got some Dragon Well,
the 2nd infusion liquor came out a rather intense yellow, somewhat
fluorescent
picture still doesnt seem as i see it,
http://img227.imageshack.us/my.php?i...ingzhonkf0.jpg

are there situations when you can tell color has been added or
something to make it seem more colored than it is?

On Sep 19, 9:28 pm, SN wrote:
got some Dragon Well,
the 2nd infusion liquor came out a rather intense yellow, somewhat
fluorescent
picture still doesnt seem as i see it,http://img227.imageshack.us/my.php?i...ingzhonkf0.jpg

are there situations when you can tell color has been added or
something to make it seem more colored than it is?

SN, agree with your observation. Very yellow indeed.

I don't know any way to tell if colour has been added.

I also don't see why they need to add colour. For longjing tea, the
best quality tends to be pale yellow. There is no incentive to make it
more yellow.

To be honest it looks quite low grade, with tea leaves rather than tea
shoots.

I have got some pictures on a longjing tea for you to compare note.

http://www.amazing-green-tea.com/xihu-longjing.html

Sorry, not very much help. I hope this is useful.

Julian
http://www.amazing-green-tea.com

Well I can't answer your question, but I have a distantly related one
myself. I was brewing some longjing at work and after maybe the fourth
or fifth brew I forgot about it in my yixing-style cup and went home
for the day. The color while I was drinking it was normal.

Yet when I came in the next morning, the tea was a dark brown color
with an oily sheen on the surface. It didn't smell strong or have a
particular strong flavor (I hesitantly tried a small sip before
throwing it out). I was trying to remember if I had brewed something
else that I didn't remember, but I am almost positive it was a fourth
or fifth brewing of the longjing I had brewed the day before. I can't
imagine that my few-month old yixing style cup was "seasoned" enough
to change the color that severely.

Has anyone had brewed tea dramatically change color before?

cha bing

here's a green kuding the right cup is after about 3-4 hours sitting
around

http://img512.imageshack.us/my.php?i...fliquorae3.jpg

That, my friend, is oxidation. (Well, the brownness anyway, not the
oil slick.) It's the same process that causes food (especially things
like avocados) to turn brown when left exposed to the air. Sencha
does this very rapidly-- sometimes in just a few hours it will go from
a brilliant green to an entirely unappealing brown.

-Brent

thx,

it could very well be low grade, it was the cheapest LJ from this
company
3$/oz, i have the more expensive one too a small amount, but didnt
brew it yet

so ill be looking for nice shoots next time

To be honest it looks quite low grade, with tea leaves rather than tea
shoots.
I have got some pictures on a longjing tea for you to compare note.

On Sep 19, 4:28 pm, SN wrote:
got some Dragon Well,
the 2nd infusion liquor came out a rather intense yellow, somewhat
fluorescent
picture still doesnt seem as i see it,http://img227.imageshack.us/my.php?i...ingzhonkf0.jpg

are there situations when you can tell color has been added or
something to make it seem more colored than it is?

In my experience over the years I have found Long Jing (Dragonwell) to
be the #1 most altered, artificial, fake, and just about anything else
you can imagine. It doesn't even matter about the cost, unless you
know and trust the source directly I always say to stay away from it.

Sometimes the oil is due to the roasting process, but more often it is
additives, preservatives, colorings, etc. to keep it looking bright
green and fresh. It is a big tourist/export tea and there is just a
glut of it (99% substandard) to sell to the masses. It's just like
when you go to Jamaica for Blue Mountain coffee, every little cart,
vendor, shop, and kid amazingly sells "genuine" Blue Mountain.

I've even been taken before when I thought for sure I had bought some
decent Dragonwell from Ten Ren. It cost a ton, smelled good, was
supposedly from that season, and in the end it was junk. In fact if
you search the archives I posted a few times about it asking about the
oil slick. It happens.

- Dominic

On Sep 20, 4:28 am, SN wrote:
got some Dragon Well,
the 2nd infusion liquor came out a rather intense yellow, somewhat
fluorescent
picture still doesnt seem as i see it,http://img227.imageshack.us/my.php?i...ingzhonkf0.jpg

are there situations when you can tell color has been added or
something to make it seem more colored than it is?

That looks like a relatively abnormal flavor for "green tea". It
should come out a clear green color. How much leaf did you use to
brew?

I've even been taken before when I thought for sure I had bought some
decent Dragonwell from Ten Ren. It cost a ton, smelled good, was
supposedly from that season, and in the end it was junk. In fact if
you search the archives I posted a few times about it asking about the
oil slick. It happens.

- Dominic

There are often tea shows that come to Shenzhen or Guangzhou that I
attend. Some of the stalls have large amounts of various teas for
sale in big tins and you can walk over and touch the teas. If you
ever get the chance with longjing, put your hand flat down on the
leaves and then see if any of the leaves stick to your hand. The most
oily tea that I have ever seen has been Longjing.

I came across some pretty terribly adulterated Qie She this spring
too. The tea professor's daughter tried to peddle it to me without
opening the box...boy was she surprised to see how oily the tea was.

Hmm maybe the tea is bit older or have been kept for a long time.
green tea that has lost if freshness somehow yields a yellower liquor
with my experience.
idoubt they put color to it.

On Sep 19, 8:42 pm, "Dominic T." wrote:
On Sep 19, 4:28 pm, SN wrote:

got some Dragon Well,
the 2nd infusion liquor came out a rather intense yellow, somewhat
fluorescent
picture still doesnt seem as i see it,http://img227.imageshack.us/my.php?i...ingzhonkf0.jpg

are there situations when you can tell color has been added or
something to make it seem more colored than it is?

In my experience over the years I have found Long Jing (Dragonwell) to
be the #1 most altered, artificial, fake, and just about anything else
you can imagine. It doesn't even matter about the cost, unless you
know and trust the source directly I always say to stay away from it.

Sometimes the oil is due to the roasting process, but more often it is
additives, preservatives, colorings, etc. to keep it looking bright
green and fresh. It is a big tourist/export tea and there is just a
glut of it (99% substandard) to sell to the masses. It's just like
when you go to Jamaica for Blue Mountain coffee, every little cart,
vendor, shop, and kid amazingly sells "genuine" Blue Mountain.

I've even been taken before when I thought for sure I had bought some
decent Dragonwell from Ten Ren. It cost a ton, smelled good, was
supposedly from that season, and in the end it was junk. In fact if
you search the archives I posted a few times about it asking about the
oil slick. It happens.

- Dominic

Sorry to hear about your misfortune. Ten Ren sucks.

Just to clarify - oily almost always means adulterated?

Alex
(drinking some wonderful and presumably unadulterated Oriental Beauty)

Just to clarify - oily almost always means adulterated?

I guess not really...it just seems nasty.

cha bing wrote:

Yet when I came in the next morning, the tea was a dark brown color
with an oily sheen on the surface. It didn't smell strong or have a
particular strong flavor (I hesitantly tried a small sip before
throwing it out). I was trying to remember if I had brewed something
else that I didn't remember, but I am almost positive it was a fourth
or fifth brewing of the longjing I had brewed the day before. I can't
imagine that my few-month old yixing style cup was "seasoned" enough
to change the color that severely.

Has anyone had brewed tea dramatically change color before?

Yes, this is just the result of oxidation.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."