A woman at my workplace (of the Vietnamese persuasion) noted my
fascination with tea and brought me a bag of some that her friend
supplies.

It first came in a foil bag, looking to be about 3-4 ounces in
quantity. The leaves were dark green, thin twists (somewhat resembling
the leaves of Adagio's "green pekoe" but smaller) and brewed up quite
tasty, though more astringent than Adagio's offering. She said she
could bring more, for a dollar a bag. My reply: "I'll buy that for a
dollar!" :-)

So last week she brought me five bags, which turn out to be 100g each.
They are also in small cardboard box/envelopes proclaiming the contents
"Jasmine Tea" from "TRAMCOR" Trade of American Corp. and furthermore,
"Product of Vietnam".

If there's any jasmine in this, it's too subtle for my nose. I quite
like it though, and can get three infusions from a spoonful of leaf so
it's certainly economical (hey Space Cowboy, it's at your
"penny-a-gram" price point :-)). I'm still waiting to find out what
other offerings her friend has.

There is contact info for "Tramcor" on the box,
247 SW 41st Street
Renton, WA 98055, USA
Tel: 1-866-571-5719
fax: (425) 656-9103
but I find nothing googling the company, and the website
www.hooktea.com is a dead link. I haven't tried dialing the phone yet
but I'm not hopeful.

Good tea, though. I'll buy more of it for as long as her friend has a
supply.


stePH
--
I'll brew another pot of ambiguity
-- King Crimson, 2002

How much do you want, for office use or business?

-------------------------------------------------
Vietnam - www.waytovietnam.com/culture.asp

stePH wrote:
So last week she brought me five bags, which turn out to be 100g each.
They are also in small cardboard box/envelopes proclaiming the contents
"Jasmine Tea" from "TRAMCOR" Trade of American Corp. and furthermore,
"Product of Vietnam".

If there's any jasmine in this, it's too subtle for my nose. I quite
like it though, and can get three infusions from a spoonful of leaf so
it's certainly economical (hey Space Cowboy, it's at your
"penny-a-gram" price point :-)). I'm still waiting to find out what
other offerings her friend has.

A lot of Vietnamese teas seem to be sold as jasmine in the US, even though
they are clearly not. I have a can here from "New Japan International"
in LA that reads "Jasmine tea" in English, "Tra Sen Co Do Hue" in Vietnamese,
and has some Chinese characters. "Tra Sen Co Do Hue" means "Hue style
lotus tea," which it actually is. I have not deciphered the Chinese but
there is at least the character for lotus in it.

Anybody opening up the can and expecting jasmine tea will be getting a
very rude shock.

I have seen a couple unscented green teas in the markets, also with
"Jasmine Tea" in English, but with accurate description in Vietnamese
below.
--scott


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

(Scott Dorsey) writes:

[...]

A lot of Vietnamese teas seem to be sold as jasmine in the US, even
though they are clearly not. I have a can here from "New Japan
International" in LA that reads "Jasmine tea" in English, "Tra Sen
Co Do Hue" in Vietnamese, and has some Chinese characters. "Tra Sen
Co Do Hue" means "Hue style lotus tea," which it actually is. I
have not deciphered the Chinese but there is at least the character
for lotus in it.

Have you tasted it? Is it good?

And what do they mean by "lotus tea"? Are there lotus blossom pieces
in the can?

Would you like to load and link to a photo of the Chinese characters?

/Lew
---
Lew Perin /
http://www.panix.com/~perin/babelcarp.html

Lewis Perin wrote:
(Scott Dorsey) writes:
[...]

A lot of Vietnamese teas seem to be sold as jasmine in the US, even
though they are clearly not. I have a can here from "New Japan
International" in LA that reads "Jasmine tea" in English, "Tra Sen
Co Do Hue" in Vietnamese, and has some Chinese characters. "Tra Sen
Co Do Hue" means "Hue style lotus tea," which it actually is. I
have not deciphered the Chinese but there is at least the character
for lotus in it.

Have you tasted it? Is it good?

Oh, yes, of course.

And what do they mean by "lotus tea"? Are there lotus blossom pieces
in the can?

Yes. This is a traditional Vietnamese tea and you'll see it served all
over Vietnam, though it is not as popular as the Jasmine. I've been drinking
it for decades. It is very heavy stuff.

Would you like to load and link to a photo of the Chinese characters?

I may be able to scan and e-mail as a pdf. Would you be okay with that?
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

Travel Vietnam wrote:
How much do you want, for office use or business?

Are you offering up some for sale?

stePH
in cup: rooibos peach (from Teavana)

No, i 'm not tea business man? I only wonder how much you want, because
you said " I 'll buy as long as her friend supply"
However, i'm vietnamese, so if you really want to buy for making a
business (because I know that jasmine tea is verywonderful and it';s
almost only in Vietnam), i may find a supplier for you (without any
charge, just help).
Anybody know how to make jasmine tea? I will tell you the story iin
the next.
-----------------------------------------------------
Vietnam Culture - www.waytovietnam.com/culture.asp

Travel Vietnam wrote:
... (because I know that jasmine tea is verywonderful and it';s
almost only in Vietnam) ...

