Hey teaheads. This is Don from Mei Leaf. In
this video : Are Organic Teas Better? In this
video I'm going to be giving you my opinion
on organic teas, and if you should be solely
purchasing organic teas, and if not, if you
should be concerned about pesticides and heavy
metals. After we talk all about that we're
going to be doing a comparative tasting. This
video is going to go under the "Drinking With
Friends" and the "Tea and Health" playlists.
If at any point in time you enjoy this video
then please give [it] the thumbs-up. The more
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going to come your way. If you haven't subscribed
to our YouTube channel yet then go click that
button! A question which I'm continuously
asked is: Why the Mei Leaf tea collection
does not have more organic teas? We have about
80 different teas, and we only have a handful
of organic teas, and I thought I would explain
the reasons for that today. Before we get
into that I want to make clear that I am a
real supporter of the organic movement. I
don't want to get drawn into the discussion
of whether or not organic food can satisfy
the global food demand out there. That's whole
other discussion. But I think it is sensible
to be purchasing and consuming teas and foods
that have the minimal amount of synthetic
chemicals used in their production. So I'm
a great supporter of organic foods and drinks,
and generally conscious food buying - so conscious
consuming. But it gets a little bit complicated
with tea, and I want to explain that to you
today. I want you to imagine that you are
a producer high up in the mountains of Taiwan,
or Japan, or China, producing high quality
tea - the super high-quality, [top] notch
stuff - and you're producing it, maybe, with
organic, or nearly organic farming methods.
In order for you to be certified by an organic
certifying body, as organic - in order for
you to be able to put that organic stamp on
your packaging - you need to spend money.
You need to spend money on auditing, [and]
you need to spend money on the certification
process. So there's an expense for you. There's
an expense there. If you are a small producer
producing high quality, small batch tea, then
all of your tea is selling out, usually to
the mainland. So Chinese are selling to mainland
Chinese, [and] Taiwanese to mainland Taiwanese,
Japanese, etcetera, etcetera. So all of your
tea is selling out at the price that you want,
because it is top quality tea. There is therefore
absolutely no motivation for you to spend
the money to go through that organic, certifying
process. There is no motivation at all. You're
not going to command any higher price, because
the consumers in China, or the consumers in
Taiwan, are already paying top-notch price,
and they don't really care too much about
the organic symbol. Now let's switch. Let's
imagine that we're a producer producing low
to medium quality tea - maybe [at a] slightly
lower altitude, [and] not quite in the right
area - and it's producing tea of so-so, low-to-medium
quality. Right. This tea might not be selling
out. This tea might not be selling to the
mainland market as well. For these producers
it makes definite financial sense for them
to go through the organic certifying process
and pay that money, because they know that
they can increase their prices and sell the
organic tea to the international market, because
the international market is much more conscious
- that's a good thing - but they're much more
conscious about organic farming, and organic
foods and drinks. So there is a financial
motivation, and so there is a tendency for
them to go through that organic certifying
process. The other type of [producers] that
it makes financial sense for them to go through
this process are the big producers; the big
commodity producers with huge fields that
are selling at huge volume, because the organic
certifying fee may be a certain amount, but
when spread out across the volume of tea that
they are going to sell they only have to increase
their price by a little bit and they will
more than cover - in fact, it will be profitable
for them to go through the organic certifying
process. So you get these smaller producers,
with low to medium quality tea, or commodity
producers with large volumes, again, of low-to-medium
quality teas that tend to be more motivated
to go through the organic certifying process,
and the small batch, high, high, top-notch
quality tea producers have no [motivation]
to go through organic certifying. Therefore,
in my experience, it is much harder to find
high quality organic tea. Now I want to say
this very, very clearly. I am not saying it's
not possible. There are producers producing
top-notch, quality tea that do go through
the organic process, but it is very, very
rare, and if you [don't] just look at our
Mei Leaf collection, but you look at other
tea sellers out there you'll see that the
top-notch quality tea tends not to be certified
organic. So I hope that clears up why we don't
have a large amount of organic teas in our
selection. But if you're not purchasing organic
teas how can you avoid pesticides and heavy
metals? There are a lot of scare stories out
there, [with] a lot of articles that are being
written about tea - especially Chinese tea
- and pesticides and heavy metals. So, this
comes down to, again, consumer knowledge,
and your knowledge in purchasing tea. Pesticides
are used, obviously, to drive away, and repel,
insect infestation which would damage crops.
