I just got around to trying a commercial brand of Green Jade Oolong
from Good Young Co located in Taiwan available in various local Asian
markets. I also have in their Traditional Taiwan Premium Tea series
A-Li-Shan and Dong Ding which I haven't tried. This came in a nice big
box with cord handle. Inside was a tea tin with a seal and inside that
a gold color vacuum sealed foil sealed bag. The price $15/250g/8oz
while my local tea shoppe sells a Pouchong version $10/60g/2oz. The
infusion color of both is a noticeable yellow. The shoppe version has
a better taste. The shelf version has a better aroma. The first thing
you notice about this tea is the clunking sound the big knots from
traditional hand rolling make hitting the bottom of the glass pot. The
biggest surprise of all the infusion reveals consistent stems of tea
with large whole leaves of two and three each. It was enough for a
botany lecture. I remember one other post with leaves on stems. My
biggest surprise of the year so far and certainly in a long time. I
can't imagine a bush lasting very long harvested like this.

Jim

PS: Their A-Li-Shan also has leaves on stems. I haven't opened their
Dong Ding. My first impression of A-Li-Shan. One of the few teas
where strong taste matches strong aroma. You know you have taste buds
when you drink this tea.

Sounds like a tasty tea at a reasonable price, I'll have to keep an eye
out for that. I've had jade oolongs that looked like that, some bigger
leaves than others. It's quite interesting to pull out half a shrub
from your teapot! Another great thing about those very tightly rolled
big leaves is that you can get lots of infusions out of them, greatly
reducing the price per FLAVORFUL cup. I love seeing 3/4 of the leaf
still tightly rolled after the first infusion, means the next cup will
have just as much flavor.

I infuse till the leaves look like mistletoe. The Green Jade and
A-Li-Shan suspend very nicely. I'm not a big fan of multi infusions
but the A-Li-Shan holds up better than the Green Jade. I didn't
mention the price of the Good Young Co A-Li-Shan $10/100g. Damn if I
didn't notice that my last purchase of Xue Feng TiKuanYin from
Chinatown also didn't have some leaves on stems. Not consistent and
harder to spot because the leaves infuse on the bottom and you have to
swirl the mass back up in the pot to notice.

Jim

Josh wrote:
Sounds like a tasty tea at a reasonable price, I'll have to keep an
eye
out for that. I've had jade oolongs that looked like that, some
bigger
leaves than others. It's quite interesting to pull out half a shrub
from your teapot! Another great thing about those very tightly rolled
big leaves is that you can get lots of infusions out of them, greatly
reducing the price per FLAVORFUL cup. I love seeing 3/4 of the leaf
still tightly rolled after the first infusion, means the next cup
will
have just as much flavor.

Their Dong Ding also needs pruning shears. It's as good as any I've
had. All three give magnificent performances in the pot.

Jim

Space Cowboy wrote:
I just got around to trying a commercial brand of Green Jade Oolong
from Good Young Co located in Taiwan available in various local Asian
markets.
....I delete me....
The biggest surprise of all the infusion reveals consistent stems of
tea
with large whole leaves of two and three each. It was enough for a
botany lecture. I remember one other post with leaves on stems. My
biggest surprise of the year so far and certainly in a long time. I
can't imagine a bush lasting very long harvested like this.

Jim

PS: Their A-Li-Shan also has leaves on stems. I haven't opened
their
Dong Ding.

Space 1/27/05


Their Dong Ding also needs pruning shears. It's as good as any I've
had. All three give magnificent performances in the pot.

Jim



I've also had some Oolongs with an inordinate amount of stem . It's curious
that some of these stemmy Oolongs have been more delightful than those more
carefully pruned or plucked. I've been told that sometimes the stems are
left because they have a positive effect on the taste and aroma of the tea.
I believe it. I haven't bothered to do a comparison tasting yet of stemmed
and non-stemmed versions of the same tea, although it would be pretty simple
to prepare.

Michael

In article , Michael Plant wrote:
I've also had some Oolongs with an inordinate amount of stem . It's curious
that some of these stemmy Oolongs have been more delightful than those more
carefully pruned or plucked. I've been told that sometimes the stems are
left because they have a positive effect on the taste and aroma of the tea.

