TeaChat

So, a while ago I took some pictures of these two LJ's I had open. I thought it might be interesting to put the pics side by side and see what everyone thought and might agree upon (perhaps especially since no 'definitive' grading system exists). The best way and probably the final say on judging a tea is to taste it, but since we can't yet share a real cup over the net, the pics will have to do.

(Pic on the same side is the same tea, which will remain unnamed. Do forgive my poor photography)

Dry leafs
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8167/7007 ... 2c81_k.jpg

Selected individual leafs
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8145/7208 ... de1d_k.jpg

Selected Steeped leafs
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7104/7208 ... 7459_k.jpg

Is this the same tea we were discussing in our PMs? I am going to do a review of mine today and post it on my blog. Let me know what you think.

Yes, but I posted the pics here without naming them (not that the names mean much) and without saying which vendors they were from, as I was curious to see what people thought purely about the leafs......but seems like the topic just fell dead.

The right is closer to a LongJing, IMO. But they look old

Oooh, forgot add....due to my poor photography...just imagine the colours are more vibrant rather than faded looking. Here are some of my first guesses...which might also clarify by what I meant by my OP.

I thought the colour of the left-LJ was much too inconsistent, to much of a difference between the darkest and the lightest green, which might suggest inconsistent roasting. The lightest green leafs also seem to green to be the kind of yellowish green from Shifeng. The leaf-length seems much more inconsistent and on average much longer than the right-LJ, which might mean later harvest, poor harvesting or even a 'mix-in'. Also a lot of broken bits and pieces, some of which don't even seem like they came from the standard one bud one/two leaf. The bud to leaf length comparison...hmmm....

No clue what particular cultivars they might be ....

Since the topic is pretty much dead. Here is the full low down (with permission from Leo_Blue) for anyone interested. So, a while ago, this vendor chineseteaart carrying a similar range of offerings as teaspring appeared on my radar screen. So I decided to give their 2012 Lion Xihu LJ a try, the left-LJ, and I did not like what I saw and tasted. Leo had his Lion Xihu LJ from teaspring lined up on his blog, so I pm-ed him and we tried to compare our two Lion Xihu LJ's. I found pretty much the same thing leaf and tasting wise as what he noted on his blog. (Maybe same tea, can't be absolutely sure.)

The right LJ is....*drum roll.....2011 'AAA Grade Long Jing' from AmazingGreenTea. A more appropriate comparison to the Lion LJ would have been their A grade version, but I already ran out of that at the time. In the right pics, imagine slightly longer leaves (+/- 1 to 3mm), slightly more firing but still even, and still all one bud and one-two leaves. Granted 2011's harvest might have been better than 2012, but I'm suspecting there are more problems with this Lion LJ than just a bad year?

(My two cents here is about tea not about either vendors. Though I must say, chineseteaart provided me excellent customer service, considering I was just about grilling them for info about the tea.)