If you are purchasing tea from high altitude
then there [are] much less insects at higher
altitude compared to lower altitude. Therefore,
if you choose tea from supplies that source
from the top-notch suppliers up in the peaks
of the mountains then you're not going to
be having pesticides, or it's very, very rare
that they will be using too many pesticides.[Compare
this with] low altitude tea - again, the low-to-medium
tea at lower altitude, there is more tendency
for these producers to use pesticides. The
other point is when it's picked. Tea which
is picked in early spring - which tends to
be the higher quality tea - or picked in late,
late autumn - which is what we call "winter
tea" - when it's colder, will have less insects
in the environment, and therefore the producer
doesn't need to use pesticides, or if they
do it will be very, very small amounts. Whereas
tea which is picked in the summer - so later
picked tea; the second pickings of the tea,
which again is reserved for the lower to medium
quality teas - because it's hotter there are
more insects, and therefore the producers
may need to use more pesticides. So [in] the
Mei Leaf tea collection we only have early,
spring-picked teas, or late autumn, early
winter teas. The only tea that we have which
is a summer-picked tea is our "Oriental Beauty"
or "Eastern Beauty". [With] this tea the farmer
is actually waiting for the insects to arrive
to bite the leaf, which brings about a change
in the leaf and creates a delicious aroma
and flavor. If you haven't heard about "Eastern
Beauty" I've done a video on this and I'll
put a link in the description below. So the
only summer tea that we stock is intentionally
trying to draw in the insects, and therefore
obviously they are not using pesticides. It's
also worth making it very clear that there
are different levels of quality of pesticides.
You have pesticides which are made organically,
and you have pesticides which are really,
really bad, with lots of synthetics that are
killing all the bees, etcetera, etcetera.
So there's a grey area in between, [and] so
pesticide [use] is not just black and white
either. The good farmers, the good producers,
the people that really put dedication and
passion in the tea that they produce will
do everything they can to make sure that they
don't use pesticides, and if they have to,
that they will use organic-based pesticides,
and safe pesticides for you. Okay, so that's
pesticides. Let's move on to heavy metals.
Heavy metals come from the soil, so the soil
which is close to contaminated, polluted,
industrialised areas will have higher levels
of heavy metals, like lead, aluminum, etcetera.
That is in the soil - in the top levels of
the soil - and gets brought up into the tea
plant, just like into spinach, just like into
broccoli, just like any plant that you may
consume, they will be absorbing the trace
elements of heavy metals in the soil. Now
tea [has] a lot of focus on it because of
the fact that tea has an ability to survive
in heavy metal contaminated soil - more than
other plants. It can survive well in those
soils, and therefore you can get teas that
have higher levels of heavy metals. So again,
the key here is sourcing. It's making sure
that you pick teas from good [suppliers] that
are sourcing their tea away from these contaminated
zones. Now, a good example is West Lake Long
Jing. So West Lake "Dragon Well" tea is renowned
for being the ultimate terroir for Long Jing
tea - for "Dragon Well" tea; we call it "Imperial
Green". [So] West Lake tea commands a very,
very high price, and it used to be the best
tea, but now that area is starting to become
overly industrialized. So the Mei Leaf tea
that we get - the Long Jing tea that we get
- is not West lake. We've moved away from
the classic famous terroir of West Lake, and
we've found excellent quality tea from other
locations, because we are always cautious
about selecting tea away from industrialized
zones. So sourcing, again, is key. In terms
of the actual amounts in tea, again, I really
'don't think that you should be too caught
up in these scare stories, So "Prop 65" - California's
"Prop 65" - which is the most stringent guidelines
on diet out there, recommend an upper daily
limit, for example, of lead of about 15 micrograms
per day. That's the upper safe limit, [of]
"Prop 65". If you go to the World Health Organization
I think it's about 21 [micrograms], [and]
EU regulation is about 21 [micrograms]. So
"Prop 65" is the most strict. The tests that
have been done on tea would bring about something
like - [in] the worst case scenario - something
like one microgram of lead per 600 milliliters
of tea, which has been brewed very strong
[for] three to four minutes. So even if you
get the worst, [low], low quality tea that
has been produced in areas of industrialized
zones, I still don't think that the risk is
of huge, huge concern. Clearly, it's much
better for you to find tea from better sources
where that level is much, much lower. [It's]
actually interesting to note that the higher
lead tea that have been [found] in these studies
actually were [from] organic green [teas].
