worried about pesticides in tea?

Here in Virginia, the agricultural extension service has access to a lab at Virginia Tech that can do pesticide assays for very low prices.

Your extension service may have something similar.

Some commercial labs include

--scott

Drink tea from Taiwan instead? It's got to be just as polluted as the stuff from the Mainland. You can see Taiwan from Xiamen. It's just a stone's throw away. Same in Fuzhou. Remember, pollution knows no boundaries. What and drift in on the wind, can go anywhere. Just because it's from Taiwan doesn't necessarily mean it will be better.

Xiamen is a festering cesspool under a tourist-friendly guise; Fuzhou is just as filthy. Taiwan has had some friendly dealings with the US and Western countries for a while and for the most part understands the concept of quality over quantity. Mainland China, still for the most part suffering from the Imperial mindset of mine-mine-mine-now- now-now-before-its-taken-away-from-me, only cares for profit.

I would be willing to bet all the money in my savings account, which ain't much, folks, that any random sample of tea from Taizhong (where most wulong is produced in Taiwan), a relatively mountainous, clean place, would have a better sanitary rating than ANY TEA, INCLUDING THE HIGHEST GRADE, from Fujian AnXi (where Tieguan, the most famous tea from Fujian) is produced. I'd also be willing to bet that the Rock teas from WuYi Mountain would have the same rating of pollution as in Anxi.

Do you have the contact info for having a pesticide assay done at Virgina Tech? I couldn't find this service on their website. Thanks.

You can see Taiwan from Xiamen? Really? I've spent some time in Xiamen, and I could see Jinmen, which is administered by Taiwan and produces really good cutlery but no tea. You'd have to have really good eyes to see Taiwan, because it's about 130 miles away. The closest point to Taiwan, which I believe is the Gaoshan area near Fuzhou, is about 80 miles. I know this because once upon a time I had a crazy English friend who was planning to fly his ultralight to the Mainland. He never did. Anyway.

In any case, I think we are talking about tea that has had pesticides directly applied to them, and while I have not looked, I don't think that would be hard in Taiwan. I guess I am just about 100% with Mydnight on this point. For one thing, if something says "certified" in Taiwan, it is much more likely to be true, and for another, I have had teas from Taiwan (OB and Stephane Erler's guifei cha, for instance) that were clearly chewed by insects, and I think that means no pesticides. It is a very polluted country, sure, but in my mind there is no question that its tea fields, many of them located very far from any other human habitation, are less polluted than oolong fields in Fujian.

Another point on which my mind brokes no questioning (Mydnight, this is for you) is the natural source of the naixiang taste. The jinxuan varietal of oolong produces this taste naturally. It is attested in the scientific literature (of which I have read quotes in Chi Zongxian's books) and the taste lasts through many steeps, which to me means it is highly unlikely that it comes from something sprinkled or sprayed on the leaves.

Alex

Oh, the pollution issues are still there. But the farming practices are better-regulated at least.

--scott

I just go to the local county extension service agent and hand him the samples.

But you might be able to do it directly, by talking to these guys:

--scott

heres a reply from a commercial testing lab:

$500 for a pesticide screen, $400 for a metals screen, and $500 for an organics screen. Depending on what vitamins you are looking for the cost is from $100 on up for each individual one.

-->

:( well... that sure ruins my plans

University of California, Davis - well-known for their agricultural additive studies. Not expensive, at all. Shen

Ridiculous assumption - some pesticides are organic, some not. Some biodegradable, some not. Shen

NO COMMENT

Nigel at Teacraft

Excellent link, Nigel. very interesting. Has there been follow-up to check the efficacy of this kit? Shen

Excellent, thanks Scott. I never thought about the Extension Service.

Melinda

Thank-you Shen. If it really isn't expensive this would be a really interesting experiment for us to try (or me).

Melinda

Mynight, thanks for the helpful reply.

The quality of Tieguanyin tends to increase with its durability. A top Tieguanyin Wang can easily last 9 infusions, and still tastes honeyed, not astringent and retaining a slight orchid fragrance. An experienced taster (which I would say apply to many people participating in this group) should have the confidence to tell the real from the fake.

A famous Chinese tea is not just about a Longjing tea or a Taiping Houkui tea etc. It has specific meaning referring to exactly where it is produced, and its grade (usually determined by the timing of the harvest and the quality of leaves)

The 10 famous teas were coined in the 1950s. At that time, THE Longjing tea refers to the Xihu Longjing tea, which then consisted of only the Lion peak mountain (the original Xihu) and the surrounding Mejiawu (later added).

Today, Longjing tea is produced all over China in 20 provinces.

Similarly, the original TPHK tea were produced in the 3 villages around Hou Gan.

