Will you temporarily stop purchasing Japanese Greens?

[a.serrao]

I really dont know if I will have Jappanese greens this year. It is a pity, because sencha was an important part of my morning "ritual", it gives a nice morning kick, especially the fuka ones.
I am not worried to much about the health risk, but more about the customs. If I imagine the situation when an order is made, payed, then waiting (impatiently, as we all know) and finally the customs will decide that it can not be shipped into the country...it is just to scary
So, the strategy now is to wait 1-2 months, then if I finally decide to do an order I will contact before the customs and ask about the situation.

I feel your frustration.
I'm from Rome, Italy, and my country sucks big time!
We are governed by a clown and by a bunch of corrupted people that even in Colombia is hard to find the likes of.
The Italian Post sucks, the government steal money from the poor citiziens, we have no public services, we are being ridiculed by Gheddafi himself.
I'm really ashamed of being italian.
So I will put the custom under press every day until they will come up with no other things but certainties.

[JRS22]

I'm not having any difficulty with customs here in NJ. My package from O-Cha was shipped on 4/1 and arrived here on 4/4. I started with the Tsuen Sencha Otsuusan, which was delicious. It contains stems so I suppose it's a type of karigane or kukicha.

Tomorrow - gyokuro!!

[Tead Off]

I really dont know if I will have Jappanese greens this year. It is a pity, because sencha was an important part of my morning "ritual", it gives a nice morning kick, especially the fuka ones.
I am not worried to much about the health risk, but more about the customs. If I imagine the situation when an order is made, payed, then waiting (impatiently, as we all know) and finally the customs will decide that it can not be shipped into the country...it is just to scary
So, the strategy now is to wait 1-2 months, then if I finally decide to do an order I will contact before the customs and ask about the situation.

I feel your frustration.
I'm from Rome, Italy, and my country sucks big time!
We are governed by a clown and by a bunch of corrupted people that even in Colombia is hard to find the likes of.
The Italian Post sucks, the government steal money from the poor citiziens, we have no public services, we are being ridiculed by Gheddafi himself.
I'm really ashamed of being italian.
So I will put the custom under press every day until they will come up with no other things but certainties.

But, you have good clothes, coffee, films, and, architecture. Not to mention wine, food, art, and, a very dedicated mafia! Be Happy.

[Jayaratna]

I really dont know if I will have Jappanese greens this year. It is a pity, because sencha was an important part of my morning "ritual", it gives a nice morning kick, especially the fuka ones.
I am not worried to much about the health risk, but more about the customs. If I imagine the situation when an order is made, payed, then waiting (impatiently, as we all know) and finally the customs will decide that it can not be shipped into the country...it is just to scary
So, the strategy now is to wait 1-2 months, then if I finally decide to do an order I will contact before the customs and ask about the situation.

I feel your frustration.
I'm from Rome, Italy, and my country sucks big time!
We are governed by a clown and by a bunch of corrupted people that even in Colombia is hard to find the likes of.
The Italian Post sucks, the government steal money from the poor citiziens, we have no public services, we are being ridiculed by Gheddafi himself.
I'm really ashamed of being italian.
So I will put the custom under press every day until they will come up with no other things but certainties.

+1 (We could start a topic on triangulations from Europe, just to quench our tea-thirst until we solve all the problems of this ridiculous Country of ours - Title: how Italian tea drinkers can smuggle their premium teas into the Country, while feeling happy for the beauty of their own landscapes).

[lkj23]

Tepco says they discharge 10 000 ton of low level (100.00 times above normal) contaminated water from their radioactive waste treatment facility to the sea

Later radiation found in water was 7.500.000 times above normal.

Shameful, goverment and Tepco continue lying.

[puerhking]

Have no fear about radiation. Even if you get some...here's the cure.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Anti-Radiation-Tie- ... 3f08f45175

[lkj23]

Have no fear about radiation. Even if you get some...here's the cure.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Anti-Radiation-Tie- ... 3f08f45175

[edkrueger]

Have no fear about radiation. Even if you get some...here's the cure.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Anti-Radiation-Tie- ... 3f08f45175

They have Shui-Xian too, in case you prefer your anti-radiation to be less bright green.

