2009 Spring Tea Updates

It is this time of year again – Spring! And yes, new teas are coming! Here are quick updates on some of our popular teas:

West Lake Long Jing – Harvest time expected to be delayed till after March 20 due to recent cold weather. Tea drinkers will have to wait till April for large productions to hit market.

Yunnan Black – The extreme dry weather since late last year has severely delayed this year's black tea harvest. Our producer is expecting harvest to be delayed till May.

Linda
www.teahub.com

Tang Cha Club (唐茶会）

It is not a traditional tea house. You won't find Long Jing, Tie Guan Yin there. However, if you are in Shanghai, it worths a trip there. I like its décor..I like its casual, relaxing atomosphere...not to mention some of its flagship drinks. Here are some of my favorite décor... cute, right?

Linda
www.teahub.com

2008 Spring WuYi Rock Tea Expected to Hit Market in July

This year's spring WuYi Rock Tea starts to show up on market in the recent few days. Industry insiders are expecting all types of WuYi Rock Tea to hit market in July. Recent words from our Da Hong Pao producer were that their Da Hong Pao wouldn't be available till late June, early July. Due to large demand, overall price of this year's WuYi Rock Tea will raise 20% to 30%.

Linda
www.teahub.com

Lightly Roasted vs. Heavily Roasted Tie Guan Yin

I have wanted to blog about green (lightly roasted) vs. traditional (heavily roasted) Tie Guan Yin for quite some time. Finally, I devoted this afternoon to do so. I have long formed my opinion between the two. To be fair, I brewed the two of the same grade (Grade AA) side by side this afternoon and started blogging while I was sipping....

I took a picture before brewing. You can easily differentiate the two by simply looking at dry leaves. Color of lightly roasted Tie Guan Yin dry leaves is green. That of heavily roasted Tie Guan Yin, on the other hand, is much darker – more of a brownish color. Dry leave aroma of the two are also quite different. While smell of lightly roasted Tie Guan Yin dry leaves is soft and floral, that of heavily roasted Tie Guan Yin dry leaves is heavy and roasty.

I brewed up the two and slowly sipped them down... The lightly roasted Tie Guan Yin filled my mouth with soft, long lasting orchid aroma infusion after infusion. It was refreshing, buttery, and sweet. The heavily roasted Tie Guan Yin offered more complex taste. At first, it was this mouth full of orchid aroma with a honey undertone, then a nutty aroma arisen from back of my mouth...It was thick, mellow, smooth with vivid long lasting sweet aftertaste.

Lightly roasted Tie Guan Yin started in the early 90s when Taiwan tea manufactures first entered mainland. It quickly gained popularity in mainland due to its pleasant aroma. Because lightly roasted Tie Guan Yin has some green tea characteristics, it has shorter shelf life and requires fridge storage . Heavily roasted Tie Guan Yin, on the other hand, remains seasoned tea drinkers' favorite because of its complex taste. It has longer shelf life and can be stored in room temperature. Unlike lightly roasted Tie Guan Yin, heavily roasted Tie Guan Yin does not hurt stomach. After several years' retreat, heavily roasted Tie Guan Yin is coming back to reclaim its market.

Linda
www.teahub.com

A Comparison of Xi Ping, Gan De, and Xiang Hua Tie Guan Yin

Inner AnXi is famous for its Tie Guan Yin tea. Xi Ping, Gan De and Xiang Hua are the three most well known tea production areas in Inner AnXi. Tie Guan Yin from the three areas have different charateristics.

Xi Ping is the origin of Tie Guan Yin. Xi Ping Tie Guan Yin is famous for its excellent taste. Its aroma is relatively light. Xiang Hua is the major Tie Guan Yin production area. Xiang Hua Tie Guan Yin is famous for its high aroma and good taste. Mainly younger bushes, Gan De Tie Guan Yin has high aroma but light taste. Gan De is famous for its lightly roasted Tie Guan Yin.

By carefully blending Mao Cha (raw tea) from different areas, tea producters can now offer Tie Guan Yin of good taste and aroma.

Linda
www.teahub.com

Five cups of tea per day may help quit smoking

Need another reason to start drinking tea? Dr. Tao at Beijing Military General Hospital's Addiction Treatment Center told reporters that five cups of tea per day may help quit smoking. According to Dr. Tao, tea not only can help kick the nicotine urge, but also can help detoxification by acting as a diuretic.


Linda
www.teahub.com

Quality of this year's Tie Guan Yin is better

This year's AnXi Tie Guan Yin starts to be available on the market. Due to this year's good weather, quality of this year's production is better. The best time to harvest spring Tie Guan Yin is the several days around LiXia (Start of Summer) . AnXi tea farmers enjoyed several sunny days around this year's LiXia.

