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We receive so many questions regarding the antioxidant levels in our teas. In order to provide accurate information to our customers, we decided to commission tests on our teas by an independent and certified laboratory.
We will be commissioning further research across a much larger range of our teas in the near future.
Jun Shan Silver Needle Yellow Tea - A top performer in our antioxidant tests
The tests we commissioned assessed the levels of Epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) which is the most abundant and commonly found catechin/flavonoid found in tea. Flavonoids are the polyphenolic compounds contained in vegetables, fruits and plant which have been the subject of extensive research into their antioxidant effects.
Pre-Rain Dragon Well Supreme Green Tea - the highest green tea in our results
Below we have included a list of the results, showing the amounts of EGCG found in each of the teas we tested. We’ve then given this in the form of mg/250ml serving.
1. Pre-Rain Jun Shan Silver Needle Yellow Tea – 75.25mg EGCG/250ml serving
2. Pre-Rain Organic Dragon Well Supreme Green Tea – 64.5mg EGCG/250ml serving
3. Organic Gunpowder Supreme Green Tea – 61mg EGCG/250ml serving
4. Organic White Peony Supreme White Tea – 50.75mg EGCG/250ml serving
5. Silver Needle White Tea – 39.25mg EGCG/250ml serving
6. Big Red Robe Supreme Oolong Tea – 26.5mg EGCG/250ml serving
7. Yellow Gold Oolong Tea – 14.5mg EGCG/250ml serving
8. Assam Breakfast Black Tea – 6mg EGCG/250ml serving
On our website, next to each tea, you will also be able to see the total levels of antioxidants for each tea. These figures include results for the less abundant antioxidants – Epicatechine, ECG and EGC.
We’ve been hard at work on a number of videos for the website over recent weeks. Above is our latest effort, on our Dragon Well green tea. The video contains information on the garden from which the tea is picked, the picking, and the firing of the tea and explains how each of these affect the end result in the cup.
Our Dragon Well has an extremely thick and full taste and we believe this is due to the fact that the land on which it is grown has been organic for over ten years. The land not been overfarmed so it is still rich in nutrients and this quality comes out in the thick, juicy buds and leaves on the tea bushes.
Posted by: David.
Wendy and Thomas making the videos
If you have spent some time on our website recently you’ll have noticed that we have been producing a number of videos in the last few weeks. So far we have published two videos showing the scenery, production and infusion of both our Hand-made Gyokuro Supreme green tea and our Silver Needle white tea. We spent two afternoons last week shooting for three more videos which Thomas is now editing. The next video which we will add to the website will be on our Dragon Well green tea, featuring the firing by renowned expert Mr Chen.
We have had some great feedback on the videos already. We think they work well and really help to bring each tea to life, from the scenery where the tea is picked, to the production methods and the final result in the cup. It’s great to be able to put the hours and hours of footage we have to proper use and we are glad you’re all enjoying them. If there are any teas you want to see covered, please let us know.
New Long Jing Dragon Well green tea
The highly anticipated new spring teas will be arriving at the end of this week. When Edward arrived back in London last week we all sat down and had a long tasting of all the green teas we’ll be stocking this year. The Dragon Well has a great even shape and the taste is fresh, thick and full.
In addition, we’ll have a Jiande Bao Cha in the green tea range. This is a very special green tea and in our opinion one of the finest green teas produced this year. Personally, I was particularly looking forward to trying the new season’s Anji Bai Cha – as readers of this blog will know, it’s a personal favourite. This year’s crop did not disappoint, the leaves have the same fantastically deep and bright green colour, the taste as sweet, fresh and sappy as the previous crops I have fallen for.
Anji Bai Cha on Gaiwan Lid
Rest assured that as soon as the new season teas have arrived at our warehouse, they’ll be available on our site.
Posted by: David
Last year, I talked to the farmer at our Dragon Well (Long Jing) farm near Hangzhou over a glass of spring tea, about what an amazing job he has done. Typically, with his diligent and modest attitude (he’s one of the last people I know who needs to be modest), he asked me what more he could do to make the tea better.