Today it is produced in the entire Yellow mountain area, plus all the fakes.

As Mynight rightly pointed out, these truly authentic high grades are seldom available. A top quality famous tea now sells at US$110 (per 50 grams) at Chinese street prices.

These teas wholesaled at $20+. They are seldom available in the West.

Yes, Longjing tea can be dirty. I have specific concerns with those teas coming from Meijiawu. Not due to pesticides. But because of road traffic.

But internet retailing is changing this, making authentic high grades available at better prices.

For example, Sevencup currently sells their Tribute Longjing tea at $75. We do it for half the price. These teas go directly to the Chinese White House and get tested for regularly. So there is no question about their quality. Imagine, Westerners paying less than Chinese people. Is there a catch? It is the nature of internet retailing.

I am sure as time goes by people would discover more high quality but less famous tea to sell at more affordable price, delivering more value to your money.

Organic farming is a long term strategy. Misuse of chemical and pesticides kill the yield of the tea garden. It poisons the water sources and harms the worker health. .There is no conflict here. The best tea gardens have every incentive to keep their tea as clean as possible. It is in their best interests.

Authentic tea gardens have been farming teas for hundreds of years. They existed even before China industrialised. They are not poor, they tend to be prosperous farmers who command high premiums for their teas. They know that customers come back to them because their teas taste different from competitions.

I understand all your concerns about pesticides in tea. I agree with many of your suggestions, especially tea testing and Taiwanese tea. But I think there are many GREAT teas around, from China/Taiwan/India etc, tasting good and highly organic. Call me an optimist, I think there will be even more of them available in the future.

Julian

There was a study in the UK recently (read about it in a newspaper about a month or two ago, sorry don't have any more specific info) that was testing the benefits of washing your fruit to remove pesticides. They found that washing removes dirt and that is good. But any chemicals appear to penetrate the skin of the fruit. They found that washing did not reduce the amount of chemicals, but peeling did. The conclusion was that most pesticides end up accumulating in the skin of fruit.

My assumption from this would be that rinsing tea won't get rid of any pesticides.

Robby

This is also marketing. If a tea does or does not yield a huge amount of brewings, it can have a lot to do with weather conditions or how they cooked the tea. Most of the TieGuanYin I have drank, and I've bought some top grade in the past, did hold up for many brewings, maybe upwards to 10 or 11, but I think it says little about the pollution levels or the quality of the tea. The crappy red tea I am drinking from Yixing can brew 15 times without tasting like an old sock. The general grade TGY has about 3 or 4 brewings in it before all of the spray-on flavor washes off.

The main thing about this tea that bothers me is what was told to me by a local of GanDe county in AnXi. He said something like, "Twenty years ago, the tea tasted nothing like it does today. Most older locals here won't even drink it."

Wonder why that is...

It's grade depends more highly upon weather conditions and the growing process. They do pick greens early in the spring, and the first pick, as with all teas, is always the best. Geography is also important in a tea's quality.

You mean Shi Feng. There are slight differences between Xihu and ShiFeng.

Yes, indeed. Most people drink Longjing that comes from Sichuan and they don't even realize it. Vendors early as 10 years ago began to investigate other options in buying raw stock leaves for their factories because of the insane prices that the farmers in Hangzhou offer. You ever seen a Chinese farmer with a car and a 3-storey house? Go to XiHu village.

I think I drank some of this tea that was produced in Hubei once.

Uh, either you were cheated or you are in a different China than I am. I paid more than 100 bucks a few times for 500g of the tea that you mention from trusted, personal friends and sources. Such a high price for 50g could only be found in TianFu (TenRen) or similar chains where everything is insanely overpriced anyway.

To be honest, I have never been impressed by teas that I tried from the net. I would usually go to hang out with a basic understanding of tea that paid top dollar for their stuff. I've had teas in cornershops here that were better...

Tribute Longjing means what exactly? Westerners paying less than Chinese people...you must be joking. This only happens here if you ask someone to go buy the tea for you or if your best friend is in tea. I hope you can develop better marketing in the future.

In our dreams...

Misuse of chemical and pesticides increases yield, thus allowing more tea to be produced. I think most tea gardens have figured out how to keep a balance by now, don't you?

I repeat what I said before: THERE IS NO ORGANIC TEA IN CHINA.

That's all. I am not a pessimist, only a realist.

Or even just what exactly it tests for. I hunted around for a short while and came up empty, I'll have to look into it further later. I never thought about it, but I may speak with someone at my university to see if they have the equipment or interest in doing some research. I will certainly talk to some people at my Alma Mater (Penn State) since they are a huge agriculture and research school.

I never would have thought about the accessibility to testing resources if it weren't for this thread.

- Dominic

easier option - send the samples to me - i will have them tested at