[bryan_drinks_tea]

Like others said before, It's important to support their economy. I'm planning on making a few good orders of tea this year, despite the radiation levels...besides, the radiation is a good ways away.

[teaisme]

yeah

besides, the radiation is a good ways away.

Yeah and the winds pretty much are blowing into pacific. So if your really paranoid just get something from yame, kumamoto, or kagoshima on the opposite side of japan.

[jpeizer]

As a seller one of the more significant issues related to radiation is production facilities that may be closed down as a result of the damage and transport and logistics. The ability to supply outside of Japan has affected many industries. The large port at Yokohama was damaged so certain shipments have had to be diverted.

The issue with radiation in the ocean and the air around the plant poses another problem to ships. Many countries are now doing radiation detection as part of anti-terrorism prevention. A ship that is irradiated may forever trip off the sensors (depending on type of radiation and half life) thus slowing it down forevermore for extra checking etc.. in whatever port it goes to. Alternatively de-radiating it is an expensive process if it can be done. So shippers are being quite careful. Tea may be picked in Shizuoka and Kagoshima but at least the Shizuoka crop made it to export from a port - most probably Yokohama south of the Fukushima plant (at the bottom of the Island on the east side in an inlet) Alternates do exist like Kobe and of course ports closer to Kagoshima on the Island of Kyushu.

So any radiation risk to the actual crops is quite low as long as they are also processed where they are mainly grown. The Kagoshima crop way in the west would not be affected (distance from plant is equivalent from New York to Wyoming). It's on another Island and the prevailing wind favors it. Shizuoka crops (distance from New York to Charlotte, North Carolina) southwest of Tokyo could hypothetically be affected if things got *MUCH* worse with significant leaks over a long period, and prevailing wind shifts. When I say affected I mean more radiation than normal, but still not harmful given distance.. However, for this to be the case it would first have to affect Tokyo and a quarter of the population of Japan living around that area so you know they'd do everything possible to see that didn't happen.

The biggest issues is shipping and inventories which may prove disrupted and a bit tight respectively over the coming months. That may also affect pricing if supply is diminished.

BTW if you are buying a Japanese car or electronics keep this in mind. Between oil used in components and shipping/logistic disruptions you may see a significant rise prices over the coming months.

RGDS

JP

[a.serrao]

As a seller one of the more significant issues related to radiation is production facilities that may be closed down as a result of the damage and transport and logistics. The ability to supply outside of Japan has affected many industries. The large port at Yokohama was damaged so certain shipments have had to be diverted.

The issue with radiation in the ocean and the air around the plant poses another problem to ships. Many countries are now doing radiation detection as part of anti-terrorism prevention. A ship that is irradiated may forever trip off the sensors (depending on type of radiation and half life) thus slowing it down forevermore for extra checking etc.. in whatever port it goes to. Alternatively de-radiating it is an expensive process if it can be done. So shippers are being quite careful. Tea may be picked in Shizuoka and Kagoshima but at least the Shizuoka crop made it to export from a port - most probably Yokohama south of the Fukushima plant (at the bottom of the Island on the east side in an inlet) Alternates do exist like Kobe and of course ports closer to Kagoshima on the Island of Kyushu.

So any radiation risk to the actual crops is quite low as long as they are also processed where they are mainly grown. The Kagoshima crop way in the west would not be affected (distance from plant is equivalent from New York to Wyoming). It's on another Island and the prevailing wind favors it. Shizuoka crops (distance from New York to Charlotte, North Carolina) southwest of Tokyo could hypothetically be affected if things got *MUCH* worse with significant leaks over a long period, and prevailing wind shifts. When I say affected I mean more radiation than normal, but still not harmful given distance.. However, for this to be the case it would first have to affect Tokyo and a quarter of the population of Japan living around that area so you know they'd do everything possible to see that didn't happen.

The biggest issues is shipping and inventories which may prove disrupted and a bit tight respectively over the coming months. That may also affect pricing if supply is diminished.

