Today I picked up a metal box of Dragon Brand lung ching at my local
asian food store. It was five bucks for something that would probably
be pretty mediocre, but the green tea I have was getting kind of stale,
so I figured I'd try it. Anyway I opened it up and the leaves look like
normal lung ching leaves, however the smell is completely different.
Instead of smelling nutty it actually smells a bit like honeydew.
Anyone know what to make of this? I haven't tried brewing it yet
because it rained heavily yesterday so the water will be heavily
chlorinated today, but I am looking forward to it.

Also, for the curious, the label was as follows:

Dragon Co.
DD122 LOT 1476-1477
Tong Yan San Tsuen
North District
Ping Shan N.T.

Alex

Interesting. How does one define "normal" lung ching (jing) leaves?

Honeydew. The tea has begun its fermentation cycle. Keep in the fridge and
drink up soon. If the leaves look pinkish or brews pinkish, time to throw
them away.

Danny

"Alex Krupp" > wrote in message
...
> Today I picked up a metal box of Dragon Brand lung ching at my local asian
> food store. It was five bucks for something that would probably be pretty
> mediocre, but the green tea I have was getting kind of stale, so I figured
> I'd try it. Anyway I opened it up and the leaves look like normal lung
> ching leaves, however the smell is completely different. Instead of
> smelling nutty it actually smells a bit like honeydew. Anyone know what to
> make of this? I haven't tried brewing it yet because it rained heavily
> yesterday so the water will be heavily chlorinated today, but I am looking
> forward to it.
>
> Also, for the curious, the label was as follows:
>
> Dragon Co.
> DD122 LOT 1476-1477
> Tong Yan San Tsuen
> North District
> Ping Shan N.T.
>
> Alex
>
>

Alex /16/05


> Today I picked up a metal box of Dragon Brand lung ching at my local
> asian food store. It was five bucks for something that would probably
> be pretty mediocre, but the green tea I have was getting kind of stale,
> so I figured I'd try it. Anyway I opened it up and the leaves look like
> normal lung ching leaves, however the smell is completely different.
> Instead of smelling nutty it actually smells a bit like honeydew.
> Anyone know what to make of this? I haven't tried brewing it yet
> because it rained heavily yesterday so the water will be heavily
> chlorinated today, but I am looking forward to it.
>
> Also, for the curious, the label was as follows:
>
> Dragon Co.
> DD122 LOT 1476-1477
> Tong Yan San Tsuen
> North District
> Ping Shan N.T.
>
> Alex


Alex,

It has been my experience, and only my experience, that a nutty aroma and
flavor is not a sine qua non of Long Jing (Lung Ching). Sometimes a mild,
little citrus bite takes center stage. If the honeydew smell is pleasiing to
you, I think you're lucky and you hit on something nice. It sounds fine to
me, at least. Another explanation is that you have hit on one of the many
Long Jing-like teas, not authentic, but nonetheless often quite acceptable.

What is the correlation between heavy rains and clorination?

Michael

/16/05

> Interesting. How does one define "normal" lung ching (jing) leaves?
>
> Honeydew. The tea has begun its fermentation cycle. Keep in the fridge and
> drink up soon. If the leaves look pinkish or brews pinkish, time to throw
> them away.
>
> Danny

Danny,
That's very interesting. What does "honeydew" mean to you in this context?
I immediately got a Bao Zhong impression from Alex' description. But, I'm
just projecting, of course.
Michael

"samarkand" > writes:

> Interesting. How does one define "normal" lung ching (jing) leaves?
>
> Honeydew. The tea has begun its fermentation cycle.

By this you mean something other than the enzyme-mediated oxidation
that happens in the manufacture of oolongs and red/black teas, right?

> Keep in the fridge and drink up soon. If the leaves look pinkish or
> brews pinkish, time to throw them away.

Because the microbes probably aren't the ones involved in fermenting
Pu'er?

/Lew
---
Lew Perin /
http://www.panix.com/~perin/babelcarp.html

"Lewis Perin" > wrote in message
news
> "samarkand" > writes:
>
>> Interesting. How does one define "normal" lung ching (jing) leaves?
>>
>> Honeydew. The tea has begun its fermentation cycle.
>
> By this you mean something other than the enzyme-mediated oxidation
> that happens in the manufacture of oolongs and red/black teas, right?
>
Yes, the correct term should be oxidation. Oxidation takes place as soon as
the tea leaves the pan, the more one opens the can of tea the more often it
happens. However, who's to say that fermentation at some point in time
doesn't creep in, especially if the panfrying was not done thoroughly, the
fixation process was not completed. I gather the oxidation will begin the
process, and the fermentation completes it - but we need Dog Ma to explain
this to us...

> What is the correlation between heavy rains and clorination?

Maybe it isn't chlorine, but at least around here the water gets a bit
murky after a heavy rain. Our town's water comes from a river so after
a heavy rain the metals in the soil get washed into the river. In the
northeast of the United States there is a lot of acid rain, so the low
pH of the rain frees the aluminum from the soil and allows it to wash
into the rivers. I think they add a bit more chlorine to the system to
compensate, but I could just be tasting the other stuff.

Alex

Alex Krupp > writes:

> > What is the correlation between heavy rains and clorination?
>
> Maybe it isn't chlorine, but at least around here the water gets a bit
> murky after a heavy rain. Our town's water comes from a river so after
> a heavy rain the metals in the soil get washed into the river. In the
> northeast of the United States there is a lot of acid rain, so the low
> pH of the rain frees the aluminum from the soil and allows it to wash
> into the rivers. I think they add a bit more chlorine to the system to
> compensate, but I could just be tasting the other stuff.

I hope you aren't worried about aluminum, for you're getting 40 to 100
parts per million in your tea.[1]

/Lew
---
Lew Perin /
http://www.panix.com/~perin/babelcarp.html
[1]Banerjee, _Tea Production and Processing_, p. 60

Alex /21/05


>> What is the correlation between heavy rains and clorination?
>
> Maybe it isn't chlorine, but at least around here the water gets a bit
> murky after a heavy rain. Our town's water comes from a river so after
> a heavy rain the metals in the soil get washed into the river. In the
> northeast of the United States there is a lot of acid rain, so the low
> pH of the rain frees the aluminum from the soil and allows it to wash
> into the rivers. I think they add a bit more chlorine to the system to
> compensate, but I could just be tasting the other stuff.
>
> Alex

Hi Alex,

Ah, these are taste additives to improve the quality of river water in the
United States. I take it your town doesn't add raw sewage to the river as
well? Might as well, since it's probably not illegal. Makes *me* proud. You
can taste clorine, but the combination of aluminum molecules combined with
the clorine has got to be a winning combination. (Guess it makes the
discussion as to whether the water is drawn from the edge or the middle of
the river a bit superfluous, eh?)

BTW, we try to send all the bad stuff to NH. VT should be spared.

America! Love it, or leave it!!

Michael