Chinese Green Tea - Ping Shui Ri Zhu (平水日铸)

Many Chinese tea drinkers are familiar with Gunpowder green tea, i.e. Ping Shui Zhu Cha (平水珠茶). It is a famous Chinese green tea from Zhe Jiang province. In his book, 4 World-Famous Chinese Green Teas, Mr. Chen introduced Ping Shui Ri Zhu (平水日铸). Although Ping Shui Zhu Cha was evolved from Ping Shui Ri Zhu, the two should not be confused. A historical famous Chinese green tea by itself, Ping Shui Ri Zhu dates back to Song Dynasty. Local government brought back its production in early 80's, and is a having a big push to regain its old fame.

Linda

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West Lake Tea Farmers Grow Back Long Jing Varietal Trees

According to recent news from West Lake, local farmers started to grow back Long Jing Varietal trees last year. Long Jing Varietal is traditional Long Jing tea tree. Long Jing #43 tea tree was introduced in 1970s, and gained popularity among tea farmers due to its early harvest time, which in turn translate into higher profit. There was a period that many West Lake tea farmers cut down their Long Jing Varietal trees to grow Long Jing #43.

Although Long Jing made from Long Jing Varietal and Long Jing #43 share many common characters, they also have some differences. Many long time Long Jing drinkers prefer the taste of Long Jing Varietal.

It is estimated that about 90% of Long Jing trees in West Lake area will be Long Jing Varietal by end of this year. Although Long Jing #43 may start harvest in early March, Long Jing Varietal harvest normally starts around late March. This dramatically cut short Pre-Ming production period. People are anticipating a price increase of this year's Long Jing production.

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Emerald Green Tea – a new star from GuiZhou

Although little known outside China, GuiZhou has long been the home of many famous Chinese teas such as DuYun Mao Jiao, GuiDing Yun Wu (Mist and Cloud). GuiZhou is the only low altitude, high elevation, low sunshine tea region in China. These unique geographic and weather conditions make it one of the best tea grown regions in China.

Emerald Green Tea was first introduced in 2001. Although it only has less than 10 year’s history, it has received many national awards. Mr. ZongMao Chen, the editor-in-chief of the famous Tea Bible, said that in 2001 “The Emerald Green Tea that I had in the past few days tasted strong after 7 infusions. Based on mine many years’ experience tasting teas, quality of GuiZhou tea has far passed that of many other teas, including famous teas such as West Lake Long Jing”.

Emerald Green Tea was made of one bud and two to three leaves from high zinc and selenium tea gardens in GuiZhou. This rare zinc and selenium gives additional medical benefits to this tea. Emerald Green Tea is high in tea polyphenols and amino acid and low in caffeine. Therefore, it has rich mellow taste without unpleasant bitterness.

We will be visiting the producer this summer. More to come!

Tea Lovers at TeaHub
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Purple Lady Green Tea

We first introduced Purple Lady green tea to oversea tea drinkers in 2004, and it was very well received among our customers. This purple color green tea not only has unique color and taste, but also has many medical benefits.

First Purple Lady tea tree was found in 1985. After several years’ R&D, researchers are now able to grow Purple Lady tea trees in selected regions. Purple Lady green tea was made from leaves of Purple Lady tea trees. Its dry leaves are in dark purple color. It has mellow taste and unique aroma. Water of different PH level brews it into different liquor color.

Some medical researches show that Purple Lady green tea can lower blood pressure. Researchers are now studying its effect on weight loss and lower blood sugar.

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How Long Jing Is Made

High grade Long Jing are still being processed by hand. This short video shows how Long Jing is hand made by workers. The first step is called Qing Guo. Workers process fresh tea leaves by hand in 80 to 100 celsius degree woks for 12 to 15 minutes. This step turns tea leaves into initial straight, flat shapes. The second step is to classify leaves into different categories. The third, and final step is called Hui Guo. Categoried leaves go through further process by hand in 60 to 70 celsius degree wok for 20 to 25 minutes. Workers apply different techniques to remove the tiny hairs and compress the leaves into final smooth, flat shape.

After watching this video, will you have more appreciation for the cup of Long Jing in your hand?

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Decoding West Lake Long Jing Grades

We have received several emails from customers were confused by the grading systems different sites use for their West Lake Long Jing. In stead of answering those emails individually, we feel it is better that we address it to all of our customers via our blog.

City of Hangzhou published Long Jing Local Standard in 2005. According to this standard, West Lake Long Jing can be classified into seven grades: Jing Pin(精品), Te Ji (特级), and Grade 1 to 5, with Jing Pin being the highest grade and 5 being the lowest grade.

Both Jing Pin and Te Ji West Lake Long Jing are certified by Hang Zhou Quality Control Center and packed under controlled environment with special anti-fake label and certificate, which allow customers to check authenticity online or by phone. The anti-fake number is 17 digits long and the certificate number is 8 digits long. Only 1,750kg Jing Pin and 2,800kg Te Ji West Lake Long Jing were produced in 2007. The this year's first 600kg Jing Pin West Lake Long Jing went on market on April 7.

