Meijiawu Longjing (not quite sure about others) are still from
households, besides, the dealer has to face his friends in government,
and offer them great quality, there must be some quality control
methods.



"Livio Zanini" > wrote in message > ...
> Once upon a time ther was a wonderful place South-West of Hangzhou called
> Meijiawu. It was a lonely valley crossed by many small pure water brooks and
> with tea plants all around. The place, separated from Longjing valley and it
> Lion Peak only by a hill ridge, is the place where one of the four main
> varieties of Longjing tea is rised, and once got the praise and support of
> Zhou Enlai for the quantity and quality of its production.
> The only connection to the road along Qiantang river, South of the valley,
> was a small street, served by some tuc-tuc like small motor-cab (1 every
> hour). If you were there in April you could smell the fragrance of Longjing
> tea cured in every household spreading in the pure air, while the only
> sounds you could hear were those of birds and wind, or the voices of the
> girls talking each other while picking tea. I will never forget that vision
> and the taste of freshly fired Longjing I was offered by some farmers that
> time. But that was some 10 years ago.
> In 2000 a tunnel was opened from the end of Meijiawu valley to the valley of
> Lingyin temple toward Hangzhou. This has become one the main road from the
> city to the South-West. A lot of restaurants and shops have been opened
> along both sides of this road, where Hangzhou people usually go eating
> "yewei" ("wild taste", such as wild game and vegetables), or buying tea of
> course. The treaffic on that road, with its continuous roaring of motors and
> claxons has become the new look and soundtrack of Meijiawu valley. I just
> remember that two years ago, in a Sunday afternoon, I was even unable to
> cross the road for the continuous flux of cars.
> Of course this is the price of modernization (this is what my Chinese
> friends say) but I just wonder how much the tea now produced in Meijiawu can
> still compare with that produced before, in terms of pollution and quality.
> Fortuantely in the area around there still are many places where they make
> good tea. At least now I am not any more that fastidious in getting
> original Meijiawu Longjing!
>
>
> "DLG" > ha scritto nel messaggio
> om...
> > Your question make me recall one of the Chinese saying: There will
> > always be one to throw away when you compare two items and there will
> > always one go to die if you compare a person to another. So according
> > to this theory, just try your best to get some very fresh tea, by all
> > means, and remember how it is, this will be costly, but is the easiest
> > and most straight forward way to compare; how could you compare some
> > real thing with an ambiguous impression, or even with text
> > description, or even with pictures? You will never know the taste
> > unless you take a bite.
> >
> > Get some real Chinese friends help you to order some Longjing from
> > he http://www.zgtea.com/, that is the best dealer online dealing
> > with real Longjing, an offical supplier, though I haven't order any
> > yet, shame. And Longjing is a very good begining to discover every
> > best out of green tea, Biluochun maybe next to it. Beisides, as you
> > could find Chinese people anywhere in the world, I don't think it will
> > be difficult to pick one up around.
> >
> >
> >
> > Alex Krupp > wrote in message
> news:<2004042622451716807%alex3917@hotmailcom>...
> > > On 2004-04-21 12:02:05 -0400, Lewis Perin > said:
> > >
> > > > I suppose it's over-optimistic to expect a green from last year to
> > > > taste fresh in April, even if it's been kept carefully.
> > >
> > > How does one tell if I green tea is still fresh or not? I currently
> > > have a quarter pound of two different dragonwells in ceramic airtight
> > > containers. How long should I expect these to last stored at room
> > > temperature?