The iron Guan Yin KING from funalliance.com has a lot of stem. Out of
curiosity, I plucked off a couple of these stem and nibbled on them.
Yum! Who'd've thought wood could be so tasty? This was one of the
most delightful (to steal your word) TGYs I've had in a long time (on
the greener side), so at the VERY least, the presence of the stem
isn't enough to ruin it, and I'd certainly believe it improves the
taste/aroma.


N.

On 28 Jan 2005 05:52:13 GMT, Natarajan Krishnaswami
wrote:

In article , Michael Plant wrote:
I've also had some Oolongs with an inordinate amount of stem . It's curious
that some of these stemmy Oolongs have been more delightful than those more
carefully pruned or plucked. I've been told that sometimes the stems are
left because they have a positive effect on the taste and aroma of the tea.

The iron Guan Yin KING from funalliance.com has a lot of stem. Out of
curiosity, I plucked off a couple of these stem and nibbled on them.
Yum! Who'd've thought wood could be so tasty? This was one of the
most delightful (to steal your word) TGYs I've had in a long time (on
the greener side), so at the VERY least, the presence of the stem
isn't enough to ruin it, and I'd certainly believe it improves the
taste/aroma.


Indeed with a more flavorful tea like guan yin wang, but it was also
told to me that the more loose stems that exist in a tea, it lowers
the overall quality.

I remember helping a good friend of mine go through a batch of tie
guan yin that had just arrived from Anxi by hand. The job was to find
the deepest green pieces of tea, discard the lose stems, and pick off
a greater portion of the larger stems. A rewarding experience that
took hours. heh.



Mydnight

--------------------
thus then i turn me from my countries light, to dwell in the solemn shades of an endless night.

Natarajan 1/28/05


In article , Michael Plant wrote:
I've also had some Oolongs with an inordinate amount of stem . It's curious
that some of these stemmy Oolongs have been more delightful than those more
carefully pruned or plucked. I've been told that sometimes the stems are
left because they have a positive effect on the taste and aroma of the tea.

The iron Guan Yin KING from funalliance.com has a lot of stem. Out of
curiosity, I plucked off a couple of these stem and nibbled on them.
Yum! Who'd've thought wood could be so tasty? This was one of the
most delightful (to steal your word) TGYs I've had in a long time (on
the greener side), so at the VERY least, the presence of the stem
isn't enough to ruin it, and I'd certainly believe it improves the
taste/aroma.


N.

All well and good, N; but, as you admit, the word "delightful" in reference
to tea was first used by me. So, in the future please get my consent before
using this word. (As for the rest of you, for a small fee, you may use the
word "delightful" in casual conversation.)

Yeah, this stem thing is interesting. I still have to do a simple experiment
by comparing one of these oolongs with the stems left on and with the stems
snipped off. I'm thinking of one particular example: The best Wulong
available at our local teahouse -- the Big Apple Tea House -- in NYC is
chock-a-block with stem, and is absolutely delightful*.

Michael

*See first paragraph.

Natarajan 1/28/05


In article , Michael Plant wrote:
I've also had some Oolongs with an inordinate amount of stem . It's curious
that some of these stemmy Oolongs have been more delightful than those more
carefully pruned or plucked. I've been told that sometimes the stems are
left because they have a positive effect on the taste and aroma of the tea.

The iron Guan Yin KING from funalliance.com has a lot of stem. Out of
curiosity, I plucked off a couple of these stem and nibbled on them.
Yum! Who'd've thought wood could be so tasty? This was one of the
most delightful (to steal your word) TGYs I've had in a long time (on
the greener side), so at the VERY least, the presence of the stem
isn't enough to ruin it, and I'd certainly believe it improves the
taste/aroma.


N.

All well and good, N; but, as you admit, the word "delightful" in reference
to tea was first used by me. So, in the future please get my consent before
using this word. (As for the rest of you, for a small fee, you may use the
word "delightful" in casual conversation.)

Yeah, this stem thing is interesting. I still have to do a simple experiment
by comparing one of these oolongs with the stems left on and with the stems
snipped off. I'm thinking of one particular example: The best Wulong
available at our local teahouse -- the Big Apple Tea House -- in NYC is
chock-a-block with stem, and is absolutely delightful*.

