chest quantities, some dump the nitro-pack in another container once opened because many larger nitro-packs are simply barrier mylar bags without a Ziploc.

Whether the tea starts out in a chest or a nitro-pack depends on the teas origins. For example most Japanese teas are nitro packed as soon as they are processed, while many Darjeeling estate teas are packaged into foil lined chests, or mylar bags within a chest. Many of those

2-5 kg nitro-packs are simply repacked from an opened chest. Sparging with nitrogen is no big deal, I do it in my own basement all the time.

The important issue is how conscious a vendor is about keeping his/her stock protected from air/light/temperatures etc. A web vendor can be just as conscious as a brick and mortar shop, and either one can be just as negligent. The one advantage to brick and mortar shops is that you can see first hand how well they store their teas, where on a web based shop you never really know. The worst methods tend to be the five gallon tins in these trendy grocery stores, or the one gallon clear glass cookie jars used by some small coffee shops, it is impossible to maintain a proper stock rotation that way so unless the tea moves at a phenomenal rate it will be seriously degraded.

Now how a vendor then packages your individual portion of tea is another matter. One vendor

notable for selling very high-end teas uses Ziploc bags, but their tea tends to be so high quality to begin with that most others pale in comparison even if vacuum packed. On the other hand I have seen a local Tea Shoppe who kept their tea in the original opened chests and then vacuum sealed your portion, vacuum sealed stale tea is still stale! I like the Japanese method where they package the tea in nitrogen sparged end-consumer packages at the processing plant. Of course you are then limited to the specific sizes offered, usually 100g. Short of that I think the "high barrier" mylar Ziploc bags are the best for maintaining whatever freshness *is left* in the tea. Nitrogen sparging that barrier bag is even better.

The moral of this story is "know thy vendor"! Online versus Brick and Mortar is irrelevant, its all about the knowledge, skill, and integrity of the vendor.

For more information on packaging materials and other considerations for protecting freshness check out

Fish around on this site as it is VERY educational. No relation just a long time customer.

Mike Petro

I know when I open my nitro-pack. You can trust the website. My $18

2003 Xiaguan QiZi bundle from Chinatown is now selling for $10/beeng on TaoBao. I think the obsolete Zhong Cha logo is driving the price more than the age. I take this and add some nearly six year old XG green and it comes close to Baoyan.

Jim

Mike Petro wrote:

Also, some Japanese tea companies refrigerate their tea.

(1 degree Centigrade) (cold storage) (cold storage)

Isn't refidgerating or freezing your tea a no-no? Do they have special packaging or refridgerators to keep it from turning to goo? Marlene

Freezing is dangerous due to condensation issues. All tea is becoming stale the minute it is produced. Fresh tea packed at source in mylar/foil and not repacked here in the US is probably the best method overall. Nitrogen flushing is new to tea and not available to many tea packers. Once opened, the benefit is lost as mentioned above. Once opened it is best to drink the tea as soon as practical. Know your supplier!

t4u

Freezing is dangerous due to condensation issues. All tea is becoming stale the minute it is produced. Fresh tea packed at source in mylar/foil and not repacked here in the US is probably the best method overall. Nitrogen flushing is new to tea and not available to many tea packers. Once opened, the benefit is lost as mentioned above. Once opened it is best to drink the tea as soon as practical. Know your supplier!

t4u