Reading the Tea Leaves

In Part 1 I suggested a simple formula to calculate tea prices by the pound, if pricing is not presented by that unit, so that there is one standard for comparison shopping.  In that previous post I listed prices I found for Special Grade Gunpowder Green.

As I mentioned in the introduction, for the most part I’ve not had much need to buy teas at retail, so as I began to pay more attention to pricing, the exercise became more than curiosity because the range was so great, even for the same type and quality of tea.

Now, turning to Jasmine Green teas, another popular group of everyday teas:  my examples are presented in ascending order in terms of quality, so keep this in mind because the price definitely do not give consistent clues about quality.

Here, first, is a China Jasmine priced at $6.99 for 4 oz ($27.96/lb).

The stems and stalks are evident; some particles and flakes are mixed in with the leaves, and some petals are visible.

Very little jasmine aroma detected.   I consider this at best a 5th grade tea, so the price is quite astonishing.  (For fair value, the ought to have been about a tenth of what I found.)

Second is a China Jasmine priced at $6.50/lb.  This photo shows the quantity for which I paid $1 (!), which represents 2.46 oz.

The tea smelled woodsy rather than floral, and as the photo shows, the tea had a mix of blossoms among the largish leaves; stalks were also visible.  Leaves were thick, long, and robust.

The next tea is one I described in an earlier post about grades of Jasmine teas.

I noted that this was probably not a Fujian origin Jasmine; the price was $7 for 4 oz, or $28/lb.  I judged the tea to be no higher than a 2nd grade, probably a 3rd grade.  The bouquet of jasmine was present, but the aroma did not have the finesse of better quality teas.  Keep this tea and price in mind for another couple of paragraphs.

Turning now to some packaged Jasmine teas:  here is one that is widely distributed, bearing a brand well known in Fujian, and is a 1st grade Jasmine.

I recently saw the one-pound tin at a Chinese grocery priced at $7.95.  I saw the same tea in a 4 oz tin priced at $4.99 ($19.96/lb !) in another ethnic (not Chinese) specialty grocery.

The next photo shows the tea from a tin holding 75 g (2.64 oz – here, one would need a calculator) and priced at $7.99, which comes to $48.37/lb.

I describe this tea in conjunction with another tea packed in a tin, this one a Yin Hao (Silver Tip) under the Butterfly brand, well-established and fairly reliable, again, from Fujian.

At a Chinese supermarket, this silver tin (150 g or 5.29 oz) of Yin Hao Jasmine, a top grade, sold for $9.95, or $30.09/lb.  And alongside that was a Jasmine that was one grade down, a Chun Feng – still a very fine tea – priced at $8.95 for 150 g, or about $27/lb.  And here is where I must call attention to the $28/lb Jasmine mentioned earlier that I considered to be a 2nd or 3rd grade tea — very different quality teas and the far superior one at a dollar less per pound than the middling tea.

Now, to compare the $9.95 tin of Yin Hao ($30.09/lb) with the $7.99 tin of Jasmine Green ($48.37/lb):

The Butterfly brand of Yin Hao Jasmine has been in the same silver cylindrical tin for as long as I can remember, with perhaps very minor alterations in the design over the years.  There is little information on the packaging to convey the quality of the product inside, unless one was already clued in as to the meaning of “yin hao.”   As I opened one tin recently, the tea seemed to hold fewer silver tips than the image I held in mind from years ago.

As for the $7.99 tin of Jasmine, the leaves depicted on the tin show a a good proportion of silver, which seemed a bit wanting in the actual leaves.

The leaves were not quite as neat or tippy as those in the Yin Hao, although both tasted very good — solid, classic jasmine bouquet and flavor, not overpowering, delicate but definitely present.  I thought the jasmine scenting in the Yin Hao ($30.09/lb) was better; the aroma was deeper without being cloying, and it is appropriate to be reminded that we owe much of what we taste to our sense of smell.  The jasmine finish was better too in the Yin Hao, but this features is probably something one picks up only when there is another tea for comparison.  As a stand-alone beverage, the more expensive but lesser Jasmine would be considered quite fine.

I need to mention a Jasmine mentioned in an earlier post–  a Hao Ya Jasmine that I consider delicious, visually appealing, and a great value.  Here is the photo again:

So if you see a Jasmine with this appearance (plenty of silvery strands) and if it’s under $30 or so per pound, it is probably a good buy.

On the subject of Jasmine teas, I saw one price for Jasmine Pearls that seemed too good to be true.  This tea usually sells for over $100/lb and here was one for $48.95/lb.

Thinking it might be a good gift for friends I was about to visit in Massachusetts, I bought 4 ounces.  Good thing I tried the tea first before presenting it as a gift.  At the store, I knew that the quality was not the highest: the relatively dark shading of the pearls told me at least that much.

The size was about right, 0.5 cm and just under.  There was definitely silver intertwined in the pearls, but once steeped, the basis of the low price became evident.

Here is a photo of what high quality Jasmine Pearls ought to look like after steeping:

and why would you settle for a lesser quality when buying this tea?

Here is the tea I bought (the $48/95/lb Jasmine Pearls tea):

Most of the “leaves” used to make the pearls turned out to consist largely of stems; that is, there is more stem than bud in the tea material.  Each “leaf” was long, 8 cm or around 3″.  The brew itself was surprisingly dark, again, an indication of the raw material used – more stem than bud.

The liquor was orange rather than gold, as the brew ought to have been had more buds been used to make the pearls.  The taste was acceptable, with a fairly strong tea taste relative to the jasmine component, with a little bitter edge at the finish.  Even at half the price of what one would ordinarily pay for this variety, this was no bargain.

Finally, a box of “Jasmine Pearl Tea” deserves mention because the photo on the box, in the front, showed loose (and I thought, fairly broken leaves) leaves, jasmine petals, but no pearls.  My reaction was: what did the people behind this brand take “Jasmine Pearl Tea” to mean?  A box of 15 sachets making a total net weight of 37.5 grams was $8.99, which hardly seems excessive, until you do the math and learn this comes to $108/lb — now, that’s exorbitant.

In sum, the $6.50/lb Jasmine I found was no bargain; it was cheap but not very good tea.  I have also bought Jasmine that was $19/lb and found it to be a restaurant grade (5th or 6th grade).  My examples above showed teas for around $30/lb that were poor value for the price (the Jasmine that was $7 for 4 oz) and also teas that were of excellent value, such as the Chun Feng Jasmine.  The caveat that the consumer should have some knowledge of the (tea) product holds even more true for higher priced teas, but even at this $20-30/lb range, it pays to know your teas.

Part 3:  more prices for Green, White, and Oolong teas.