Dec 15th, '08, 20:31
Posts: 172
Joined: Mar 1st, '08, 16:05
Location: Ithaca, NY
Contact:
Ron Gilmour
Adagio's Oolong #40
I don't know much about oolongs, except that I really like Adagio's #40. But I'm not sure what it is. It just says "Formosa oolong." Is it a Bai Hao? What other oolongs should I be trying if I want to branch out from #40?
Dec 15th, '08, 21:31
Posts: 2299
Joined: Oct 23rd, '06, 19:46
Location: Seattle Area
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tenuki
Both #8 and #40 look like Bai Hao (oriental beauty) to me. I haven't tried them so don't know for sure.
I would try a Wu Yi next if I were you. RB has some reasonably priced like their Golden Buddha or WuYi Amber (which I happen to be drinking right now btw), and Adagio has the WuYi Ensemble that I haven't tried but looks greener than the two I mentioned. I'm sure you'll get lots of good recommendations, jing and teacuppa are both good places to order WuYi as well. Most of mine is sourced from local tea shops unforunately. Shui Xian is the most common Wu Yi and the usual introduction to them. (also spelled Shui Hsien)
I would also investigate Golden Yunnan - a black tea with some similar characteristics.
Bai Hao is one of the most highly oxidized oolongs out there, usually around 70%.
I would try a Wu Yi next if I were you. RB has some reasonably priced like their Golden Buddha or WuYi Amber (which I happen to be drinking right now btw), and Adagio has the WuYi Ensemble that I haven't tried but looks greener than the two I mentioned. I'm sure you'll get lots of good recommendations, jing and teacuppa are both good places to order WuYi as well. Most of mine is sourced from local tea shops unforunately. Shui Xian is the most common Wu Yi and the usual introduction to them. (also spelled Shui Hsien)
I would also investigate Golden Yunnan - a black tea with some similar characteristics.
Bai Hao is one of the most highly oxidized oolongs out there, usually around 70%.
Dec 16th, '08, 03:42
Posts: 2299
Joined: Oct 23rd, '06, 19:46
Location: Seattle Area
Contact:
tenuki
You don't trust your host? How rude.Oni wrote:I wouldn`t trust a tea vendor that sells flavoured oolongs, that tells a lot about their sales policy, there is a chinese saying:
If you make of tea nothing but profit, your tea liquor will taste of coin.
Do something different, something different will happen. ( Gong Fu Garden )
I had only bad experiences with these vedors that buy cheap tea and flavoure it, it is great disrespect for the honest merchant, I believe that some try to sell quality tea for the same price as others sell bad quality nonorganic machiene harvested poorly maintaned tea.
I dare you to read this article
http://the-leaf.org/Issue1/wp-content/u ... fisher.pdf
You may be enlightened about tea farming.
I dare you to read this article
http://the-leaf.org/Issue1/wp-content/u ... fisher.pdf
You may be enlightened about tea farming.
I dare you to use your brain. Not all tea vendors who sell flavored tea are dishonest and disrespectful.Oni wrote:I had only bad experiences with these vedors that buy cheap tea and flavoure it, it is great disrespect for the honest merchant, I believe that some try to sell quality tea for the same price as others sell bad quality nonorganic machiene harvested poorly maintaned tea.
I dare you to read this article
http://the-leaf.org/Issue1/wp-content/u ... fisher.pdf
You may be enlightened about tea farming.
I can tell you that Adagio's Oolongs are great entry level Oolongs. And for the price are teriffic. I haven't tried their WuYi, but I 've had the #8, #40 (both which are Bai Hao), #18 (Jade Oolong which is delicious), and TKY (which is a greener TKY and quite yummy). You cannot go wrong with Adagio teas. If you're looking for $20/oz taste then you're not going to get it, but Adagio Oolongs are 10x better than Teavana at 1/2 the price for similar product. Adagio is a great starting point. It's tea you can afford to buy and experiment with which will give you good results so that when you branch out into the more high end tea market you have some idea of what you're doing from a brewing standpoint and what to expect from certain types of tea.
Maybe compared to Teavana it is good, but compare it to Teaspring, Dragon teashop, you can spend the same money there and get ten times better quality, and Yunnan sourcing sells very good tea from Kunming almost at wholesale prices.
Anyway please read that article, it explains how bad quality tea is made. To make great tea it takes much effort and time and plant that are older than 5 years, these cheap tea that fill the global market come from tortured artificially matured teaplants that will die in a few seasons. So PLEASE learn about tea because it is up to us, we can boicot bad tea and promote quality tea, because some farmers are sweating blood because of love for tea and for the Dao of tea, and others take the easy way and ruin the whole tea experience. This is a global issue in the whole agriculture of the world, we recently entered the EU, before we had fully organic agriculture and now we import the nonorganic EU crap, compared to our authentic product it has no taste at all, the only advantage is that they can produce it cheaper and faster, but it lacks vitamins.
Anyway please read that article, it explains how bad quality tea is made. To make great tea it takes much effort and time and plant that are older than 5 years, these cheap tea that fill the global market come from tortured artificially matured teaplants that will die in a few seasons. So PLEASE learn about tea because it is up to us, we can boicot bad tea and promote quality tea, because some farmers are sweating blood because of love for tea and for the Dao of tea, and others take the easy way and ruin the whole tea experience. This is a global issue in the whole agriculture of the world, we recently entered the EU, before we had fully organic agriculture and now we import the nonorganic EU crap, compared to our authentic product it has no taste at all, the only advantage is that they can produce it cheaper and faster, but it lacks vitamins.