So it goes to show that organic does not necessarily
equate to safer, and organic doesn't mean
that you're going to have lower heavy metals,
because it's all about how close it is to
an industrialized zone. Again, remember what
I said, the low-to-medium quality farmers
tend to be the ones that go through this organic
certifying process. Okay. I hope that this
has [armed] you with enough information to
make the right choices for your health, but
let's now focus back on taste. Does organic
tea taste better than non-organic tea? Well,
I've given you my opinions, but I want to
get another opinion from somebody that has
not tasted as many teas as I have. I am about
to leave and go pick up a very special guest.
[Then] we're going to come back and do a comparative
tasting. [TIME LAPSE] We are back, and I would
like you all to welcome my father-in-law,
Michele. Michele has just arrived in from
Paris. We've just picked him up from Eurostar.
We've just come back, and immediately [he's]
arrived here, and he's going to taste some
tea. Now this man here is, by far, the most
passionate person for organic food I have
ever met. Not just organic food...
Celine : Yeah.
Don : ... but also local food, [like] food
that's sources from exactly the right place.
I mean, it's unbelievable, his cupboard. You
go to his house and it's all foraged foods,
or organic foods.
Celine : Yeah.
Don : It gets a bit too much sometimes. Sometimes
when I go to visit him in France, and we go
to these big supermarkets full of amazing
food - all of these cheeses, all of these
[breads], all of this amazing sauce, [and]
all of these foods, and we can't buy any.
We can only buy the ones with "biologique"
with "organic" on it. So it like immediately
cuts down my selection quite significantly.
But he is so, so passionate about organic
food, so I though [that] he's the perfect
person to do a taste test between two [or
the same] tea, [with] one being organic, and
one being non-organic, or non-certified organic.
The teas we have here are "Eastern Beauty".
[I] talked a bit earlier about "Eastern Beauty".
The reason why I've picked "Eastern Beauty"
is because "Eastern beauty" is picked in the
summer, and they want to encourage insects
to come and bite the leaf, and so there's
definitely no pesticides. So that takes away
that whole pesticide argument on this one.
This is purely a taste test between organic
and non-organic. They are both from Taiwan,
and they are pretty much the same price. This
one over here [is] our "Eastern Beauty" that
we stock at Mei Leaf. Can you hold it?
Celine : Yeah.
Don : So you can see -- and maybe hold the
other one next to it.
Celine : Yeah. Do you know which is which?
Don : Yeah. [Let] me just check that it's
in focus. So this one here is our "Eastern
Beauty", and it is [a] high quality Taiwanese
"Oriental Beauty". [It's] grown in organic
conditions. The farmer is doing everything
right. The one on the left here is [from the]
same place, Taiwan, [and a] similar area,
but is certified organic. [I] think you can
immediately see that this one over here has
more stems, [and] looks a bit lower quality
than this one here. So immediately, visually,
this looks lower quality than this one, but
let's do a taste test. [In] order to do a
taste test, I've tasted these, obviously,
before, because I've selected this one. So
this is a certified organic, [and] this has
not been certified as organic. Let's do a
taste test, but I think it's better to do
it - how do you say [it]... "aveugle"?
Celine : Aveugle [laughter]. Yeah.
Don : Right, yeah? Blindfolded.
Michele : MmmHmm. MmmHmm.
Don : Ca va?
Celine : [FRENCH] Without looking?
Don : [FRENCH] Without looking
Michele : [FRENCH] Okay. I will try it.
Don : Okay, so you get that ready. We've got
7 grams here. I'm going to be putting the
Mei Leaf "Eastern Beauty" in this pot. This
pot has a little green sticker, so that designates
"organic", and I'm going to put..
Celine : [FRENCH]
Michele : [FRENCH]
Don : ...I'm going to put the organic certified
Eastern Beauty here. So the only difference
between the se teas is that this has been
certified organic, [and] this has not been
certified, In terms of the price, this one
is a little bit more expensive, but they're
[a] relatively similar price, so really, it
would be around the same level that we would
have to charge our clients in terms of the
cost. Okay. They're both blindfolded, so I'm
going to give these a quick rinse. This is
90 degree [Celcius] water. So that's 90 degree
water, which is about 195 [degrees] Fahrenheit.
Let me pour these way.
Celine : Oh my God!
Don : Are you blind?
Celine : It's so tight.
Don : Yeah? You can't see anything?
