Green Tea - Concern about Chemicals, Fertilizers and Sprays

by Anonymous

Julian, I am a huge supporter of your Amazing Green Tea and have placed 4 or 5 different orders now and will continue to. I tell all my friends how great the tea is and how great the customer service is. I have a question that needs to be answered.

I recently was at my aunt’s house and brought some Longjing with me, we know why I took the Longjing. But the problem I am having is the remark my aunt made.

Not about the tea. She loved it.

But when I told her it was shipped right from China she replied with “we may not know what chemicals, fertilizers and spays that may have been used”. She said the restrictions on chemicals, fertilizers and spays are not as strict in China compared to America.

So I told her that most of your tea in Organic because I thought I read that on your site. Do your suppliers use chemicals, fertilizers and sprays to enhance growth?

Thank you
Chris

Answer:

Chris, I understand your concern and I think your aunt has raised a reasonable question there.

It is also right that my teas are naturally organic, with Silver Needle white tea and Huangshan Maofeng green tea being certified organic, and the the Tribute Longjing being tested each year for chemical contents as the tea goes to the Chinese White House.

I think one thing many people forget about tea and China is that tea has been cultivated in China for thousands of years. How did the farmers cope without using chemicals?

This is something that is discussed in the article below, so I won't go through it again.

Tea And Pesticide - Pre-Industrial Farming Without Insecticide?

Chinese Tea And Pesticide - Why Quality Is On The Side Of History

The truth is that for the high grade green tea in China, very little has changed throughout the centuries. Nothing has been industrised. This is not America.

The main thing to remember is that when you buy fruits and vegetables, you try to get fresh products that taste good, and make you feel good afterwards. This is the best guarantee of quality.

The same goes with tea.

If you are drinking high grade tea, especially green tea buds, this is not really a concern. The use of pesticides, fertilizers and other chemicals cannot really improve the quality of high grade tea.

If you are drinking bulk produced tea, such as cheap green teas or black teas, then you have more of a concern. Teas are cultivated much more intensively, and chemicals could be used to improve yields. You can buy organic, but you can't be sure the soil and air are clean.

Because we sell only high grade, the green tea farms we deal with only harvest their teas once every year. These are low yield tea farms. They do not need fertilizers.

Unlike the Western black tea drinkers, Chinese green tea drinkers only drink their green tea harvested in spring.

Also for the high grades (such as AAA and above), tea buds are harvested very early spring when it is still cold. There are few insects. Tea buds are picked on a daily basis. There is no need to use insecticides.

And to put all these into perspective, there is precious few, if any, Chinese tea drinkers that have suffered from insecticides overdose from drinking tea.

More prevalent in China and the West, however, are tea drinkers who suffer from drinking too much because of fluoride and aluminium present in the tea. These are mainly drinkers of mature leaves, such as black tea or pu-erh tea.

In America, a Lipton tea drinker had this problem. But that is because she was drinking processed tea that contains high level of fluoride. At the same time, she was drinking water that also contains high level of fluoride.

But this is not a concern if you drink high grade green tea. This is because the tea buds are only a few days old when they are harvested. They are pure and contain little chemicals present in the soil.

Finally, the question of what does organic certification really means is discussed in the article below:

Organic Tea - Is Certified Tea Better?

I hope this helps. Any question, please let me know!

Julian