Mike was looking for a specific tea with a range of oxidation. I
suggested Darjeeling and TKY. It triggered another question in my
mind. Many of my Chinese green teas have the expected dried and wet
green look. Id say just as many have dont look green at all dried but
do wet. A black and white BiLuoChun comes to mind. Im looking at
Tianmu Yunding and Id say it is a black tea with lots of white tip.
The black and white look seems to be the majority of the other off
hand green look. I use black here but I could have well have used red
like the dried look of Keemun. Over the long haul I learned to judged
the difference between green,oolong,black by the color of the spent
leaf. I leave out Yellow and White too not complicate the
discussion. The traditional black/white Oriental Beauty shows dull
red spent leaf meaning oolong verus the bright red of a Hong like
Keemun. So basically for Chinese green teas at least you cant tell a
tea by the dried color. The only way to be absolutely sure is look it
up in a good reference book or my method of looking at the spent
leaf. I think Indian green,oolong,black teas are more straight
forward where there is a tipping point in the oxidation levels visible
in dried leaf color which doesnt seem to apply to Chinese.

Jim

On Feb 9, 6:48*am, wrote:
> Mike was looking for a specific tea with a range of oxidation. *I
> suggested Darjeeling and TKY. *It triggered another question in my
> mind. *Many of my Chinese green teas have the expected dried and wet
> green look. *Id say just as many have dont look green at all dried but
> do wet. *A black and white BiLuoChun comes to mind. *Im looking at
> Tianmu Yunding and Id say it is a black tea with lots of white tip.
> The black and white look seems to be the majority of the other off
> hand green look. *I use black here but I could have well have used red
> like the dried look of Keemun. *Over the long haul I learned to judged
> the difference between green,oolong,black by the color of the spent
> leaf. *I leave out Yellow and White too not complicate the
> discussion. *The traditional black/white Oriental Beauty shows dull
> red spent leaf meaning oolong verus the bright red of a Hong like
> Keemun. *So basically for Chinese green teas at least you cant tell a
> tea by the dried color. *The only way to be absolutely sure is look it
> up in a good reference book or my method of looking at the spent
> leaf. *I think Indian green,oolong,black teas are more straight
> forward where there is a tipping point in the oxidation levels visible
> in dried leaf color which doesnt seem to apply to Chinese.
>
> Jim

You can tell a lot from the color the tea produces when brewed as to
how long it was cooked or oxidized. Usually the darker it is, the
longer it was fired. The "qing xiang" (lightly cooked) vs. "nong
xiang" (heavily cooked) doesn't only refer to flavor; color of the tea
as well.

The Chinese use infused tea color as one way of determining
white,yellow,green,blue,red,black. It is a little more accurate than
dried leaf but it isnt foolproof. This book I own shows
dried,wet,infusion for every tea listed.
http://tinyurl.com/azmokm
Every infused blue(qinq) looks green,red. There is no difference
between yellow and some green. As I said the tipping point isnt
apparent. You look up the classification in a book like this. Ive
been able to identify some unknown Chinese teas using the three
criteria.

Jim

On Feb 11, 8:52 am, Mydnight > wrote:
> On Feb 9, 6:48 am, wrote:
> > Mike was looking for a specific tea with a range of oxidation. I
> > suggested Darjeeling and TKY. It triggered another question in my
> > mind. Many of my Chinese green teas have the expected dried and wet
> > green look. Id say just as many have dont look green at all dried but
> > do wet. A black and white BiLuoChun comes to mind. Im looking at
> > Tianmu Yunding and Id say it is a black tea with lots of white tip.
> > The black and white look seems to be the majority of the other off
> > hand green look. I use black here but I could have well have used red
> > like the dried look of Keemun. Over the long haul I learned to judged
> > the difference between green,oolong,black by the color of the spent
> > leaf. I leave out Yellow and White too not complicate the
> > discussion. The traditional black/white Oriental Beauty shows dull
> > red spent leaf meaning oolong verus the bright red of a Hong like
> > Keemun. So basically for Chinese green teas at least you cant tell a
> > tea by the dried color. The only way to be absolutely sure is look it
> > up in a good reference book or my method of looking at the spent
> > leaf. I think Indian green,oolong,black teas are more straight
> > forward where there is a tipping point in the oxidation levels visible
> > in dried leaf color which doesnt seem to apply to Chinese.
>
> > Jim
>
> You can tell a lot from the color the tea produces when brewed as to
> how long it was cooked or oxidized. Usually the darker it is, the
> longer it was fired. The "qing xiang" (lightly cooked) vs. "nong
> xiang" (heavily cooked) doesn't only refer to flavor; color of the tea
> as well.