Will you temporarily stop purchasing Japanese Greens?

[AdamMY]

I totally understand why some customers would not buy tea from Japan right now, it's strange that it only turns out now that tea from Kanagawa was affected. I'm certainly not blaming the producers, they're very much the victims in this, but I do blame the authorities for failing to notice this earlier. Such failure gives rise to more suspicions about produce from Japan.

edit: That said, I do believe most of the tea is safe. But simply asking for clarity is not the same as panicking.

I agree for the most part, although I am wondering how much sooner would you have wished for them to realize this? The new harvest teas have only really been out for about a month on average, some less some more. At the same time I do not think people were expecting teas to show more than mild increase in radioactive levels ( possibly not even noticeable compared to the trace levels of radiation on items found all over the world and not just Japan). So did you expect Japan to issue a mandate that any consumable product produced there after the Disaster must be tested before it is cleared, especially when most growing areas for tea are quite a distance away from the power plant.

[verus]

A month seems like a long time...I'd expect the authorities to test samples from every tea producing area, then make the results public maybe a few days afterwards?

But in all honesty, I'm not a scientist, I'm not sure how long the testing would take.

[AdamMY]

A month seems like a long time...I'd expect the authorities to test samples from every tea producing area, then make the results public maybe a few days afterwards?

But in all honesty, I'm not a scientist, I'm not sure how long the testing would take.

I am just saying why should tea be put above fruits and vegetables produced much closer. While I too am unsure how long it takes to run the tests, but if they order the tests in order of harvest and proximity to the plant, than I am sure hundreds if not multiple thousands of sets of tests had to be run prior to testing teas from area's south of Tokyo.

[Tead Off]

A month seems like a long time...I'd expect the authorities to test samples from every tea producing area, then make the results public maybe a few days afterwards?

But in all honesty, I'm not a scientist, I'm not sure how long the testing would take.

I am just saying why should tea be put above fruits and vegetables produced much closer. While I too am unsure how long it takes to run the tests, but if they order the tests in order of harvest and proximity to the plant, than I am sure hundreds if not multiple thousands of sets of tests had to be run prior to testing teas from area's south of Tokyo.

You're right, tea shouldn't be put above other produce and we don't know how long all this testing takes, compiled, and, made available to the public. But, you have to remember that the Japanese authorities have been quite slow to release accurate information from the beginning of this disaster. Plus, it is not a static situation. Contamination and release of radioactive substances is still going on. It's not like they can control much of what is happening. It's sort of a 'too late' scenario and now they have to analyze the damage that continues. There is no question the authorities are trying to cover their asses, but, I agree with many posters here who call for a more intelligent response and not the panic approach that some like to keep feeding us.

[AdamMY]

Do not get me wrong, I am all for skepticism, in fact after I placed my Shincha order, and all the releases started coming out about excessive levels found in tea leaves, I placed one more Japanese green tea order which was entirely 2010 teas, to stock up to hopefully last me for another 2 or so months until the situation should settle down a bit and its no longer changing day by day.

I expect to fill the void with Korean greens, and hopefully take this time to get in touch with my Roasted Oolongs, and possibly start to explore Taiwanese Oolongs. I mean this is not a full stop on Japanese Greens, I am just being skeptical, but some people have gone way past skeptical to fear mongering and excessive cynicism.

[Cole]

I had a much longer response written regarding the status of the reactors, the difference between gamma radiation and alpha/beta contamination, and the scope/potential effects of the multiple meltthroughs that are currently underway (not to mention TEPCO's dodgy politics), but I scrapped it. You can find that stuff elsewhere, and I don't want to be seen around here as a fearmonger for documenting the situation as it happens. It won't help Japan recover, and I don't want to do any further harm.

I'll bow out for now with this comment from a recent WSJ article that I thought was worth posting here:

The tea with Cesium 137 at levels (679 Bq/kg) found to be above the legal limits for Japan (500 Bq/kg) would nevertheless easily pass the FDA’s bar for “levels of concern” in imported products (1200 Bq/kg) — and that’s even before you apply the FDA’s recommended 10x+ reduction factor for beverage concentrates like frozen OJ. (For tea, the dilution factor would be more like 50x-80x.) If there’s any real news here, it’s about how the media keeps making news out of public health non-issues.

