Japanese tea – what now in 2012?

[Jackie]

I read this interesting T Ching article about Japanese tea concerns by Guy Munsch – and it reminded me of a topic I’d pushed to the back of my mind. “Japanese teas” are we comfortable ordering them now? Will we be buying them with our minds at ease? Will we be buying them at all? Not @thedevotea I know that, who simply doesn’t like Japanese tea, even without a touch of contamination.
Anyway, here’s more “tea” for thought, read the T Ching article and let me know what you think.
http://www.tching.com/Post.aspx?postuid=fc0bdd16-0dcf-44eb-a745-28b8ecc03f15

[Jackie]

@xavier – I don’t quite think that’s enough of an argument. Contaminated baby formula (milk) for Chinese babies, lead paint on toys distributed abroad would show otherwise…

[Anonymous]

My recommendation would be to get in touch with your supplier. They have to do testing of their teas (at least they had to last year) and are usually happy to give you information about it if you ask.
As far as I know, no increased radiation values were found last year in the area around Kyoto, where a majority of the high quality teas are grown (actually, the nearest area where concerning radiation values were found was about 200 km north of there).
Japan’s government was monitoring (and using mandatory testing) teas, especially those destined for export, and didn’t shy away from destroying large batches of contaminated tea.

I’ll have to look into the subject again later this year when the new harvest comes in.

Hope this helps a little.

[Xavier]

@jackie but these are Chinese things and let’s say they tried to hide it while everyone knows about the radioactivity and the Japanese government looked at it.

[Author]

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