A friend of mine showed me a photo of Long Jing he found on the internet the other day. After carefully examining the photo, we both agreed that it was a faked Long Jing. The so called Long Jing was actually made from Zhu Ye Qing of Si Chuan. We posted a blog back in 2004 warning people about faked Long Jing from Si Chuan. Below are photos of the most common faked Long Jing on the market. The one on the left is Wu Niu Zao from Wen Zhou, Zhe Jiang, and the one on the right is Zhu Ye Qing from Si Chuan.
Both Wu Niu Zao and Zhu Ye Qing are early harvest teas. Because that early harvest Long Jing demand much higher prices and only have limited productions, some illegal business people chose to fake Long Jing with Wu Niu Zao and Zhu Ye Qing in pursue of maximum profits. Real Long Jing teas have beautiful straight, flat leaves with none or very few hairs. Faked Long Jing, on the other hand, have fluffier leaves, some even covered with hairs. Leaves of faked Long Jing from Zhu Ye Qing are smaller than real ones. Leaves of faked Long Jing from Wu Niu Zao are bigger than real ones. We have more info regarding authentic West Lake Long Jing on our site.
What's in your cup?
Linda
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