I thank you Ripon, I knew that you had some other things to say and I do
keep copies of important information about particular issues and teas so I
can refer to them again and again. I knew that you had bought from Teaspring
which is why I considered them, and I also know the other companies of which
you speak and though I have not bought from them I haven't heard anything
bad necessarily. It really does boil down to trusting one's retailer I
think...or rather, finding a retailer that one gets good results with pretty
much consistently. I haven't had previous experience with Teaspring and as I
mentioned to Michael above, I am already primed at the moment for expecting
a bad or questionable experience because of the really rotten time I'm
having with another tea company in a totally different country with a
totally different kind of tea...the difference in communication between the
two sellers though has been night and day. So that's encouraging.

I will look carefully at the Long Jing I get though and try to be
more...observant I guess...of it's characteristics. Thank-you again.

Melinda

--
"The country has entered an era in which
questions are not asked, for questions are
daughters of disquiet or arrogance, both
fruits of temptation and the food of sacrilege." Djaout
"Ripon" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> Hi Melinda:
>
> I don't know how much help I can do but I can copy two of my recent
> post from teamail and RFDT to clear it up a little more. The tea world
> is very confusing. Yes, the Long Jing(LG) from Teaspring was the best
> one when I tried that one but then one of my Chinese friend send me
> another LG and it was even better. I still believe Teaspring's LG will
> be very good. It takes long time to realize which tea is the best. when
> you start trying tea from different sources, you start realizing- there
> is no end of quality. All you need some time to try tea from different
> sources.
>
> We have some very knowledgable tea vendors like Seb(Jingtea),
> Daniel(TeaSpring), Linda(teahub) etc. etc. Tea is such a wonderful
> thing- once you start buying tea from the vendors again and again then
> you also start feeling a friendship and bond with some vendors. Seb,
> Daniel became my good friends. Linda also indulged me so many times
> with her valuable tea information. I am in a point right now, where
> most of my tea comes from Chinese vendors. I buy few little tea from US
> vendors now a days though I am still a big fan of Imperial tea court.
> Your tea taste and knowledge grow with tea vendors if they are more
> open, friendly and honest with you. Through this relationship, you also
> start enjoy better quality tea. When customer and vendor both work
> together, the result is much better. Some vendors don't try to
> understand this and at the end they loose valuable customers. I was
> burned many times with Long Jing but now I am in a point where I get a
> standard quality LG. You can be fool once or twice but not forever.
> All you need time and obserbation.
>
> I am pasting one of my recent post , I have blended from teamail and
> RFDT:-
>
> I will add one more
> Chinese way classification of LongJin. Will also talk about how to
> check the
> quality of Superior LongJin tea and the season to buy this tea.
>
> Before posting this thread, I steeped ShiFeng, Meijia and Xihu LongJin.
> All
> of them are good but the shifeng is the best one(mine is
> Qiqiang<Flagged
> Spear> types)
>
> All of this three types has smooth, delicate, chestnut aroma/flavor,
> mouth
> full buttery taste but the difference come during multiple steeping.
> Shifeng
> contain and release the aroma, flavor much longer then the other
> two(Meijia
> and Xi Hu). The tea leaves has also different appearances.
>
> In China, they also differentiate LG three different way:
>
> -Quing(natural)
> -Lu Dou(green nut)
> -Huang Dou(yellow nut)
>
> The real Shifeng LonJig is Quing type.
>
> I have also got this two high grade ShiFeng LongJin. My Chinese
> supplier
> gave me this two description(according to his description):
>
> -First sample(Qiqiang|Flagged Spear|): The Finest grade of ShiFeng,
> only one
> bud and one leaf. The interesting part was, when I steeped this tea in
> a
> tall transparent glass- really it was one bud and one leaf. The bud was
> floating in the water with the leaf pointing upright, just like a
> spear.
>
> -Second sample(Queshe|Sparrow's toung): This was also an excellent one
> but
> after the Qiqiang one with one bud and two leaves.
>
> Above both LG were Shifeng LG but two different fine categories. You
> see,
> their is no end of tea grade.
>
> Of course many LongJin teas are fake, I believe it. Processing high
> grade LG
> green tea needs very skilled hand. I will talk a little about the
> complex
> processing-
>
> During pan frying the leaves requires match the temperature to the
> tenderness of the leaves which only certain tea masters know how. For a
> pound of high grade LG, Tea processor need 25,000-30,000 bud and leaf
> sets.
> The skilled hand snipped off individually. It is not easy to produce
> high
> grade LG by mass production system. It is a full hand made process.
>
> --------------------------------------
>
> Your concern is very much practical about pricing of good teas.
> Example, Long Jing or Lung Ching(Dragonwell green tea) has many
> verities and the price comes by quality and different tea processing
> plant. There are many confusing information about the quality-
> Imperial Shi Feng Long jing and regular Long Jin has far difference in
> taste- their in China, they classified LJ in three different
> categories-
>
>
> 1.Quing(natural)
> 2.Lu Dou(green nut)
> 3.Huang Dou(yellow nut)
>
>
> I got more information about the quality but after drinking more then
> ten different LJ- I found out Imperial Shi Feng Long Jin was the
> best(It is my personal experience). Right now, I am also drinking
> another kind of LJ- Named Xi Hu Long Jin, also a good one but far
> thinner then Imperial Shi Feng Lon Jin. I don't know, how they price
> this teas.
>
>
> Melinda, sorry I can't provide you a straight forward answer because I
> am not a tea master. I like to drink tea, maintain tasting note,
> collect tea information from around the world and compare different
> teas from different sources. I can tell you one thing- there is no
> absolute answer for tea because tea processing methods are always
> changing so do the vendors. We just need few good man to help us to
> choose high quality tea with fair price. Don't just order tea from here
> and there- ask for sample, ask them many questions. Soon you will
> realize, who can full fill your quality tea with fair price. Believe
> me, there are only few vendors who offers good tea with fair price.
> After all very high grade tea production are limited, rest are lower
> quality tea only when you are familiar about quality tea. In my case, I
> have found some. I consider them as my friend not as a tea vendors
> anymore. I believe one thing, they try their best to find good tea for
> me.
>
> Ripon
> Maputo, Mozambique
>