Historically tradenames used among traders and not sellers. The
terminology has creeped into retail. I buy Imperial Gold Oolong from
my local tea shoppe but really is a lightly oxidized TGY. I recently
conjectured that Dong Ding and Green Jade Pouchong is the same tea.
The only consistency there is no consistency in names. I don't mind
the names but to paraphrase Sasha, It's the taste stupid. My green
bings arrived from China with the wrappers in shreads. The cakes were
intact but some flaking so I got a nice green potpourri blend courtesy
of the Post. The seller included a commercial sample of sweet tibetan
yak butter instant tea. He said the salty version was only good for 10
thousand foot plus plateaus.

Jim

Mydnight wrote:
> Ok, now this is something I'm fairly serious about, so bear with me.
>
> What is the deal with the funky adjectives that tea dealers use to
hook
> people into buying? Around these parts, South-east China, we never
see
> "special grade" Longjing, "emperor's" TGY, or whatever else
descriptors
> that can be thrown onto the beginning of the name of the tea. I've
> probably been to around a hundred or so shops around southeast China
> and I've seen TGY, no matter what the grade or price, as simply TGY
or
> Anxi TGY; been to Hangzhou twice now and I've only seen Shifeng or
XiHu
> Longjing (sometimes Meihua Longjing...supposedly the other place
around
> there that produces LJ).
>
> Am I missing something or is it just marketing?