Dec 16th, '08, 13:59
Posts: 20891
Joined: Apr 22nd, '06, 20:52
Scrolling: scrolling
Location: Back in the TeaCave atop Mt. Fuji
Sales of flavored tea (since we are on the subject) are governed by the laws of supply and demand. There is demand for a product and Adagio like many many vendors is able to capitalize on this demand, nothing dishonest about it.
Nobody is making China sell the lesser grades either. Trust me, they are eager to sell, sell, sell. There can be this commercial element to tea while still maintaining traditions, this is the way of the world, of the global economy.
Everyone knows that lesser grades are used in blending, that is common sense. This again does not make a vendor dishonest, just smart, why flavor high grade teas? This also helps the tea industry as a whole. If only the highest grades of tea were bought andf sold, the tea industry would likely collapse.
By creating a demand for lesser grades, this has helped to keep the higher grades more economical as well.
Regarding Adagio, they created an open forum for members to discuss any tea we want to discuss. Hardly dishonorable or dishonest ...
Nobody is making China sell the lesser grades either. Trust me, they are eager to sell, sell, sell. There can be this commercial element to tea while still maintaining traditions, this is the way of the world, of the global economy.
Everyone knows that lesser grades are used in blending, that is common sense. This again does not make a vendor dishonest, just smart, why flavor high grade teas? This also helps the tea industry as a whole. If only the highest grades of tea were bought andf sold, the tea industry would likely collapse.
By creating a demand for lesser grades, this has helped to keep the higher grades more economical as well.
Regarding Adagio, they created an open forum for members to discuss any tea we want to discuss. Hardly dishonorable or dishonest ...
We cannot change the world, but economics is cruel when one vendors bad quality tea for the same price as the other sells way better tea for the same price, it is disrespectful towards the people who worked harder to make better tea to get the same money as the people who worked less. For example they sell 5oz of sencha premierfor 39$, and Horaido sells his shuppin sencha HG for 30 $, and there is a world of a diffrence between these two in quality.
Dec 16th, '08, 14:44
Vendor Member
Posts: 2084
Joined: Sep 24th, '08, 18:38
Location: Boston, MA
In market economy, I don't think selling the same product for higher price than other vendor should be considered dishonest. What a vendor provide is not just the tea itself, but also information, convenience of shopping and other accompanying products. Even for exactly same tea, different vendors may invest different money and efforts in storaging, which is extremely important for tea, and therefore may cause difference in prices.
Giving wrong information (like what we disucssed in another thread about teavana), is dishonest.
And I don't think there is anything wrong for selling lower grade tea. In most tea drinking countries (I mean where most of the population drink tea), most people are drinking and enjoying lower grade tea. Tea is not an elite berage, and I think manufactures and vendors should be encouraged to carry teas of different grades and price ranges.
Since hand vs. machine picking is mentioned somewhere in this thread (or another thread?), I believe, for oolong, hand picking is NOT important, and use of tools (including machine) is a blessing. Unlike green tea picking, hand picking oolong is extremely tedeous (if not painful). Therefore even in traditional agriculture, scissors are used as tools (which were not commonly used in most green tea picking). From time to time I see some oolong products labeled as "hand picked" and I personally am not willing to pay higher price for hand-picked oolong.
Anyway in many aspects of tea, there is no one single opinion that rules.
Giving wrong information (like what we disucssed in another thread about teavana), is dishonest.
And I don't think there is anything wrong for selling lower grade tea. In most tea drinking countries (I mean where most of the population drink tea), most people are drinking and enjoying lower grade tea. Tea is not an elite berage, and I think manufactures and vendors should be encouraged to carry teas of different grades and price ranges.
Since hand vs. machine picking is mentioned somewhere in this thread (or another thread?), I believe, for oolong, hand picking is NOT important, and use of tools (including machine) is a blessing. Unlike green tea picking, hand picking oolong is extremely tedeous (if not painful). Therefore even in traditional agriculture, scissors are used as tools (which were not commonly used in most green tea picking). From time to time I see some oolong products labeled as "hand picked" and I personally am not willing to pay higher price for hand-picked oolong.
Anyway in many aspects of tea, there is no one single opinion that rules.
By sitting in peace and doing nothing,
You make your one day worth two days.
You make your one day worth two days.
Dec 16th, '08, 14:45
Posts: 20891
Joined: Apr 22nd, '06, 20:52
Scrolling: scrolling
Location: Back in the TeaCave atop Mt. Fuji
Gingko, you forget that hand picking is the traditional way, and therefore the better way. You also forget that traditional people prefer this more painful and labor intensive method, and those greedy capitalists force them to embrace more modern, less painful, and more productive methods. At least, that is the what certain wealthier people who already have the improved technology say.
How do you know adagio is one of these vendors? Also, do you have any idea what certified organic means?Oni wrote:I had only bad experiences with these vedors that buy cheap tea and flavoure it, it is great disrespect for the honest merchant, I believe that some try to sell quality tea for the same price as others sell bad quality nonorganic machiene harvested poorly maintaned tea.
I dare you to read this article
http://the-leaf.org/Issue1/wp-content/u ... fisher.pdf
You may be enlightened about tea farming.