tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-516171423954184083.post1634935369144467820..comments2024-01-29T14:41:37.418-05:00Comments on Life in Teacup: China's Famous Teas Top 10 - money and power?Gingkohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00717840609096741544noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-516171423954184083.post-38794354101662315652010-05-24T12:07:27.496-04:002010-05-24T12:07:27.496-04:00Hi tea lover M, I didn't say Tian Mu Lake Whit...Hi tea lover M, I didn't say Tian Mu Lake White Tea is not good (as I said in the article "I am sure it's a great tea"), but I am just shocked it's listed in the "Top 10" while An Ji Bai Cha is not, because I personally believe Tian Mu Lake Wite Tea is not comparable to An Ji White Tea in terms of quality. And it's not my personal believe, but a fact that the two are not comparable in terms of popularity, production and history. <br /><br />I didn't say I was sure it took money for it to get there. It takes either money or something else - this something else could be historical popularity, quality, political power, or something else - isn't it true for all the teas?<br /><br />The good reputation I know about Tian Mu Lake White Tea is, it has been selected as a tea used for the central government events - this is one of the best advertisement for the tea, and the selection procedure of it is unknown to most tea professionals that I know. Compared with the mythical government endorsement, what impressed me more is the eco-agriculture and tea-agricultural-tourism efforts made in Tian Mu Lake White Tea plantations.<br /><br />Let me repeat, Tian Mu Lake White Tea is a great tea. I am shocked it's in "Top 10". It's ok that we don't agree with each other. But as we can see, we do agree on something at least. :DGingkohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00717840609096741544noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-516171423954184083.post-3560547950183765042010-05-24T11:16:10.219-04:002010-05-24T11:16:10.219-04:00What shocked you the most is Tian Mu Lake White Te...What shocked you the most is Tian Mu Lake White Tea in the list? Do you really know about Liyang and its tea? If you are not familiar with Tian Mu Lake White Tea at all, how dare you be sure that it takes money for it to be listed in the "Top 10"? Do the professionals make the list just according to their popularity? Of course not! It is true that Tian Mu Lake tea was introduced from An Ji, but after so many years of research and development, how do you know it is not better than or at least as good as An Ji White Tea? Have you ever heard of Tea Festival of Liyang? I bet not...Do you know about the good reputation of Liyang tea? Sincere advice for you: please do read more information about Liyang and its tea industry and do not pretend to be professional about tea or make fun of yourself out there any more!tea lover M.noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-516171423954184083.post-48505422834184064572010-05-20T20:23:05.017-04:002010-05-20T20:23:05.017-04:00Hi Alex, that's a good topic! Now after readin...Hi Alex, that's a good topic! Now after reading your blog, I am inspired to think about what's the top 10 under-appreciated in my mind :D<br /><br />Flo, what made me feel very bad is, this is supposed to be a showcase of tea culture (it will be put in the China hall of World Expo), at least it was in the past. But not anymore!Gingkohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00717840609096741544noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-516171423954184083.post-70310413004754962802010-05-20T18:38:04.538-04:002010-05-20T18:38:04.538-04:00this list apparently is not meant to convey apprec...this list apparently is not meant to convey appreciation, it is to be understood on another register, the "corporate" one. I see it merely as institutional communication.<br />Also a commercial/prestige endorsement (listed "top 10" = "bankable").flohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01316268745250100800noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-516171423954184083.post-81163886179138699632010-05-20T17:00:09.299-04:002010-05-20T17:00:09.299-04:00This post of yours has inspired a post on my blogs...This post of yours has inspired a post on my blogs. Thanks as always for stirring up thought and the production of ideas:<br /><br /><a href="http://cazort.blogspot.com/2010/05/ten-of-chinas-underappreciated-teas.html" rel="nofollow">Ten of China's Underappreciated Teas</a><br /><br />The Wikipedia article that I link to from my blog post really gets at the issue you are talking about here, the way these lists are controversial.<br /><br />Honestly, if you made a top 10 list I would be very interested to read it personally...just as I'd be interested in reading the list of anyone who knows anything about tea and has sampled some variety of tea.<br /><br />=)Alex Zorachhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08335878680429494039noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-516171423954184083.post-29566383568581720512010-05-19T20:19:29.530-04:002010-05-19T20:19:29.530-04:00Hi Alex, your comment made me think what's the...Hi Alex, your comment made me think what's the use of the "top 10" list. I think the most famous teas have been famous for various reasons. And the "top 10" is a historical record on tea preferences of the public in an era. The old "top 10" list has been cited by many tea articles and tea books. In the future, if the new "top 10" list is cited by books or articles, I hope authors can add a footnote "it's a controversial list". In traditional society, a tea could only get famous with its quality (and also some teas of high quality didn't even get famous). Therefore, historical records of "famous teas" were quite reliable. But I am afraid in the future, people will have to realize things called "famous" in our era are not necessarily outstanding. <br /><br />Besides, practically getting into "top 10" helps a tea gain market share, because of the advertisement effect. Since it's an official list, I thought it should have been more fair. <br /><br />I guess if I make my own top 10 list, it won't mean much to other people. But it will be nice if many people vote for a list. I think it's a good idea to have a top 10 list on RateTea.net. Sometimes people's votes tell the most truth, at least reflect people's real preferences.Gingkohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00717840609096741544noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-516171423954184083.post-4954082728011117532010-05-19T18:27:08.340-04:002010-05-19T18:27:08.340-04:00I'm not a big fan of top-10 lists like this be...I'm not a big fan of top-10 lists like this because I think they have the feature of making already well-known teas more well-known, while many excellent but less well-known teas remain unknown to the vast majority of people.<br /><br />For example, I think Tie Guan Yin tends to get all the attention, whereas the <a href="http://ratetea.net/style/se-chung/16/" rel="nofollow">other Anxi oolongs</a> are basically ignored, and I think this is a shame.<br /><br />As another example, as much as I love Darjeeling tea, teas from Jalpaiguri, Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, and Nepal get overshadowed by teas from nearby Darjeeling and Assam.<br /><br />One thing I want to do with RateTea.net is to draw attention to the lesser-known styles of tea (and also tea-producing regions).<br /><br />Of course, I'm being a bit hypocritical with all these comments though because I just added a top-10 highest-rated and most often-rated teas list to RateTea.net...but honestly I'm just caving in to pressure (a lot of people have told me it's imperative to list that sort of stuff, after all it is a rating website).<br /><br />I think it would also be good if people just made up their own top 10 lists. Have you considered making your own top 10 Chinese tea list?Alex Zorachhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08335878680429494039noreply@blogger.com