I wonder if you've ever heard of a little country called "China" ;-)
It's actually not far from Vietnam.


stePH
--
I'll brew another pot of ambiguity.
-- King Crimson, 2002

2/27/06



Travel Vietnam wrote:
... (because I know that jasmine tea is verywonderful and it';s
almost only in Vietnam) ...

I wonder if you've ever heard of a little country called "China" ;-)
It's actually not far from Vietnam.


stePH

Come on, StePH. Leave the guy a little national pride.
Michael

Lew,

This is the one I told you about in NY. As I said before this one is "lotus
flavored" - C. Sinensis tea somehow flavored with lotus apparently not
unlike jasmine. There is also a lotus tea - made of lotus flowers produced
(at least) around ChengDe.
I usually not very fond of "flower teas" as well as "flavored teas" , but I
liked both. The lotus flower I bought in China, the Vietnamese
lotus-flavored - here in Reno.

Sasha.


"Dominic T." wrote in message
oups.com...
Scott Dorsey wrote:
And what do they mean by "lotus tea"? Are there lotus blossom pieces
in the can?

Yes. This is a traditional Vietnamese tea and you'll see it served all
over Vietnam, though it is not as popular as the Jasmine. I've been
drinking
it for decades. It is very heavy stuff.

There is a Tazo brand Lotus root green tea that is actually pretty good
and nice and light. I've come across a few lotus flavored teas and I'm
always up for them, I'll have to track down some of this Vietnamese
lotus tea... we have a few Vietnamese groceries around here. I
generally don't shop in them because they are both very dirty and stuff
is thrown everywhere. and used bowls from their lunch are sitting on
the same shelf as new ones for sale.

- Dominic

stePH wrote:

If there's any jasmine in this, it's too subtle for my nose.

That's interesting. I've tasted many jasmine teas - some good, some
horrible, some just a way to give flavor to very cheap tea - but I've
never had to complain about subtlety. Could Vietnamese use "Jasmine"
in another sense, to indicate a nice aroma but not, necessarily, due
to the flower? Like jasmine rice?

Best,

Rick.

(Scott Dorsey) writes:

[...]

I may be able to scan and e-mail as a pdf. Would you be okay with that?

Thanks for sending the PDF of a photo of the can. There are four
characters, and unfortunately I was able to figure out only the first
three:

Cha = tea
Xin = pith
Lian = lotus

To visualize the fourth character, think of quadrants. What you see
is:

NW = river (3 strokes)
NE = head (9 strokes)
SW = person (2 strokes)
SE = spoon (2 strokes)

Anyone know what character that forms?

/Lew
---
Lew Perin /
http://www.panix.com/~perin/babelcarp.html

"Scientist" writes:

[...lotus tea...]

This is the one I told you about in NY. As I said before this one is "lotus
flavored" - C. Sinensis tea somehow flavored with lotus apparently not
unlike jasmine. There is also a lotus tea - made of lotus flowers produced
(at least) around ChengDe.
I usually not very fond of "flower teas" as well as "flavored teas" , but I
liked both. The lotus flower I bought in China, the Vietnamese
lotus-flavored - here in Reno.

I wonder if the reason for the confusion about jasmine vs. lotus is
that the Vietnamese, like the Chinese, often just refer to "flower
tea" in their own language without being specific. Then, when they
make a label for a tea being exported, they might get careless about
which flower it is?

/Lew
---
Lew Perin /
http://www.panix.com/~perin/babelcarp.html

No idea.
May be some local geographical name.

Sasha.


"Lewis Perin" wrote in message
news
(Scott Dorsey) writes:

[...]

I may be able to scan and e-mail as a pdf. Would you be okay with that?

Thanks for sending the PDF of a photo of the can. There are four
characters, and unfortunately I was able to figure out only the first
three:

Cha = tea
Xin = pith
Lian = lotus

To visualize the fourth character, think of quadrants. What you see
is:

NW = river (3 strokes)
NE = head (9 strokes)
SW = person (2 strokes)
SE = spoon (2 strokes)

Anyone know what character that forms?

/Lew
---
Lew Perin /
http://www.panix.com/~perin/babelcarp.html

May be.
In our country, Jasmine and Lotus is not the same, but isn't it in your
language? So, when you say "jasmine tea", what do you mean?
In Vietnam, we use Jasmine Tea for Tea which has been processed with
Jasmine flower, and Lotus Tea for tea which has been processed with
Lotus flower. So, they 're different and make difference flavours, of
course.

Lewis Perin wrote:
"Scientist" writes:

[...lotus tea...]

This is the one I told you about in NY. As I said before this one is "lotus
flavored" - C. Sinensis tea somehow flavored with lotus apparently not
unlike jasmine. There is also a lotus tea - made of lotus flowers produced
(at least) around ChengDe.
I usually not very fond of "flower teas" as well as "flavored teas" , but I
liked both. The lotus flower I bought in China, the Vietnamese
lotus-flavored - here in Reno.

I wonder if the reason for the confusion about jasmine vs. lotus is
that the Vietnamese, like the Chinese, often just refer to "flower
tea" in their own language without being specific. Then, when they
make a label for a tea being exported, they might get careless about
which flower it is?

/Lew
---
Lew Perin /
http://www.panix.com/~perin/babelcarp.html