nk.net10/31/03


> I went to brooklyn Ten Ren yesterday and bought some white tea and an
> oolong (that tastes more like gunpowder green). The nice lady gave me a
> scan of a ny times story about tea. It said there are 3000 types of tea.
> Is that true? Are most of them perceptibly different? (more so than
> different harvest of the same type)?
>
> -AK

I find the Brooklyn Ren Ren friendlier and less sales-aggressive than the
Manhattan branch. But then as everyone knows, everything in Brooklyn is
better. If the oolong tasted like gunpowder green, something is amiss, IMHO.
The white tea is a silver needles, I take it. Was it one of the transparent
plastic containers on the counter? If so, it's most likely pretty fresh and
good.

3000 types? Probably a gross underestimate. Yes, each is perceptibly
different. With different tea plant varietals, variants in processing
practices, vagaries of weather and soil, and even the time of day and season
of year the tea is picked, it's no small wonder. To which, I'd add that teas
picked at a particular garden on a particular day -- at least in Darjeeling,
as far as I know -- are sold as a separate "invoices," in part because each
day's picking will taste different from all others. How about that?

Michael