Help Identifying Tea

by **Namnai** » Feb 7th, '13, 10:34

Help Identifying Tea

by Namnai » Feb 7th, '13, 10:34

Hello Teachat,

Just discovered this forum recently and I've been trying to learn as much as I can. Mostly a lurker but I thought I'd post. I'm not sure if I've posted in the right section, if not please let me know.

So a little back story, a Chinese professor of mine left the university and just before she left we got talking about tea. She travels all over Asia so she's amassed a lot of tea and teawares. Before she left, she handed me a bag with a nice little kyusu and a WHOLE lot of tea. However, I can't read the labels. They just say Korean, Japanese or Chinese tea. So I was wondering if anyone here can maybe help me figure out what I've got.

I could open them all up and find out but I don't want to open so many bags all at once.

Here are the photos:

1. I know this is Tieguanyin, Iron Buddha. That's all i know about it, some more info might be nice

2. This is supposed to be a Chinese tea

3. Japanese tea apparently

4. Japanese tea, I'm not sure if this it a tea or a herbal tea.

5. Korean tea apparently

Finally the kyusu, anyone know what the symbol means?:

I look forward to your replies!

by **Drax** » Feb 7th, '13, 11:41

Re: Help Identifying Tea

by Drax » Feb 7th, '13, 11:41

Hmm, interesting.

#3 appears to say "ure no cha," which would mean something like "new growth tea." I can't tell what type of tea it might be beyond that.

#4 is called "gira cha" which appears to be a brand name. It would mean something like "sparkling tea" or "dazzling tea." The stuff on the left says something about having that hometown smell and taste. I think it's a kukicha (stalk/stem tea). The stuff at the top does seem to suggest it's a "health" tea.

As for the kyuusu, I'm very poor at messy grass style, so I can't tell what it says...

by **Namnai** » Feb 7th, '13, 11:54

Re: Help Identifying Tea

by Namnai » Feb 7th, '13, 11:54

Drax wrote:Hmm, interesting.

#3 appears to say "ure no cha," which would mean something like "new growth tea." I can't tell what type of tea it might be beyond that.

Isn't white tea made from the leaves of the new growth ?

#4 is called "gira cha" which appears to be a brand name. It would mean something like "sparkling tea" or "dazzling tea." The stuff on the left says something about having that hometown smell and taste. I think it's a kukicha (stalk/stem tea). The stuff at the top does seem to suggest it's a "health" tea.

It does appear to be all stalks and stems, at first I thought it was some sort of grass, like hay :lol:

As for the kyuusu, I'm very poor at messy grass style, so I can't tell what it says...

Thank you for your input Drax, appreciate it!

by **teaisme** » Feb 7th, '13, 14:57

Re: Help Identifying Tea

by teaisme » Feb 7th, '13, 14:57

number 2 tells you what it is on the package in english

by **Namnai** » Feb 8th, '13, 00:54

Re: Help Identifying Tea

by Namnai » Feb 8th, '13, 00:54

teaisme wrote:number 2 tells you what it is on the package in english

Thanks

by **Poohblah** » Feb 8th, '13, 01:42

Re: Help Identifying Tea

by Poohblah » Feb 8th, '13, 01:42

ok, so we have so far...
1. tieguanyin (light roast green oolong)
2. huangshan maofeng (a kind of chinese green tea)
3. some kind of green tea. Ure no cha, according to Drax

4. I can't read japanese, but the kanji say it's "healthy tea" from the "garden of fragrance and taste". Doesn't look quite like sencha to me though...
5. Korean green tea. "Snow" green to be a little more accurate. Somebody else might be able to help us flesh this out
6. The character appears to be 玄, "mysterious, dark". I don't know how helpful this is. Could be a name or could refer to a period of time? I'm probably totally wrong on my reading of this character.

