Rustic Tea

[trent]

My taste in tea is quite old school and traditional... high roast or aged tea, lots of leaf, short infusions. Similarly, I tend to appreciate "rustic" teas. This is a somewhat unusual descriptor, but I think it accurately reflects the rugged nature of certain tea. Some of the most "rustic" teas I've had were Japanese Awabancha (which looks like dried leaves), and die minority puerh (covered in golden mold, 30 years old, outstandingly earthy).

Has anyone encountered other rustic tea? (I posted this in pu erh b/c most rustic teas seem to be puerh)

[tony shlongini]

For me, it doesn't get any more rustic than a Baoyan brick.

[thanks]

My taste in tea is quite old school and traditional... high roast or aged tea, lots of leaf, short infusions. Similarly, I tend to appreciate "rustic" teas. This is a somewhat unusual descriptor, but I think it accurately reflects the rugged nature of certain tea. Some of the most "rustic" teas I've had were Japanese Awabancha (which looks like dried leaves), and die minority puerh (covered in golden mold, 30 years old, outstandingly earthy).

Has anyone encountered other rustic tea? (I posted this in pu erh b/c most rustic teas seem to be puerh)

I'd agree with the baoyan sentiments.

Golden mold? If you mean yellow mold, that stuff is highly toxic, and an extremely potent hepatocarcinogen.

[Canadiangal]

My taste in tea is quite old school and traditional... high roast or aged tea, lots of leaf, short infusions. Similarly, I tend to appreciate "rustic" teas. This is a somewhat unusual descriptor, but I think it accurately reflects the rugged nature of certain tea. Some of the most "rustic" teas I've had were Japanese Awabancha (which looks like dried leaves), and die minority puerh (covered in golden mold, 30 years old, outstandingly earthy).

Has anyone encountered other rustic tea? (I posted this in pu erh b/c most rustic teas seem to be puerh)

I'd agree with the baoyan sentiments.

Golden mold? If you mean yellow mold, that stuff is highly toxic, and an extremely potent hepatocarcinogen.

uh, a what exactly?

"hepatocarcinogen".

I'm usually pretty good w medical/scientific terms but did not know this about tea.
For myself anyways (has nothing to do w tea) but I avoid allmoldy foods, and any egg dishes that I have not prepared or seen being made.
I just finished getting very sick from a egg dish at a vegetarian restaurant that I ate hot and am sure was made either w bad eggs or badly stored.

I was extremely ill for 9 hours and doubled over in pain like 10 minutes after eating.
Not fun at all, I've had food posoning several times from eating out in recent years and want to avoid it w tea as well.....

never knew tea could cause carcinogens though,
hepa is something w liver right?
hema...is blood i think.....

Actually for eggs will take that back sort of i do buy quiche from a local bakery,but the place always keeps them covered in the fridge for 3 days only and not hot or warm storage.

[Drax]

Um, I think thanks was referring to the mold being a hepatocarcinogen, not the tea.

You're correct, anything 'hepato' would refer to the liver, thus hepatocarcinogen would be cancer of the liver. Or so I would guess.

[TIM]

I am guessing if golden/yellow mold refers to white tea hair turned old? A good marketing terms perhaps? Golden fur, silver lotus

[Intuit]

Aspergillus species (probably A. flavus) might be the 'yellow mold' in question. Has been cultured off of wet stored puerhs. Is capable of producing aflatoxins, the hepato-carcinogen mentioned by Thanks.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspergillus_flavus

However, I also wonder if the Dai ancient tree 'rustic' tea might not have been 'Golden Tea', comprised of yellowed leaves that are winnowed out of annual harvests and usually set aside for farmers tea because the leaves are known to lack bitterness.

[aKnightWhoSaysNi]

http://cgi.ebay.com/5628-Golden-Flower- ... 35a2c28a16
...Would Liu Bao tea with this sort of yellow mold be considered toxic?

[Intuit]

"Many strains of A. flavus exhibit a greenish fluorescence under UV light that is correlated with levels of aflatoxin production." (from the Wiki page in my post above).

You'd have to put it under a UV (black) light to see if it fluoresces. If it does, I wouldn't recommend using it.

[aKnightWhoSaysNi]

Ah, I have access to a UV light at work; might be a fun project.

[Intuit]

Cool! You would need to test the mouldy pu under darkroom (red light) conditions. Make sure you wear safety glasses.

[aKnightWhoSaysNi]

Hm, we have a small UV lamp. I could simply turn the lights off in the lab when I use it. The spectacles that I wear every day are made of a nice trivex material that blocks about 100% UVa/UVb, so I think my eyes should be protected. I don't even own any moldy tea myself, but if I ever do acquire a sample of liu bao with yellow mold on the surface; I'll know what to do with it! Intuit's wealth of scientific knowledge amazes me as always.

[trent]

Here's a pic of the 80's dai bamboo stored puerh... does it look dangerous?
(excuse the poor picture quality, its late and my tripod broke)

[aKnightWhoSaysNi]

I can't see any mold from the pic; but if you find a piece that looks questionable you can feel free to send it to me to analyze under the UV lamp