Celine : [FRENCH] It's too tight! Yeah. i'm
fine.
Don : So the first thing we're going to do
is smell. We're going to get them to smell
the wet leaf. Okay, so Michele first. [FRENCH]
So this one here is number one, so take this
in your hand. [FRENCH]
Celine : [FRENCH]
Don : [FRENCH] Well, one hand.
Celine : [FRENCH] [laughter]
Michele : [FRENCH] I can smell it already.
Don : [FRENCH] Yes? And this is number two.
[Take it] with your other hand.
Celine : [FRENCH] Do you smell a difference?
Michele : Wait already. Wait. [SMELLS TEA]
Yes.
Celine : [FRENCH]
Don : [FRENCH] Okay. Say nothing...
Michele : This one is more green.
Don : [FRENCH] Okay, more green [and] more
fresh.
Celine : [FRENCH] And how is the other one?
Michele : [FRENCH] It has more flavour.
Celine : Ah! Much more ...
Michele : [FRENCH] More soft.
Don : More soft. Okay.
Celine : Okay.
Don : Okay. [[FRENCH] Give [it] to Celine.
So this is number one. That's number one.
Celine : Number on [SMELLS TEA] Hmm!
Don : And number two.
Celine : Oh, that's a massive difference!
Don : Okay. Come a bit closer.
Celine : I mean, it does [smell] nice, this
one, but...
Don : So which one do you prefer?
Celine : Ah! This one.
Don : (to Michele) : [FRENCH] So, in your
opinion, which is better, [number] one or
two?
Michele : [FRENCH] This one here. [HOLDS UP
RIGHT HAND]
Celine : Okay.
Michele : [FRENCH] The smell I prefer [is]
the one that was in this hand.
Don : So he prefers number one. Whic do you
prefer?
Celine : Which one is this one?
Don : That's number two.
Celine : That's number two?
Don : Yeah.
Celine : [SMELLS TEA] Definitely number two.
Don : Definitely number two. Okay, here we
go.
Celine (to Michele) : You prefer number one?
Michele : Wait, wait, because I only smelled
it.
Celine : Oh.
Don : No, no. You've done your taste. That's
it. That's good. You've got your opinions.
Let's go to the taste. So we're going to brew
these for the same amount of time. [We'll]
put that one over there.
Celine : Doo, doo, doo, doo, doo...
Don : Put that one here. [We're] going to
let that one brew just for about five more
seconds.
Celine : So my dad [still will] drink Puerh
tastes.
Don : Oh, yeah. Well the great this is that
even though Michele is a staunch advocate
for organic, we've managed to convert him
to Mei Leaf teas.
Celine : Well, some of them.
Don : Some of them [laughter].
Celine : Old tea tree ones.
Don : Yeah. He likes the Gu Shu. Okay, so
I'm going to show the camera the color difference.
I mean, they were brewed pretty much around
the same time, give or take a couple of seconds.
Let me just do this. It's hard to do this
and focus at the same time. Hopefully that's
in focus. There is a clear color difference.
I'm not going to say out loud which one is
darker, because I don't want to influence
you, but there is a clear color difference
between them. Okay. So we're going to move
these out of the way. Just in case you YouTubers
are not quite sure which one is which, this
one here is the organic one. This one here.
Okay. So we're going to do the same again.
We've got green on here. So these two have
green stickers, so here you go. Ready guys?
Celine : Yeah, ready.
Don : Okay. [This] is number one. Here you
go. That's number one.
Michele : [FRENCH] Do I smell, or wait?
Celine : [FRENCH] No, you taste, but it's
hot.
Michele : MmmHmm.
Don : Do you want to hold the other one in
your other hand?
Celine : Yeah. That's number one.
Don : That's number one?
Celine : Oh my God!
Don : Okay. Number one and number two.
Celine : I'm just going to put down the one
I don't like anymore. [laughter]
Don : [laughter] I'll take that.
Celine : Thank you.
Don : [FRENCH] So,[sir]. [laughter]
Michele : [laughter]
Don : [FRENCH] Mr organic.
Michele : I prefer this one.
Celine : [laughter] [FRENCH] Which do you
prefer in terms of taste?
Michele : [FRENCH] The second one.
Celine : [FRENCH] The second one? Why?
Michele : It's better!
Don : [FRENCH] Why?
Michele : [FRENCH] It has more taste.
Don : Okay. [FRENCH] Let's try one more time.