[Chip]

I found this interesting given Den's focuses on just about all Shizuoka tea. Their two annual special edition shincha are now in stock and preorder sales were seemingly brisk ...

We have started shipping pre-ordered Shincha Kunpu [Houryoku]. Due to high volume of pre-orders, it may take longer (approximately. 5 business days) to ship new orders. Thank you for your patience.

I would have thought sales would have been off for Shizuoka teas given the problems in Shizuoka.

From the Den's site also, radiation levels ...
http://www.denstea.com/statement_on_dis ... japan.html
Though this information does not show data for the new standard of ARACHA, and the info is from mid May (which is before the aracha standard was set).

[a.serrao]

I found this interesting given Den's focuses on just about all Shizuoka tea. Their two annual special edition shincha are now in stock and preorder sales were seemingly brisk ...

We have started shipping pre-ordered Shincha Kunpu [Houryoku]. Due to high volume of pre-orders, it may take longer (approximately. 5 business days) to ship new orders. Thank you for your patience.

I would have thought sales would have been off for Shizuoka teas given the problems in Shizuoka.

From the Den's site also, radiation levels ...
http://www.denstea.com/statement_on_dis ... japan.html
Though this information does not show data for the new standard of ARACHA, and the info is from mid May (which is before the aracha standard was set).

These readings on Den's tea are OLD and are simply cut and pasted from Shizuoka prefecture web page. The date on May! Now we are in mid June. What a difference.
Have a look at here: http://www.mhlw.go.jp/english/topics/20 ... _ju14.html

As you can see ALL Shizuoka test samples ARE radioactive, with SOME well above the legal limit.

Everyone can make an educated decision now.

[Chip]

Yes, in my post I stated that page on Den's site was from mid May. I also stated the testing used was not done per the newer aracha guidelines.

Unless there are other pages, I only see Warashina area for Shizuoka ... there are more areas.

And I see tea listed 3 ways, refined, tea, unrefined w/o definitions. None simply say Aracha per the government guidelines.

It is actually hard to draw conclusions other than there appears to be radiation in Warashina teas from this page alone.

Is there a Shizuoka page from the MoH that would show testing for all dates?

[a.serrao]

Yes, in my post I stated that page on Den's site was from mid May. I also stated the testing used was not done per the newer aracha guidelines.

Unless there are other pages, I only see Warashina area for Shizuoka ... there are more areas.

And I see tea listed 3 ways, refined, tea, unrefined w/o definitions. None simply say Aracha per the government guidelines.

It is actually hard to draw conclusions other than there appears to be radiation in Warashina teas from this page alone.

Is there a Shizuoka page from the MoH that would show testing for all dates?

Please have a look at here: http://www.mhlw.go.jp/english/topics/20 ... _ju09.html
#111-->#123

[Chip]

Please have a look at here: http://www.mhlw.go.jp/english/topics/20 ... _ju09.html
#111-->#123

Thanks, already did ... and several other dates as well. A combined page for tea/Shizuoka would be asking too much I guess.

So, I am guessing refined tea leaf indicates aracha testing.

[Chip]

Also, since this is tested aracha, this is based upon 1 kg. So obviously a typical 100 gram pouch might have 1/10 of the tested levels.

[a.serrao]

Also, since this is tested aracha, this is based upon 1 kg. So obviously a typical 100 gram pouch might have 1/10 of the tested levels.

Plus most of the times tea is blended, so the final blend can have less radionuclides. Plus steeped tea have typically 1/10 of what's in aracha.

[Chip]

On a daily basis, this is likely much less exposure than I receive from this old stone house.

[Cole]

Also, since this is tested aracha, this is based upon 1 kg. So obviously a typical 100 gram pouch might have 1/10 of the tested levels.

Yep! That's the real kicker here -- even if you drank that tea that happened to have ~700bq/kg of cesium in it, you'd only be getting ~70 in your bag (and that's only if you ate every one of those leaves). So, shincha? Yes! Ochazuke? Not so much.

I still can't seem to find any testing results on tea from Makinohara, though. Hmm..