Sorry I don't have too much to contribute, but I love following along with these translation requests that frequently pop up here.

by **Namnai** » Feb 8th, '13, 02:07

Re: Help Identifying Tea

by Namnai » Feb 8th, '13, 02:07

Poohblah wrote:ok, so we have so far...
1. tieguanyin (light roast green oolong)
2. huangshan maofeng (a kind of chinese green tea)
3. some kind of green tea. Ure no cha, according to Drax
4. I can't read japanese, but the kanji say it's "healthy tea" from the "garden of fragrance and taste". Doesn't look quite like sencha to me though...
5. Korean green tea. "Snow" green to be a little more accurate. Somebody else might be able to help us flesh this out
6. The character appears to be 玄, "mysterious, dark". I don't know how helpful this is. Could be a name or could refer to a period of time? I'm probably totally wrong on my reading of this character.

Sorry I don't have too much to contribute, but I love following along with these translation requests that frequently pop up here.

Hehe... yes, its like watching a puzzle come together!

by **Evan Draper** » Feb 8th, '13, 14:12

Re: Help Identifying Tea

by Evan Draper » Feb 8th, '13, 14:12

The branding on the TGY was a little strange to me - reads something like "hundred year respected family" I think. TGY dates to like 1725, so unless that can be read as "hundreds of years," they're either talking about something other than the tea, or their hyperbolic adjectives are uncharacteristically an underestimate!

Fook Ming Tong is a Hong Kong tea shop chain with some stores in the mainland.

by **Namnai** » Feb 9th, '13, 09:44

Re: Help Identifying Tea

by Namnai » Feb 9th, '13, 09:44

Evan Draper wrote:The branding on the TGY was a little strange to me - reads something like "hundred year respected family" I think. TGY dates to like 1725, so unless that can be read as "hundreds of years," they're either talking about something other than the tea, or their hyperbolic adjectives are uncharacteristically an underestimate!

Its a very tiny package, about 10gm. Would that be a sample or do they usually come in such small packages?

Fook Ming Tong is a Hong Kong tea shop chain with some stores in the mainland.

Are they good? Or are they China's version of Teavana

by **Evan Draper** » Feb 9th, '13, 23:29

Re: Help Identifying Tea

by Evan Draper » Feb 9th, '13, 23:29

Yeah, that's a single serving pack. Pretty common in "showier" teas to have a box filled with a bunch of those. I don't know anything about that store, really, but you figure China's version of Teavana has got to be better than ours.

by **Maneki Neko** » Feb 10th, '13, 23:35

Re: Help Identifying Tea

by Maneki Neko » Feb 10th, '13, 23:35

As for the kyusu, it looks like a rough karakusa, or spiraling vine, pattern. I like it, actually

It has a meaning like prosperity, long life. Auspicious.

I know a great site that describes it, but I'm not sure if I'm allowed to post links yet...

by **Namnai** » Feb 11th, '13, 00:31

Re: Help Identifying Tea

by Namnai » Feb 11th, '13, 00:31

Maneki Neko wrote:As for the kyusu, it looks like a rough karakusa, or spiraling vine, pattern. I like it, actually It has a meaning like prosperity, long life. Auspicious.

I know a great site that describes it, but I'm not sure if I'm allowed to post links yet...

Can you *cough* PM *cough* it to me?

by **Maneki Neko** » Feb 11th, '13, 01:00

Re: Help Identifying Tea

by Maneki Neko » Feb 11th, '13, 01:00

The pattern has a long history. I think it's fascinating, and reading about it made me appreciate my karakusa teacup even more.

by **Chip** » Feb 11th, '13, 01:02

Re: Help Identifying Tea

by Chip » Feb 11th, '13, 01:02

Maneki Neko wrote:As for the kyusu, it looks like a rough karakusa, or spiraling vine, pattern. I like it, actually It has a meaning like prosperity, long life. Auspicious.

I know a great site that describes it, but I'm not sure if I'm allowed to post links yet...

... "go ahead, make my day!" Er, I mean, sure go for it.

by **Maneki Neko** » Feb 11th, '13, 01:08

Re: Help Identifying Tea

by Maneki Neko » Feb 11th, '13, 01:08

Ok

http://www.heldermann-verlag.de/jgg/jgg ... gg0504.pdf