Michele : [FRENCH] It has more. You can feel
the flavour more in the second one.
Don : Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Michele : Did you put some in, because I don't
want to spill any.
Don : [FRENCH] Try one more time.
Michele : [SIPS TEA] You must rinse your mouth
before - [or between] - each cup.
Celine : [laughter] [FRENCH] Why did you eat
something before?
Michele : [FRENCH] This one here.
Don : [laughter] Good! [FRENCH] Well done!
Okay. You can take your blindfolds off.
Celine : [FRENCH] It was which number? Number
two?
Michele : [FRENCH] It was this one.
Don : Yeah. [I] switched his...
Celine : Oh!
Don : ...because I was worried he was being
influenced by you.
Michele : [FRENCH] You can feel which is better.
Celine : Oh!
Don : I was worried he was being influenced
by you.
Michele : [FRENCH] This one here has less
taste, [and] less flavour.
Celine : [FRENCH] Yes. I agree.
Don : So both of them picked out the "Eastern
Beauty" that is not certified organic, and
both of them preferred the taste over the
organic certified tea - which is a bit of
a shock to him, probably. But you preferred
[FRENCH] ...?
Michele : [FRENCH] But the smell, [I] think
it depends on the moment when you smell the
tea.
Don : [FRENCH] Yes.
Celine : Mmm.
Michele : [FRENCH] But the smell was softer.
Don : [FRENCH] So, one more time?...Which
do you prefer.
Michele : [FRENCH] It's difficult, no? [SMELLS
TEA]
Don : I have to say it is ...
Michele : [FRENCH] I think that this is better.
Don : You prefer that one. Okay. So that's
the not-certified Mei Leaf. So, overall, I
think it's pretty clear that the winner here
is the non-organic certified. Now please,
before you start writing lots of comments
about how this is not a fair test and there's
lots of... I realize that this is just for
fun, okay? I like to do blind tastings. Anybody
who's watched our Mei Leaf videos will know
I like to do blind tastings. This is not meant
to mean an absolute stamp of disapproval for
organic certified teas at all. As i said,
we love the idea of organic, and we will continue
to search for organic teas, [right?]
Celine : Yeah. Yeah.
Don : Whenever we [get] an organic sample
we are always excited to try it, and we hope
that it is a better tea.
Celine : Wé're always like, "Maybe it's going
to be really good this time!"
Don : And occasionally, occasionally - like
the Amber GABA we've got is an organic [one].
We've gotten some White Peonies before that
have been organic, so occasionally it does
work out, but usually - I have to say - usually
this is the result. Usually the flavor of
organic teas demonstrates that it's lower
to medium quality tea which they've spent
the money to certify organic in order to increase
their margins. Okay. Keep drinking this tea?
Anything you want to add?
Celine : So wait. The one that I smelled,
that I liked the most, as the smell.
Don : ... was the non-organic certified. [Sorry],
that doesn't make sense. [It] was not certified
organic.
Celine : Right. [Then] the one that I tasted
that I liked was also the same one.
Don : Yeah. Yeah.
Celine : Right. Okay.
Don : So you both pretty much chose the one
that was not organically certified over the
one that was organically certified.
Celine : Right. Yeah.
Don : So it goes to show that organic [versus]
non-organic is not going to be a definer in
terms of which is a better quality tea. [In
fact], if you had to make a generalization,
unfortunately, I would say that organic teas
are generally going to be more likely to be
lower quality tea, unfortunately. Hopefully
that will change. That's it teaheads. If you
made it to the end of this video then please
give [it] the thumbs-up. Check out our YouTube
playlists and let us know if there are any
videos that you would like us to make. If
you're ever in London then come visit us in
Camden to say "Hi!" and taste our wares. If
you have any questions or comments then please
fire them over. Other than that, this is Michele
- visiting London for the weekend; we're going
to have a nice weekend with him. This is Celine.
I'm Don from Mei Leaf. Thank you for being
a part of the revelation of true tea. Stay
away --- Whoa! Whoa! Stop! We are not going
to do this again. We've done this before with
other videos. I am finishing this. The battery
ran out, but I'm going to finish it. This
is Michele. This is Celine. I am Don from
Mei Leaf. Thank you for being part of the
revelation of true tea. Stay away from those
tea bags, keep drinking the good stuff, and
spread the word, because nobody deserves bad
tea.
Don, Celine, and Michele : Bye [WAVING]
