Monday is fantastic TeaDay, 3.03.08

by **augie** » Mar 3rd, '08, 19:17

by augie » Mar 3rd, '08, 19:17

Warden wrote:Although, if it does turn out that a good percentage of my leaf has pesticides, I would still drink it, and just start rinsing more.

DH's grandfather & uncles both sprayed DDT like they were on fire! Grandfather said that banning DDT was the biggest mistake the US gov't ever made. G'father also just mixed with hands and sprayed on an open tractor, no gloves or protective gear. He lived to a ripe old age of 80 and died of stubbornness IMO. I don't fear pesticides, but don't want to just blindly drink and hope what I've bought isn't contaminated.

chip wrote:Testing on more levels is needed. To rely strictly on the government to test a certain percentage of tea is not the final solution. I personally feel that consumers need to be more involved on some level. I am trying to get more involved.

I have switched all green tea to Japanese vendors after much reading and personal experience. I have had a number of chinese teas make me sick to my stomach. Never had a problem with green tea from Japan . . . coincidence?

by **tenuki** » Mar 3rd, '08, 19:31

by tenuki » Mar 3rd, '08, 19:31

I would respectfully submit that those who are ignoring this problem need to get their collective heads out of the sand. China still manufactures and uses stuff like DDT (banned in the US for years now) - china has effectively no controls on this, and US import restrictions are vague and ill enforced. The EU and Japan are placing higher restrictions on agriculture imports, so a lot of stuff that can't meet those restrictions is getting earmarked for US consumption, ie I suspect the amount of crap getting shoveled our way just increased.

Random links from google search to get you started...:

http://www.panna.org/legacy/gpc/gpc_200 ... 04.dv.html
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2002/ ... 46700.html
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/do ... 322923.htm
http://www.organicconsumers.org/Toxic/0 ... safety.cfm
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference ... atch=exact
http://www.inthesetimes.com/issue/24/19 ... y2419.html

Last edited by tenuki on Mar 3rd, '08, 23:32, edited 1 time in total.

by **tenuki** » Mar 3rd, '08, 19:40

by tenuki » Mar 3rd, '08, 19:40

augie wrote:DH's grandfather & uncles both sprayed DDT like they were on fire! Grandfather said that banning DDT was the biggest mistake the US gov't ever made. G'father also just mixed with hands and sprayed on an open tractor, no gloves or protective gear. He lived to a ripe old age of 80 and died of stubbornness IMO. I don't fear pesticides, but don't want to just blindly drink and hope what I've bought isn't contaminated.

Wow, antidotal evidence presented as universal truth.....

If you believe these sorts of crazy arguments you should immediately start smoking, as the oldest living woman smoked till she was 119. ate two lbs of chocolate a week, and never gave up drinking

http://anson.ucdavis.edu/~wang/calment.html

and I won't even give you the links to India's oldest woman who claimed her longevity was due to smoking ganja daily...

by **Ron Gilmour** » Mar 3rd, '08, 20:15

China tea

by Ron Gilmour » Mar 3rd, '08, 20:15

At the risk of taking the discussion too far off topic, I've always tried to avoid Chinese teas based on China's appalling human rights record. Granted, tea probably makes up very little of the total money that the US sends to China, but I figure my meager tea budget may as well go to more civilized countries. But then, maybe India, Japan, and Taiwan have atrocities that I don't know about.

Oh, and I'm drinking an excellent cup of Adagio's sencha premier.

by **Sydney** » Mar 3rd, '08, 20:44

by Sydney » Mar 3rd, '08, 20:44

After all the different ways I've failed to get myself killed, if dragonwell takes me down, so be it. :lol:

by **scruffmcgruff** » Mar 3rd, '08, 20:58

by scruffmcgruff » Mar 3rd, '08, 20:58

Interesting results! I would have expected far more people to be concerned about it-- I guess that camp is just more vocal. Personally it doesn't affect me much, if at all.

by **Victoria** » Mar 3rd, '08, 21:11

by Victoria » Mar 3rd, '08, 21:11

Chip makes an excellent point and tenuki backs it up beautifully. Proceeding with caution and trying to look for alternatives is one thing, but blindly not acknowledging there is a problem is another.

I'm having my first Pu!!
Da Shui Shan Sun-dried Mao Cha
Pretty decent cup I have to say.

by **Chip** » Mar 3rd, '08, 21:33

by Chip » Mar 3rd, '08, 21:33

In my cup, Shi Feng Xi Hu Long Jing...aka, ridiculously expensive dragon well. On the theme of our topic, I will have a Chinese green typically once every other day. Perhaps my reasons are not the soundest following what I stated earlier...I have it, it is fresh, it is good, this was $$$, China produces lovely tea.

But I used to have Chinese tea 4-5 times each and every day. I am consciously reducing this significantly. I still believe much more needs to be done in the realm of testing for contaminants. We cannot expect to change China overnight, so for now, for me, testing is the only viable solution.

by **tenuki** » Mar 3rd, '08, 22:21

Re: China tea

by tenuki » Mar 3rd, '08, 22:21

Ron Gilmour wrote:Oh, and I'm drinking an excellent cup of Adagio's sencha premier.

Me too!

by **Sydney** » Mar 3rd, '08, 22:25

by Sydney » Mar 3rd, '08, 22:25

So I'm not the only one with good things to say about premier, eh?

by **Victoria** » Mar 4th, '08, 00:32

by Victoria » Mar 4th, '08, 00:32

Someone is having serious identity issues. :o)

A little white peony for my last brew of Monday.

by **Chip** » Mar 4th, '08, 01:33

by Chip » Mar 4th, '08, 01:33

Not Padre wrote:So I'm not the only one with good things to say about premier, eh?

Premier was the first sencha I ever blended with matcha...speaking of which, Daily Sencha blended with Matcha is in my cup. This is such a great blend. Very approachable yet amped up.

by **Space Samurai** » Mar 4th, '08, 02:18

by Space Samurai » Mar 4th, '08, 02:18

It was a crap tea day, everything I made tasted bad, and there wasn't much of that either, cos my work schedul is off.

BUT, the six cups of coffee I had prevented me from killing anyone. So that was nice.

Oh, poll; I don't worry about my tea from China.

by **skywarrior** » Mar 4th, '08, 02:40

by skywarrior » Mar 4th, '08, 02:40

I answered maybe to this China TeaSyndrome question. I guess deep down inside, I really don't like what is going on in China in terms of pesticides and whatnot, :cry:

BUT I still love my tea. I started rinsing my tea as of late for flavor, but I can't help but think it will probably remove a lot of the impurities.

Today, I screwed up and overcooked the Golden Monkey. Shame on me. It wasn't great, but wasn't terrible either.

I love oolongs too much to not drink them. But to be honest with you, most of the tea I drink is ceylon because I drink a lot of flavored teas.

Monday is fantastic TeaDay, 3.03.08

The China TeaSyndrome, be honest, has all the concerns about Chinese food and consumer products last year affected your Chinese Tea consumption?

China tea

Re: China tea