Michael

*See first paragraph.

Time to get out the wood chucker. The stem and leaf pattern in all
three cases is different. The A-Li-Shan looks like leaf on a grape
vine, the Green Jade has two leaves which terminate at a node on the
stem which has possibly another leaf, and Dong Ding leaf and stem on
leaf and stem. I'm wondering how they roll the stem and wither the
leaf without breaking it which is what you find in most larger grades.
I think it remarkable that there is little or no single or broken leaf.
I'm on my 5th pot of Green Jade and finally the taste comes thru to
match the aroma. I did let it brew a little longer than normal and
added more tea. That infusion is comedy in a pot. The nuggets start
on the bottom, slowly rise to the top, and some fall back to the
bottom, with all meeting in the middle in a wonderful suspended canopy
of leaves and stems.

Jim

Michael Plant wrote:
Space
1/27/05


Their Dong Ding also needs pruning shears. It's as good as any
I've
had. All three give magnificent performances in the pot.

Jim



I've also had some Oolongs with an inordinate amount of stem . It's
curious
that some of these stemmy Oolongs have been more delightful than
those more
carefully pruned or plucked. I've been told that sometimes the stems
are
left because they have a positive effect on the taste and aroma of
the tea.
I believe it. I haven't bothered to do a comparison tasting yet of
stemmed
and non-stemmed versions of the same tea, although it would be pretty
simple
to prepare.

Michael

"Michael Plant" wrote in message
...
All well and good, N; but, as you admit, the word "delightful" in
reference
to tea was first used by me. So, in the future please get my consent
before
using this word. (As for the rest of you, for a small fee, you may use the
word "delightful" in casual conversation.)
....

Michael

*See first paragraph.


So, how much for using "delightful"?
And what about forms of the word, like "delight", or "delighted"?
Would I have give you credit every time I used your word?
:-)

I've read that the reason there is stem in these oolongs is because
they often use the entire leaf shoot. The only problem I can think of
is that the stems add to the overall weight of the tea. This has got me
wondering what 100g of stemmy oolong would weigh if all of the stems
were removed.

StudentA%uKd.98653$Wo.16687@lakeread081/28/05


"Michael Plant" wrote in message
...
All well and good, N; but, as you admit, the word "delightful" in
reference
to tea was first used by me. So, in the future please get my consent
before
using this word. (As for the rest of you, for a small fee, you may use the
word "delightful" in casual conversation.)
...

Michael

*See first paragraph.


So, how much for using "delightful"?

If you have to ask, you probably can't afford it.

And what about forms of the word, like "delight", or "delighted"?

We'll work something out, student.

Would I have give you credit every time I used your word?

Of course. But, for the cost of a small planet, I could sell you the rights.

Hope this helps.

Michael

1/29/05


I've read that the reason there is stem in these oolongs is because
they often use the entire leaf shoot. The only problem I can think of
is that the stems add to the overall weight of the tea. This has got me
wondering what 100g of stemmy oolong would weigh if all of the stems
were removed.


Some vendors do sell the same tea stemmed and de-stemmed. The price of the
later is of course considerably more.

Michael

I'm going to say the stem in the three types of Taiwan Tea from Good
Young is no more than 15% by weight. Lots of leaf weight versus stem
weight. I'm wondering in this case of leaf on stem is a result of some
mechanical harvesting which AFAIK is still only produced by labor.
Even if produced by labor I'd say still cheaper than plucking each leaf
by hand. I've seen other posts in this thread mentioning stem being a
problem in oolong. I've never seen an oolong where I thought broken
loose stem was a problem perse. Traditional methods involve plucking
and not pruning. I mention these teas as a wonderful example of leaf
on stem for your viewing pleasure. I also think an excellent example
of price and taste in a commercial tin.

Jim

Michael Plant wrote:
1/29/05


I've read that the reason there is stem in these oolongs is because
they often use the entire leaf shoot. The only problem I can think
of
is that the stems add to the overall weight of the tea. This has
got me
wondering what 100g of stemmy oolong would weigh if all of the
stems
were removed.


Some vendors do sell the same tea stemmed and de-stemmed. The price
of the
later is of course considerably more.

Michael