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Does anyone recall whether soapy/ looking bubbles, more than is typically found when making tea, on the surface of the brew and liquor could be an indicator of excess pesticide residue? (aside- any progress on the searchable old-school TC static archive?)

I just started noticing it particularly with a few teas from a certain established but budget-oriented western-facing chinese tea exporter.

I'm considering throwing them out. I spent about $350USD last year at this vendor when I returned seriously to tea, have abt 900g left and have gifted/tossed some already, and don't plan on making any future orders from him. The leaf has great appearance, but maybe that is due to overuse of pesticide.

Lately, when I drink some of these teas that have the slightly soapy/oily bubbles, I seem to notice unpleasant reactions- some twitchiness and nervousness, and a dehydrated feeling.

On the other hand, I just noticed this possible adverse reaction after the vendor was caught in the act of a rather unsporting astroturfing campaign, leading me to look at his operation in a new light. So I could well be projecting.

I've never noticed this to be a consistent feature of teas from one vendor or region, but maybe I don't pay enough attention. I've occasionally wondered if some of the teawares weren't rinsed well enough--some of the sturdier ceramics do go through the dishwasher or get handwashed with soap (the more delicate pieces only get rubbed with damp baking soda).

Is it just saponins?

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1271/bbb.90003

Not that this is necessarily the place for it, but since anyone with a brain can connect the dots and identify said vendor

the vendor was caught in the act of a rather unsporting astroturfing campaign

Is not how I'd characterise what went down as much as "vendor was caught bashing on competitors on an alt (with justification, even if it isn't a good look), and some circumstantial evidence appeared suggesting that there may be other accounts".

Big difference between talking some shit on an alt and "conducting an astroturfing campaign". I say all this as someone who made a small order 12 months ago, didn't think much of the teas, and hasn't interacted with them since.

Some say "saponins". Others also say (the tea may be "low quality or a little dirty."

This is what I've been told.

kirkoneill1988 wrote: ↑

Fri Dec 15, 2017 5:07 pm

Some say "saponins". Others also say (the tea may be "low quality or a little dirty."

This is what I've been told.

This is also
My point of view. I only noticed it with worldwide large distribution teabags. Never happened with the tea from the vendors I buy from now.

Could be a phytochemical, but this particular foam is thicker and more persistent than typical agitation of the pour onto the dry leaf. Rinsing did not help much.

I'm not saying I necessarily think it's something harmful. Could be as harmless as something similar to actual soap.

Anyway, I tossed the tea in question today. Not sparking joy. Shouldn't have ordered so much. I'd just returned to exploring new teas seriously after a few years of drinking mostly sencha, so, re-tuition.

What type of tea is it?

Elise wrote: ↑

Sun Dec 17, 2017 12:56 am

What type of tea is it?

Autumn Dianhong.

For science, I fished the pouches out of the refuse bins to photograph what I'm talking about. As shown, foam persists for 6 min, probably longer. I used to drink a lot of Dianhong when I first got seriously into tea over a decade ago, and I don't recall this phenomenon. Searching tea foam saponins, I found this 2012 TC thread, and a few blog posts without citations.

Anyone care to offer an educated guess, whether below are natural C sinensis compounds, pesticide residue, or other?

~30 seconds after pour:


3:30


5:50

That’s too much froth to be saponins IMO.

I’ve seen similar froth with bagged tea. But to be fair, I do not have any experience with this type of tea.

When I first saw this thread I was wondering if it was a Dianhong...

I buy a lot of Dianhong from Yunnan Sourcing and many of them leave a lot of oily residue in my cups and pots and form more bubbles when the water is agitated than most other black teas.

I still haven't seen anything quite so persistent as the ring of foam in your last picture though.

Drinking some of their dianhong and it doesn't have that scum, I've found it in several of their yancha though

I've seen that scum before in cheaper teas, I'd usually just skim it off and drink the tea to no ill effect. I don't think it's soap; it almost seems to be actual dust stirred up by the convection, but if a (thorough) rinse didn't get rid of it then probably not. Did you ever try scooping off some of the foam and tasting it? I'm wondering if maybe it indicates a tampering with the tea during production to boost the appearance/aroma/etc. of low-quality leaves.

I only recall that from very very cheap gunpowder from back in the days when I knew nothing about good tea. Must have drunk a lot of it, as at the time I didn’t think much about it.

I've seen it suggested that it has to do with the mineral content. Don't actually know though.

Personally I've seen it on a number of teas, some of them from Mei Leaf and others organic, so it's not obviously tied to quality or pesticides.

An organic Indian "oolong" (tastes a lot like a woody white tea):