Absolutely hand-made
We went through everything, noting how he had over the years developed outstanding tea bushes from nurturing the soil through more than a decade of organic farming on previously wild land. This shows itself in the fat, juicy buds on the tea bushes which produce so much flavour and body in each cup. He has carefully nurtured saplings from wild seeded trees. He has also made sure the tea keeps its freshness through having vacuum packing and cold storage on site.
So what more could be done? The shaping could be improved. The firing could bring out the aroma more in order to make the very most of the great raw tea leaves.
I said, to make the tea as good as any Dragon Well in China, I suggested he brought in a top master to make the shape of the leaves during firing perfect. This meant taking on one of the top firing masters in the province. I suggested this hoping (but not expecting it) it would happen.
Mr Chen, expertly firing our Dragon Well green tea
When I arrived at the farm for the beginning of the spring picking this year, I saw someone I had not met before – Mr Chen. He was expertly pressing and turning leaves in his wok, effortlessly, with a look of relaxed focus and care. I chatted to him and got to know about his history. He had been brought into fire tea in the mei jia wu and shi feng – two of the traditional, oldest Dragon Well areas. He agreed with what I think, that the tea leaves here are better in quality than in West Lake with a much fuller thicker flavour by virtue of rich soil which has not been over farmed and fertilized. Sadly, this over production has really damaged the quality of the tea from West Lake, something which I can’t see changing due to increasing demand.
The next day I tasted the tea Mr Chen had fired with expectation. The look of the leaf was exactly what I had wanted. Beautifully consistent, incredible classic Dragon Well aroma and the taste, thick and full. We compared it to some top mei jia wu dragon well and it won the test. This was a really great feeling of achievement. More than 10 years of work on the land, investment in a new factory with state of the art equipment for packing and storage. Finally the investment in the skills of Mr Chen, an expert in the age old skill of hand firing the tea in a hot wok.
Add water and the tea leaves looks almost as fresh as when they were picked
Our new dragon well will be available at the end of the month. We’ll let you know as soon as its in!!! If you want us to tell you when it arrives, just email us though the JING tea website via contact us.
Posted by Ed.
This village up in the hills outside Hangzhou (the famous Chinese tea capital and specifically the place for Dragon Well green tea) is such a special place. If you want to experience what the Chinese describe as good ‘kong qi’ or, to put it very simply, ‘really fresh air’, this is the place. There is no sound of cars as there are none for miles, and you are surrounded by the most amazing variety of trees, mountains and wild life. Green tea has been produced here for hundreds of years and life here is natural, simple and unspoilt.
Chinese village near our dragon well tea farm
One of the best things about the village are the houses. If you’ve been to China, I am sure you will agree that the scenery is great but often the buildings can be a little uninspiring. Here, it’s different. The rust-coloured rooves and cream coloured walls look great.
There are small fields of rape, great forests of bamboo with pointed bamboo shoots ready to be pulled up and eaten. I find that the natural ease of the place (it feels like millenia of natural ease) seeps into me and I feel calm and awake.
fresh bamboo shoot
The whole area has been organically farmed for more than 10 years. I’m going to write more about how this has affected the tea in a good way and how it is superior to West Lake Dragon Well as a result. Being someone who rates taste above all else, I never buy organic tea simply because it’s organic. But the tea here is better because it is organic with the fat, juicy tea buds that the land produces. This cannot be said for every organic tea by any means…more on that later.
Pre Rain Orgnaic Dragon Well Supreme
We came across this article detailing the health benefits of drinking green tea in the Times yesterday. It quotes some research from the Athens Medical School and focuses mainly on the effects of green tea, first on the heart:
“Black and green tea comes from the same plant, Camellia sinensis. To make green tea the leaves are steamed immediately after harvesting and chopping. This stops an enzyme called polyphenol oxidase from oxidising the most powerful super nutrient in the tea plant, known as epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG). In a nutshell, green tea is full of EGCG, whereas black tea has very little”
“According to scientists from Athens Medical School, sipping a cup of green tea has recently been shown in volunteers to widen the artery that runs from the shoulder to the elbow by 4 per cent within half an hour of drinking, suggesting a short-term benefit at least on large blood vessels. This may help to explain why studies looking at large populations of people appear to show lower rates of heart disease and stroke in those who drink four to five cups a day”
Secondly on weight:
“As for your waistline, there have long been mumblings in the nutrition world of green tea having potential effects on fat-burning mechanisms in our bodies. New research in the Journal of Nutrition supports the notion, indicating that it could be fat around our tummies that is the first to be burnt off. The study, on 132 obese adults, showed that while all had the same calorie intake and did the same amount of exercise, those drinking green tea lost 2.2lb more weight (with larger reductions in abdominal fat) over 12 weeks than those who had only a caffeine-containing beverage.”