Linda
www.teahub.com

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
www.teahub.com

Tie Guan Yin expected to be available after May 1st

We received many inquires about this year's Oolong. Unlike green teas which value early spring young leaves and buds, Oolong teas require maturer leaves that can stand the partial fermentation process.

Although AnXi Oolong started harvest this week, those harvest now are Huang Jin Gui, an Oolong famous for its high aroma. Tie Guan Yin lovers will have to wait till May for this year's Spring Tie Guan Yin. AnXi Tie Guan Yin will start harvest on April 28 and mass production will start between May 2 to 7.

Linda
www.teahub.com

West Lake Long Jing Expected to Hit Market on April 1st

Although some early harvest started to hit market in recent few days, large production will have to wait till April 1. As expected, quality of this year's production is the best among past few years. Shortened pre-Ming harvest period caused shortage in quantity, and that in turn, drove up this year's price by 10% to 20%.

Linda
www.teahub.com

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
http://www.teahub.com/

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
www.teahub.com

Famous Zi Sha Master, Rong Jiang, Passed Away

Ms. Rong Jiang, famous zi sha craftswoman, passed away on Jan. 19, '08 at age of 90. Ms. Jiang was born to a zi sha craftman's family in YiXing, and began to learn to make zi sha ware at age of 11. She designed more than 200 zi sha wares in her life time. Some of the well known ones are: Lotus Flower Teapot, Water Chestnut Teapot, and Lotus Wine Set. Here are some pictures of Ms. Jiang's work.

Linda
http://www.teahub.com/

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
www.teahub.com

CCTV2 – Pu-erh Bubble Burst

After reaching its peak in April, Pu-erh price fell sharply in May. CCTV recently featured a 30 minute program on the Pu-erh bubble and its burst. It documented the sharp rise and fall of Pu-erh price since last year. In large markets like Guangdong, Beijing, and Shanghai, Pu-erh price dropped as much as 40%.

Thinking back, I still could not believe what happened this spring. Heated market kept pushing raw material prices to new highs. As the CCTV program stated, local farmers raised their price expectations in the wake of this extreme Pu-erh heat. Concerns over this year’s new production prices prompted people into collecting past years’ productions. It was quite common to see that the same Pu-erh demanded twice of March’s price in April. Now, less than two months later, it is like game over…

I am happy to see the bubble burst. My affection for Pu-erh remains the same. Pu-erh is still the same Pu-erh. Let’s weed out those commercial plays, and enjoy and appreciate a good cup of Pu-erh.

Linda
www.teahub.com

Palace Museum Tribute Pu-erh is back to its hometown and Pu-erh Price keeps rising

The famous Palace Museum Golden Melon Tribute Pu-erh ended its 20 day journey and arrived at Pu-erh County on April 6. Along with arrival of the century old Pu-erh, here comes another heat wave of Pu-erh. This year’s mao cha prices have raised to 3 to 5 times of last year’s prices.

Although local tea farmers are enjoying another prosperous year, the skyrocketing costs and concerns over overheating have kept some Pu-erh producers and vendors staying on sidelines this year. How high can Pu-erh prices go? Some people have started to propose a Pu-erh future market. Humm… a Pu-erh future market, how do you like this idea?

Linda
www.teahub.com

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
http://www.teahub.com/

Si Mao City Will Change Name to Pu-erh City

The Pu-erh rush is getting even hotter. Recent news reported that Si Mao City, which enjoyed RMB 80 million sales from Pu-erh trade in 2006, will change name to Pu-erh City. The new name will take effect on April 8, 2007.

Si Mao City is happily riding the Pu-erh heat wave in recent years. Half of the city’s populations are working in Pu-erh industry. The city have many future investment projects aiming at boosting Pu-erh and related industries, which the city hope to ring in RMB 5 billion in combined sales by year 2010.

Linda
http://www.teahub.com/

Tags: Pu-erh, Si Mao

Venture Capital Eyes Pu-erh

If you are wondering where the Pu-erh heat is heading, up is the only direction. The RMB 55 million investments from two venture capital companies to a Pu-eh factory caused quite a stir in Pu-erh industry in Kunming. The appearance of Morgan Stanley partner Paul Hill (translated based on pronunciation) even raised people’s expectation in the future of Pu-erh industry. Mr. Hill even expressed their investment interest.

Linda

www.teahub.com

Tags: Pu-erh, Investment, Venture Capital