BTW if you are buying a Japanese car or electronics keep this in mind. Between oil used in components and shipping/logistic disruptions you may see a significant rise prices over the coming months.

RGDS

JP

You have forgotten to add that japanese tea is shipped in aluminium foil bags, maybe vacuum sealed. Most radiations (alpha or beta particles) can't contaminate the tea inside the bag. Gamma radiation is actually used in food industry to "sterilize" canned or packed food I doubt it will be detrimental to already packed tea. Another matter is the tea garden itself.

[Chip]

Someone posted a link to this WorldTeaNews article on another forum, a pretty good read by Dan Bolton with a tea perspective while not by a potentially biased vendor.

http://www.worldteanews.com/page.cfm/EM ... 8_8906_964

WorldTeaNews reads TeaChat. A brief excerpt from Dan Bolton's article ...

Small packages of Japanese tea sent by air to individuals in the U.S. and Canada are not experiencing delays, in fact, customers of O-Cha.com commenting on the TeaChat blog [forum] reported receiving tea shipped from Uji City, Kyoto, in three days. Five is more typical. O-Cha's office in Iwaki was destroyed by the quake, necessitating the move to Uji. Tea is air freighted in foil bags and often vacuum sealed reducing the possibility of airborne contamination.

No Tea Contaminated ...

[jpeizer]

Chip,

I have to assume you're comment about a "potentially biased" vendor right after my comments was directed at me for identifying myself as such and providing an objective assessment about the relative risks of radiation in Japanese Green Tea. I noted as well that of the entire teaworld article, much of it non-vendor specific you chose an excerpt highlighting a vendor that you are far more comfortable with as a contributor on this forum.

Unfortunately even an objective assessment can be implied to somehow imply darker intent with someone you don't find favor with. It's the reason I limit my participation on Teachat. You're the moderator of course and manage the board how you wish. I've no doubt its a positive service to many, but fair and balanced is another issue entirely. Participating in your tea tasting last year I was rather surprised that you provided your own opinion and rating before those you sent the tea out to actually had time to weigh in, so I ended further participation in that as well.

Fortunately, I have discovered contributing to Facebook and twitter forums about tea has been a far more welcoming and objective experience with its significantly larger more democratic populations. Quite unfortunately, I once again immediately regretted my decision to weigh in on Teachat about this issue with what I thought was useful objective information - only to have it labeled as suspect and biased because you take issue with who it came from.

I'll save you the trouble though. I'm wrong. You are right. You are the moderator... and I am gone.

[Chip]

Actually John of GreenTeaLovers, you are way off base, it was not directed at you, but perhaps indirectly to any vendor who by human nature may have a "potential bias." Unless you have a guilty conscience.

So this is not all about you!

The timing of your post was purely coincidental. And actually my post was not right after yours, but a full week later!!!

It would have been better to ask me instead of jump to a hasty conclusion and make accusations. It is humorous to read accusations coming from someone who came onto TeaChat and decided to take advantage of the forum by posting MANY (11 or more as I recall, I can count them if you want) blatant spam messages all over TeaChat (talk about partial and biased postings).

Despite this, I did everything possible to help your GreenTeaLovers and you redeem yourself on TeaChat and reversed your ban. I even included you in the very first OTTI (sorry if I kicked off the reviews before others, I was actually attempting to facilitate and encourage others to post reviews, but whatever).

As far as my quote from the World Tea News, it was nice to see the plug of TeaChat (which is why this quote was chosen, and I made TeaChat bold, not O-Cha) and it happened to include O-Cha as well in the article. Many members have purchased and enjoyed O-Cha's teas, some for years. We were all upset by what had occurred near their Fukushima home and their subsequent refugee status and then move to Uji. I am sure you were not aware of this.

Comfortable with this vendor, sure, but I post about many vendors, especially of Japanese teas ... shall I draw up some numbers for you?

As far as Facebook (and maybe Twitter), talk about bias. The vendor who has a facebook account can edit/delete whatever someone posts on their comment page.