Anonymous B joined in and replied with this 7 years ago, 3 minutes later[^][v]#914,601
puerh is kind of an acquired taste. it's drinkable with good honey if you don't like it plain. are you drinking it because it's marketed as weight loss tea???
Anonymous C joined in and replied with this 7 years ago, 2 minutes later, 5 minutes after the original post[^][v]#914,602
First, was it good quality and aged? Second, like a fine scotch, it is definitely an acquired taste.
Meta !Sober//iZs (OP) replied with this 7 years ago, 22 seconds later, 6 minutes after the original post[^][v]#914,603
@914,601 (B)
No I saw some in a Chinese supermarket and I never tried it before so I was like "why not".
Anonymous C replied with this 7 years ago, 38 seconds later, 6 minutes after the original post[^][v]#914,604
@previous (Meta !Sober//iZs)
It does have an acquired, earthy taste. No doubt about it.
Meta !Sober//iZs (OP) replied with this 7 years ago, 7 seconds later, 6 minutes after the original post[^][v]#914,605
@914,602 (C)
It does taste a bit like Scotch! I guess cause peat is decomposed vegetation and puerh is... also decomposed vegetation.
Anonymous B replied with this 7 years ago, 3 minutes later, 10 minutes after the original post[^][v]#914,607
(Citing a deleted or non-existent reply.)
oh my God shut the fuck up already Jesus Christ
Anonymous D joined in and replied with this 7 years ago, 15 minutes later, 25 minutes after the original post[^][v]#914,624
(Citing a deleted or non-existent reply.)
I did say. > Tea is going to get even less respect
Comes down to respect for a manufactured product. China has never had a good reputation for quality control on anything.
Anonymous E joined in and replied with this 7 years ago, 10 minutes later, 36 minutes after the original post[^][v]#914,626
Are Chinese teas safe from pollution?
Like the Chinese tea industry itself, the answer is multi-faceted and can be difficult to sort through, especially in a shorter article, but I’ll try my best to sum up the factors involved and what you need to consider when buying Chinese tea.
Issue #1
The first cause for concern, the one most of you are probably thinking of, is air pollution and the effect that has on tea growing regions. Unfortunately, lots of Chinese tea has been found to have traces of lead, arsenic, and aluminum. Dozens of studies have proven this fact.
One of the more accessible studies from 2013 took 30 different teas off grocery store shelves and tested them for heavy metals. They found that over 73% of the teas contained traces of lead and 20% contained aluminum above recommended guidelines. The study continued to explain the hazards of large amounts of heavy metals on the body.
Issue #2
The second issue of concern is the use of harmful pesticides. This issue is actually the bigger problem and more concerning than pollution to tea producers and distributors.
Note: I’ve grouped pesticides together here as “pollution” even though that’s not what it technically is, considering it’s entirely purposeful. Whereas the term pollution connotes a negative environmental impact, the term pesticides has been negatively influenced by the industrial use of harmful pesticides. In fact, without the use of pesticides, it would be practically impossible to feed the seven billion people on this planet.
Although there are plenty of studies looking into pesticide use, the most attention grabbing headlines came from Greenpeace when they published studies on Chinese tea (2012) and Indian tea (2014), much to to the chagrin of the tea industry. Their results are worrisome, finding illegal or unlisted pesticide residue in most of the teas sampled, and higher amounts than the legal limit in many samples.
Where is this contamination coming from?
#1. China’s dominance as a coal consumer and the prevalence of their coal producing mines is the biggest reason for contamination. They’re the world’s largest producer and consumer of coal, at nearly half of all global use, with the United States coming in second, followed by India. The refining and burning of coal has been one of the main contributors to the absurdly high pollution in Chinese cities; and there can be little doubt that this is the main factor leading to contamination of some teas from China.
#2. Pesticide use is prevalent in practically every crop on Earth that has high value on the market, especially when it’s grown en masse as a monoculture. Like all plants, tea can be susceptible to pests, thus if you’re a large company producing vast quantities of tea, it makes sense to protect your investment.
Is this cause for concern? There’s too much science surrounding this to ignore it, but when we read the specifics, we can learn quite a bit about how we can become better consumers.
MR MIKE PENCE joined in and replied with this 7 years ago, 1 hour later, 2 hours after the original post[^][v]#914,651
meta over here tryna eat dirt to see if it tastes like puerh tea ??
Anonymous H joined in and replied with this 7 years ago, 10 hours later, 12 hours after the original post[^][v]#914,750
Thee thy or eye re: would NOT NOT NOT drink Sewer Poo-er. YUCK. No no no no NO!
Toodles.
Anonymous I joined in and replied with this 7 years ago, 2 hours later, 15 hours after the original post[^][v]#914,753
@914,651 (MR MIKE PENCE)
You have to be objective when making statements like that. Some people claim Chinese food tastes like shit
Anonymous J joined in and replied with this 7 years ago, 1 day later, 2 days after the original post[^][v]#915,087
I like Lipton tea...with shittons of sugar and lots of ice..