Green Tea - Why Small Black Flecks?

by Dave
(UK)

Have you ever noticed small black 'flecks' in your Dragon Well green tea.

I've only drank the A grade and Jipin grade and both have these tiny black particles in them.

Any ideas?

Answer:

These are frost bites. During the 4 weeks the Tribute Dragon Well tea is harvested, the climate may turn cold suddenly, resulting in small bits of leaves becoming frozen.

These tiny spots have thinner body, so during the roasting process, they turns black more easily.

Harvesting weather can change any time, so Jipin grade can have black flecks, so can the lower high grade such as the A.

For 2009 harvesting season, the weather did turn cold when the A grade was harvested, resulting in better quality tea (quality is higher when temperature is relative low and shoots grow slowly), but also correspondingly more black flecks in A grade than the Jipin.

Jipin also less likely to get black flecks as the leaves are more tender and more resistant to freeze.

I hope this helps.

Julian