Dragon Brand Lung Ching

Today I picked up a metal box of Dragon Brand lung ching at my local
asian food store. It was five bucks for something that would probably
be pretty mediocre, but the green tea I have was getting kind of stale,
so I figured I'd try it. Anyway I opened it up and the leaves look like
normal lung ching leaves, however the smell is completely different.
Instead of smelling nutty it actually smells a bit like honeydew.
Anyone know what to make of this? I haven't tried brewing it yet
because it rained heavily yesterday so the water will be heavily
chlorinated today, but I am looking forward to it.

Also, for the curious, the label was as follows:

Dragon Co.
DD122 LOT 1476-1477
Tong Yan San Tsuen
North District
Ping Shan N.T.

Alex

Interesting. How does one define "normal" lung ching (jing) leaves?

Honeydew. The tea has begun its fermentation cycle. Keep in the fridge and
drink up soon. If the leaves look pinkish or brews pinkish, time to throw
them away.

Danny

"Alex Krupp" <alex.krupp@> wrote in message
news:dlg5b8$b75$1@ruby.cit.cornell.edu...
> Today I picked up a metal box of Dragon Brand lung ching at my local asian
> food store. It was five bucks for something that would probably be pretty
> mediocre, but the green tea I have was getting kind of stale, so I figured
> I'd try it. Anyway I opened it up and the leaves look like normal lung
> ching leaves, however the smell is completely different. Instead of
> smelling nutty it actually smells a bit like honeydew. Anyone know what to
> make of this? I haven't tried brewing it yet because it rained heavily
> yesterday so the water will be heavily chlorinated today, but I am looking
> forward to it.
>
> Also, for the curious, the label was as follows:
>
> Dragon Co.
> DD122 LOT 1476-1477
> Tong Yan San Tsuen
> North District
> Ping Shan N.T.
>
> Alex
>
>

If the honeydew scent is detected as a top note - not yet quite the
sweetness of it, but the slightly "alcohol" whiff of it, very much like the
sweet breath of a person wuffering from diabetes - that is the start of the
fermentation. When you get the full sweetness of a honeydew sans the green
leafiness, and the tea brew a pinkish liquor, the green tea is spent.

Usually under cold conditions this does not happen, it happens when a green
tea is kept in a relatively wram location.

Danny

"Michael Plant" <mplant@pipeline.com> wrote in message
news:BFA1D57B.3B765%mplant@pipeline.com...
> samarkand437be30c$1@news.starhub.net.sg11/16/05 20:58samarkand@uk2.net
>
>> Interesting. How does one define "normal" lung ching (jing) leaves?
>>
>> Honeydew. The tea has begun its fermentation cycle. Keep in the fridge
>> and
>> drink up soon. If the leaves look pinkish or brews pinkish, time to
>> throw
>> them away.
>>
>> Danny
>
> Danny,
> That's very interesting. What does "honeydew" mean to you in this context?
> I immediately got a Bao Zhong impression from Alex' description. But, I'm
> just projecting, of course.
> Michael
>

"Lewis Perin" <perin@panix.com> wrote in message
news:pc7r79fqowu.fsf@panix1.panix.com...
> "samarkand" <samarkand@uk2.net> writes:
>
>> Interesting. How does one define "normal" lung ching (jing) leaves?
>>
>> Honeydew. The tea has begun its fermentation cycle.
>
> By this you mean something other than the enzyme-mediated oxidation
> that happens in the manufacture of oolongs and red/black teas, right?
>
Yes, the correct term should be oxidation. Oxidation takes place as soon as
the tea leaves the pan, the more one opens the can of tea the more often it
happens. However, who's to say that fermentation at some point in time
doesn't creep in, especially if the panfrying was not done thoroughly, the
fixation process was not completed. I gather the oxidation will begin the
process, and the fermentation completes it - but we need Dog Ma to explain
this to us...