Xian Cha - Long Jing
Have any of you been practicing "xian cha"? The first time I met with the owner of the shop that entertained me Long Jing.
Dec 1st, '12, 14:33
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Re: Xian Cha - Long Jing
or maybe a "xin cha"? "new tea"?
Southern Chinese are often confused about "g" in Chinese pinyin
Southern Chinese are often confused about "g" in Chinese pinyin

Dec 2nd, '12, 09:09
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Re: Xian Cha - Long Jing
AFAIK, waking up the tea is sometimes a step for brewing certain kinds of teas. The wash CAN sometimes achieve the same effect. I haven't seen it much myself in brewing long jing or green teas in general though.
Last edited by SilentChaos on Dec 2nd, '12, 18:47, edited 1 time in total.
Dec 2nd, '12, 17:44
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Re: Xian Cha - Long Jing
Oh I see! Usually I put small amount of water before putting in the tea and then swirl the cup a bit after putting in the tea and before filling the cup with hot water. Somewhat similar to what she does except putting water before the tea.
Dec 9th, '12, 21:10
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Evan Draper
Re: Xian Cha - Long Jing
醒, xǐng, "to rouse." Often used to mean simply "wake up," but the 酉 radical means it has something to do with a jar, specifically to recover from drunkenness!
Re: Xian Cha - Long Jing
Thanks for sharing. I usually flash rinse my LJ before brewing, but maybe some swirling in the first infusion might be a good thing.
Re: Xian Cha - Long Jing
Really no need to flash rinse LJ or most green teas. Maybe brewing 1st brew a bit longer because you are going from dry to wet and the water needs more time to penetrate. Many myths associated with flash rinsing and 'cleaning' most teas.jayinhk wrote:Thanks for sharing. I usually flash rinse my LJ before brewing, but maybe some swirling in the first infusion might be a good thing.
Dec 20th, '12, 14:10
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Re: Xian Cha - Long Jing
Been meaning to try this method for a while. But my Longjing wouldn't sink after several minutes! Guess it got so drunk it wouldn't rouse...the Bon Scott of Long jings.
Jan 10th, '13, 15:30
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Re: Xian Cha - Long Jing
By the way, does anyone have a good source for buying such heat-resistant narrow glass tumblers from the US? It's the kind of thing you can just get at Walmart in China, but nobody in the states has any use for them apparently
Your choices are either a shatter-prone bud vase or an over-insulated space age travel monstrosity.

Re: Xian Cha - Long Jing
How about this? Removing pesticide residue.Tead Off wrote:Many myths associated with flash rinsing and 'cleaning' most teas.
Re: Xian Cha - Long Jing
Pesticide residue is not very soluble in water. Rinse with dish soap or you're not accomplishing anythingbagua7 wrote:How about this? Removing pesticide residue.Tead Off wrote:Many myths associated with flash rinsing and 'cleaning' most teas.

Jan 13th, '13, 21:04
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Re: Xian Cha - Long Jing
Unfortunately, I've been on the same mission without much success. I think we should organize a group to do a large taobao buy for these tumblers. I especially like ones such as these: http://detail.tmall.com/item.htm?spm=a2 ... id=&pm_id= $12 on taobao, but if you could find it in the states, it would surely be $50.Evan Draper wrote:By the way, does anyone have a good source for buying such heat-resistant narrow glass tumblers from the US? It's the kind of thing you can just get at Walmart in China, but nobody in the states has any use for them apparentlyYour choices are either a shatter-prone bud vase or an over-insulated space age travel monstrosity.
Teahabitat has a few http://www.teahabitat.com/store/index.p ... cts_id=336, but I prefer the durable steel tumblers over glass.
Re: Xian Cha - Long Jing
The HK Govt's Centre for Food Safety seems to disagree:entropyembrace wrote:Pesticide residue is not very soluble in water. Rinse with dish soap or you're not accomplishing anythingbagua7 wrote:How about this? Removing pesticide residue.Tead Off wrote:Many myths associated with flash rinsing and 'cleaning' most teas.
http://www.cfs.gov.hk/english/multimedi ... 35_03.html
Also this study from the Tea Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences seems to indicate some pesticides are very much water soluble (DDT isn't, but dimethoate, for example, very much is):
http://www.selamat.wur.nl/NR/rdonlyres/ ... ssment.pdf