Oolong and banji-leaf plucking (zhong kai mian)
Posted: Thu Feb 20, 2020 7:02 am
I was going through Seven Cups' YouTube channel and came across an interesting video:
If I am understanding correctly, normally they will look for leaf where the final bud has finished its growth and gone dormant; in India this is called "banji" leaf, and is not considered an especially good choice for tea, although sometimes it becomes necessary to include it. Four-leaves-and-a-bud is also not a very good plucking standard, but I have heard that here it is because it is quite difficult to partially ferment very small leaves, so better results are obtained from a coarser pluck.
Is this the only reason for using this kind of plucking standard? I would normally be suspicious that this is simply a marketing ploy, but Seven Cups is one of the most honest and knowledgeable Chinese tea dealers I have ever interacted with, so I am going to assume that this is for legitimate technical reasons.
Does anyone know more about this?
If I am understanding correctly, normally they will look for leaf where the final bud has finished its growth and gone dormant; in India this is called "banji" leaf, and is not considered an especially good choice for tea, although sometimes it becomes necessary to include it. Four-leaves-and-a-bud is also not a very good plucking standard, but I have heard that here it is because it is quite difficult to partially ferment very small leaves, so better results are obtained from a coarser pluck.
Is this the only reason for using this kind of plucking standard? I would normally be suspicious that this is simply a marketing ploy, but Seven Cups is one of the most honest and knowledgeable Chinese tea dealers I have ever interacted with, so I am going to assume that this is for legitimate technical reasons.
Does anyone know more about this?