While Te Ji West Lake Long Jing is consist of 70% one bud and one leave tea leaves and 30% one bud and two leaves tea leaves, that ratio is reversed in Grade 1 West Lake Long Jing. Therefore, if the West Lake Long Jing you bought is mainly consists of one bud and two leaves, it is not a Te Ji no matter how your vendor rates it.

Video: How Long Jing is Made

Linda
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Bi Luo Chun Will Hit Market Soon

According to recent news from Su Zhou, this year's Dong Shan Bi Luo Chun harvest started on March 21. Large productions will start to hit the market by March 25. Experts are expecting 10% to 15% price hike this year. Price for top grade Bi Luo Chun will be RMB￥5,000 (prox. USD$715) per 500g.

Linda
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Cold Early Spring Weather Will Likely Reduce Production of Premium Bi Luo Chun

Recent news from JiangSu reported that local producers were expecting reduced production of premium Bi Luo Chun due to this early spring's cold weather. Cold weather will likely delay harvest of this year's Bi Luo Chun by 10 days and this in turn will shorten the production period of premium Bi Luo Chun. Overall production of this year's Bi Luo Chun are expected to be similar to that of last year.

Linda
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Cold Weather Will Likely Delay Harvest of This Year's Ming Qian Long Jing

Recent extremely cold weather in many southern parts of China raised concerns over this year's tea productions. Several news reports from Xi Hu (West Lake), the original production region of West Lake Long Jing, suggest that this year's Ming Qian Long Jing will likely start to be available around March 25. Mass production, however, will have to wait till late April. On the positive side, the cold weather killed pests and slowed growth of new leaves, which in turn improved quality of this year's production.

Linda
http://www.teahub.com/

Ri Zhao Green Tea, a gem from northern China

Grown up in northern China, Ri Zhao tea trees have longer winter time than their southern siblings. Significant day-night temperature difference is good for accumulation of many critical contents. Analyses show that Ri Zhao tea has higher catechin (13.7% higher) and amino acid (5.3% higher) than similar products from southern China. Ri Zhao’s unique climate and geographic condition give its green tea clear yellow-green liquor, strong chestnut aroma, mellow sweet after taste, long lasting infusions, and rich contents of vitamins, minerals and trace minerals (selenium >=25mg/kg).

After some extensive search, we are now able to offer the best of Ri Zhao Green Tea to our customers.

Linda
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Ming Qian and Yu Qian Tea

Ming Qian (Pre-Ming) tea means teas plucked before Qing Ming. This year's Qing Ming is April 5, which means teas plucked after that can't be called Ming Qian tea. Yu Qian tea means teas plucked between Qing Ming and Gu Yu. This year's Gu Yu is April 20.

Green tea prices are generally very sensitive to these two days. Ming Qian tea normally demands hefty premiums. Yu Qian teas sometimes can be good bargains. After Gu Yu, it normally is game over for green tea producers with the exception of some northern region green teas, which harvest late due to cold weather. Although some companies produce teas all year long, quality of later harvest is nowhere close to that of spring harvest.

Linda
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2006 First Batch Xi Hu Long Jing Sold For RMB7200 per KG

Recent news from Hang Zhou reported that this year’s first batch of Xi Hu Long Jing was produced in Weng Jia Shan on March 12. Auction price for this year’s first batch Xi Hu Long Jing started from RMB1880 per 500g. It jumped to RMB3600 per 500g and sold in less than 3 minutes.

The first batch Xi Hu Long Jing is Long Jing #43, an early harvest variety. This year’s Xi Hu Long Jing may be available on market by March 20th.

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Most pre-Ming Dong Ting Bi Luo Chun Are Fakes

According to recent news, this year’s Dong Ting Bi Luo Chun won’t be available till end of March. Those available on market now are fakes made of leaves from Sichuan or Zhejiang.

Industry insiders told reporter that even when mass productions are available after Qing Ming, consumers still need to be cautious. Some vendors will mix fake teas into real ones to maximize profits.

Tea Lovers at JinYuXuan Tea House
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This Year’s Xi Hu Long Jing Won’t Be Available Till End of March

According to recent news, this year’s Xi Hu Long Jing won’t be available till end of March. Therefore, those on market now are all fakes.

Experts in the industry told reporter that Long Jing tea buds just started to show up on tea trees. If weather permits, customers should be able to taste this year’s Xi Hu Long Jing by end of March.

Tea Lovers at JinYuXuan Tea House
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Majority of Long Jing and Bi Luo Chun are from Si Chuan

Recent news from ChengDu Business Paper said that 80% Long Jing (from Zhe Jiang), Bi Luo Chun (from Jiang Su) on the market are actually from Si Chuan. According to the news, unethical business people purchase Si Chuan teas at low prices and sell them as Long Jing or Bi Luo Chun at 3 to 4 times the paid prices.

An expert told the reporter that appearance of real Long Jing and Si Chuan tea, Zhu Ye Qing, are quite similar. It is very hard for regular people to tell the differences. Experts from Tea Research Institute also said that Long Jing demanded high prices while its production was low. Therefore, some business people produce Si Chuan Long Jing to make high profits.

For real tastes of authentic Long Jing and Bi Luo Chun, check out our selections. More talks and videos regarding Long Jing and Bi Luo Chun can be found at our Green Tea Talk .

More from our blog: Reading Long Jing Tea Leaves - learn to identify faked Long Jing.

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