I bought a big box of Foo-Joy green tea bags from an Asian market
recently and when I opened the sealed mylar pouches I could swear
it smelled like some synthetic chemical.

The tea is imported from China and was supposedly some special
Lunqching (sp?) imperial Dragonwell tea or something, but I
wasn't impressed with the quality and it smelled funny and I'm
pretty sure I detected an odd flavor.

I went to see a weird indie movie called "All in This Tea" about
an American tea trader who went to China, India, and elsewhere
in pursuit of the finest batches of tea for his company. In one
scene he is complaining about a chemical smell in a batch of
supposedly quality tea that the official Communist tea collective
is trying to sell him, and he thought it was either fertilizers
or pesticides. The tea collective refused to let him buy direct
from the farmers, so he had no way of contracting for supplies
of uncontaminated teas.

Should I continue drinking the tea or buy some some quality
organic brand? And since most of the green tea in the world
comes from China and since Chinese certifications of quality,
safety, organic, etc. are meaningless, why should I pay more
for "organic" tea that likely is from the same contaminated
fields in Communist China?

On Jan 25, 10:16*am, dank > wrote:
> I bought a big box of Foo-Joy green tea bags from an Asian market
> recently and when I opened the sealed mylar pouches I could swear
> it smelled like some synthetic chemical.
>
> The tea is imported from China and was supposedly some special
> Lunqching (sp?) imperial Dragonwell tea or something, but I
> wasn't impressed with the quality and it smelled funny and I'm
> pretty sure I detected an odd flavor.
>
> I went to see a weird indie movie called "All in This Tea" about
> an American tea trader who went to China, India, and elsewhere
> in pursuit of the finest batches of tea for his company. *In one
> scene he is complaining about a chemical smell in a batch of
> supposedly quality tea that the official Communist tea collective
> is trying to sell him, and he thought it was either fertilizers
> or pesticides. *The tea collective refused to let him buy direct
> from the farmers, so he had no way of contracting for supplies
> of uncontaminated teas.
>
> Should I continue drinking the tea or buy some some quality
> organic brand? *And since most of the green tea in the world
> comes from China and since Chinese certifications of quality,
> safety, organic, etc. are meaningless, why should I pay more
> for "organic" tea that likely is from the same contaminated
> fields in Communist China?

There has been a great deal of discussion here over time chemicals
in tea, etc. and perhaps you can look into the archives for more info.
Regarding FooJoy's Lung Ching (Dragonwell): Foo Joy is usually pretty
good for the price. I, personally, acroos the board, find tea in bags
less desirablethan loose tea.
If you are new to Dragonwell, it can have a "fishy" or "seaweedy"
aroma. It could be that which you are smelling.
There are many vendors who sell reliably "organic" tea online.
Julian, who posts here periodically, is a good one to help direct you.
Shen

dank > wrote:
>I bought a big box of Foo-Joy green tea bags from an Asian market
>recently and when I opened the sealed mylar pouches I could swear
>it smelled like some synthetic chemical.

My experience with Foojoy is it is the worst possible tea. This is the
company that sells the ten-pound bags of oolong for $7 that your local
Chinese restaurant uses to make their dishwater.

>The tea is imported from China and was supposedly some special
>Lunqching (sp?) imperial Dragonwell tea or something, but I
>wasn't impressed with the quality and it smelled funny and I'm
>pretty sure I detected an odd flavor.

I'm not surprised. I would not necessarily blame that on chemicals, so
much as just being really lousy tea. But if you got it in bags, God only
knows what went into the filter paper manufacture.

>Should I continue drinking the tea or buy some some quality
>organic brand? And since most of the green tea in the world
>comes from China and since Chinese certifications of quality,
>safety, organic, etc. are meaningless, why should I pay more
>for "organic" tea that likely is from the same contaminated
>fields in Communist China?

The "organic" label means nothing. Buy some quality tea that isn't
crap. I think what you are encountering is just plain crappy tea.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

On Jan 25, 1:16*pm, dank > wrote:
> I bought a big box of Foo-Joy green tea bags from an Asian market
> recently and when I opened the sealed mylar pouches I could swear
> it smelled like some synthetic chemical.
>
> The tea is imported from China and was supposedly some special
> Lunqching (sp?) imperial Dragonwell tea or something, but I
> wasn't impressed with the quality and it smelled funny and I'm
> pretty sure I detected an odd flavor.
>
> I went to see a weird indie movie called "All in This Tea" about
> an American tea trader who went to China, India, and elsewhere
> in pursuit of the finest batches of tea for his company. *In one
> scene he is complaining about a chemical smell in a batch of
> supposedly quality tea that the official Communist tea collective
> is trying to sell him, and he thought it was either fertilizers
> or pesticides. *The tea collective refused to let him buy direct
> from the farmers, so he had no way of contracting for supplies
> of uncontaminated teas.
>
> Should I continue drinking the tea or buy some some quality
> organic brand? *And since most of the green tea in the world
> comes from China and since Chinese certifications of quality,
> safety, organic, etc. are meaningless, why should I pay more
> for "organic" tea that likely is from the same contaminated
> fields in Communist China?

If you have to ask you already know- when in doubt-throw it out!