2011 Chinese shincha green teas

[Chip]

Yeah, expect lower grade ones to have more dominant roast to it, and therefore more nutty. The leaves will even look browner instead of a lovely greenish. Sometimes can even look like houjicha.

This covers up its lack of complexity.

Good LJ will exhibit floral, veggie, fruity ... lightness of being.

TeaSpring Emperor LJ being toasty really surprises me. This is not characteristic of this selection in the past. Pictures please!

Going to take the picture and post

Great, thanks!

[lkj23]

[lkj23]

Chip you are right, more brown in the photo is from TS. Here, in real the diference is bigger

[lkj23]

[Chip]

Hm (again), I would contact them I guess. I have seen much browner LJ and therefore also usually much more broken. Customer feedback is generally appreciated as long as done in the right spirit.

The leaf sets look nicely intact, a sign of an otherwise good production.

[lkj23]

Yes, I think I´ll send a menssage to see what they say.To me the taste is very toasty and I was very dissapointed because I thought this was the crappy long jing all people speak about??? I didn´t undertand nothing and only take one cup since I´ve received it but when I´ve received today the other from AGT I became very happy.

I think must have a lot of better long jing, let´s see if I can try them. Going to order from Jing´s tea shop now. (buuuuff dificult to express in english)

[JRS22]

Last year I got my best chinese greens from Jing Tea Shop and Seven Cups. Jing has all my favorites in stock so I just ordered a slew of 25 gram samples - Tai Ping Hou Kui, An Ji Bai Cha, Weng Jia Shan Long Jing, Shi Feng Long Jing, Bai Hao Yin Zhen and Gu Zhu Zi Sun. The last one is new to me but I couldn't resist the photographs. Last year I swore that I would never again order tea directly from China because even though JTS shipped my order immediately I didn't receive the tea for over 3 weeks. But....the tea was delicious, and the photos seductive..........

Question - all these tea are rated AAA. Is that a standard rating system or a JTS classification?

[Oni]

If you buy from china and do not pay extra for ems, or other higher quality shipping, it usually takes 2 - 4 weeks to finish, from japan it takes less, 2 weeks max, and ems in 1 week max. But it is worth the wait, generally they sell good tea, I personally like Jing tea shop, they sell high grade stuff.

[lkj23]

Last year I got my best chinese greens from Jing Tea Shop and Seven Cups. Jing has all my favorites in stock so I just ordered a slew of 25 gram samples - Tai Ping Hou Kui, An Ji Bai Cha, Weng Jia Shan Long Jing, Shi Feng Long Jing, Bai Hao Yin Zhen and Gu Zhu Zi Sun. The last one is new to me but I couldn't resist the photographs. Last year I swore that I would never again order tea directly from China because even though JTS shipped my order immediately I didn't receive the tea for over 3 weeks. But....the tea was delicious, and the photos seductive..........

Question - all these tea are rated AAA. Is that a standard rating system or a JTS classification?

This is a normal classification for chinese teas:
(I found this when I began to buy on a forum from a vendor)
A= Regular grade
A+= ok
AA= Good
AA+= Very good
AAA= Premium
AAA+Supreme

Another classification for long jing:
Ming Qian/Pre-Ming (Ming = Spring Festival, 20th March till 4th April)
Pre-Ming Superior AAAAA Grade
Pre-Ming Superior AAA Grade
Pre-Ming Superior Grade
Pre-Ming Special Grade
Pre-Ming Grade 1
Pre-Ming Grade 2
Yu Qian/Pre-Rain (After 4th April till 20th April)
Pre-Rain Grade 1
Pre-Rain Grade 2
Pre-Rain Grade 3
Pre-Rain Grade 4
Pre-Rain Grade 5
***Before Ming(Pre-Ming) is better than Before Rain(Pre-Rain)

[JRS22]

I haven't seen AAA+ anywhere yet - possibly I'm not looking in the right place. Did the vendor that posted this information carry AAA+?

Both Long Jings from JTS are AAA Pre-Rain, which hopefully is better than Pre-Rain Grades 1 to 5.

Seven Cups doesn't post these grades. They do list the tea bush, tea master, harvest time and picking standard for each tea so once they stock the long jings and TPHK I'll ask them about the grade. Last year their TPHK was the best I tried, although JTS was a close second and less money.

[Chip]

I could be wrong, but I sense there is some marketing at play with the rating system and it is not a nationally or regionally enforced thing. Maybe a bit like China's 10 most famous tea designation that changes from vendor to vendor.

But like the letter ratings in India, they can pretty much say what they want to say within a certain level of reason perhaps. And any vendor can say whatever ... even with the cert of authenticity.

Perhaps there is some enforcement in the case of authentic LJ, but there is so much hocus pocus going on there anyway.

I am sure we all hope there is more fact than fiction to it. As usual it comes down to buying from a vendor who is trusted!!!

[lkj23]

I think there is some marketing and lies too( I realized that a important vendor on ebay lies about the harvest of his teas, I asked and say was a mistake but he didn´t change it, every day changed a lot of harvest dates and now has all updates(oolongs, greens, whites...very strange)). It´s strange that JTS is only pre-rain, I´m waiting his answer for a teapot to order, I have wanted to try it.

[gingkoseto]

In the old days, Xi Hu Long Jing was classified into 13 grades, from Superior 1, Superior 2, Superior 3, Grade 1... to Grade 10. It was the official and universal way of grading when everything was state-owned, including tea business. Today it's still in the textbooks of tea institutes and used in research institutions. But most tea estates and tea companies are privately owned. Producers and owners can grade their tea the way they wish.

I've seen a lot of producers of various teas whose grade 2 teas are much better than superior grades of many other producers. So I think the grading doesn't tell you much about the tea itself, but tells a lot about the standards of a producer/supplier/vendor.

Also because of the messed-up grading standards, typically a lot of farmers of long jing, bi luo chun and other green teas use harvest dates to grade their tea - although it's not a perfectly scientific standards, it's probably more objective.

In the "state-owned" era, my father went to Hangzhou, and bought some grade 4 long jing - the highest grade then available in market for ordinary people to buy. Up till these days he still says how much better the grade 4 was than many superior grades in market today. I don't believe it's all because of his wrecked memory and nostalgia

[Chip]

Thank you Gingko for sharing your insider view. As I posted, I also hoped you would as well. I can see how the harvest date info can be more objective, yet not all-telling, unfortunately.

So, one vendor's AAA+++ Super Duper Most Excellent Premium Selection could be another vendor's trash. Particularly with LJ, I have seen this to be too true. I notice a lot more of the embellishment from domestic USA vendors who simply seemingly add their own set of superlatives to market their teas, but no reason why an obscure ebay seller in China could not also follow this practice of whatever sells.

[solitude]

AAA+++ Super Duper Most Excellent Premium Selection

ROFL ,