The article then points out that over a long period of time, this could make the difference between being overweight and a healthy weight. The conclusion scientists have drawn is that “it may be EGCG that speeds up the rate at which fat is broken down in our bodies.”
Thirdly, potential effects of green tea and cancer prevention. Research has shown that “extracts from green tea that include EGCG stop or slow down the growth of some cancer cells”.
While this could potentially be great news, it’s important to note that research is still being carried out in this area and as the Times article explains, Cancer Help UK say “that evidence from human studies has yet to prove that drinking green tea has a cancer-preventing effect in real life”.
Here at JING, we aim to keep up with all the health news surrounding tea and we’ll keep this blog updated with anything we see which is well researched, authoritative and clear.
There is no direct equivalent in English for the French word terroir. Perhaps the closest translation is ‘placeness’ as it refers to the effect that a particular place’s soil, aspect, climate and cultural uniqueness has on the flavour of a food or drink. The term is almost always used in reference to wine but it is equally valid for tea, cheese and ham – in fact any products that derive their uniqueness of taste from the place where they are made.
Wine producers and drinkers have noticed that vineyards positioned only a few yards from one another can produce wine of strikingly different quality and flavour due to the aspect of each field to the sun and differences in soil composition.
This effect is well noted in tea. For this reason, the names of the great teas of China are synonymous with the place in which they are grown and processed – ‘West Lake’ Dragon Well; ‘Anxi’ Tieguanyin; ‘Anji’ Bai Cha; ‘Wuyi’ Da Hong Pao; Keemun tea from ‘Qimen country
A Tea Garden in Zhejiang Province
‘;’Yi Wu’ puerh tea etc. Some of these areas are split into sub regions – for example the West Lake consists of Lions Peak, the Mei Family Slope (Mei Jia Wu) and Tiger Spring. Each of these small areas which produce varied tastes.
Take the outstandingly unique-tasting Bohea from Tingmo Village in the Wuyi Mountains. Compare this to regular Lapsang, and the character of the tea, the flavour, aroma and singularly pale gold liquor demonstrates some of the ‘placesness’ which is never found in the multi-region conventional Lapsang. I believe that anyone could clearly taste this difference, even if they feel that they do not have a good pallet.
Anji Bai Cha trees growing next to a stream in Zhejiang province
Traditionally speaking, West Lake is the place where your Dragon Well should come from. Apart from having an excellent climate, soil and aspect it also houses the most accomplished Dragon Well processing experts. This is not to say that every person you see hand-firing tea near the city of Hangzhou is an accomplished master. However, the area has been a place where knowledge and experience have come together to support the cultivation of this great tea.
I feel that we should not be too attached to the traditionally celebrated terroirs. I have found that fantastic Dragon Well is produced in a small village, which is located a short distance from the West Lake at high altitude. The region is far from any city and many of the tea mountains are organic and foster growth of wild-seeded tea trees. Abundant and varied fauna and floral contribute to a very healthy ecosystem. In terms of taste, the altitude makes the tea more rarefied, mineral and sweet and a little less rich and robust that the West Lake Dragon Well.
Picking a Jiuken Tree in Zhejiang Province
There are other benefits that emerge from seeking tea terroirs other than the most celebrated and well known. Nearly all of the tea produced in the West Lake area is made for the Chinese domestic market. The use of pesticides and fertilisers is nearly always not to European standard. Jiande tea is nearly all organic or at the very least compliant with the strictest European standards. This makes it the only choice for my customers.
Posted by: Edward
