Are Organic Teas Better? Deep Dive into Theory and Comparative Tasting.

[@alskndlaskndal]

Your videos are like an entertaining TV show and I always learn something! Thank you for spreading your tea knowledge and enthusiasm!

[@2peoplebrothers]

right, id much rather watch an "episode" of Dons tea stuff than half an hour of tv

[@mskittycutthroat]

Man this is so true, sometimes we go to farmers markets and often people farm organically but the cert is so expensive so they don't it. You just gotta talk to people, and know what you're getting! That stamp isn't everything!! And as the guy below was saying, can be tricky in meat and dairy industry's, best to get straight from a farm or source you trust!!

[@Ron-ui3xj]

Go vegan already.

[@JamesEpic3]

The best explanation i've seen about the "organic" label.

[@abrafaraon3991]

Don, You are a wealth of information. Thanks for highlighting your philosophy on Organic vs. non-organic tea. A very much needed and well received video - ). I have been ordering tea from you for about a month now (3 or 4 orders) to OREGON! I am also a health care practitioner in the US (nurse practitioner) and have been sharing your videos. My wife and I love your passion and your products are pretty darn exceptional as well. Sending you lots of love and respect from the Pacific Northwest!!!! -Jeff

[@misslydialove]

you guys are beyond adorable! bringing your dad in there first thing off the plane, blindfolded... i love it! what's next? 🌞 thanks for brightening up my morning

[@Biichty]

Oh Celine is talking french really good ! it's fun to hear our language in a video lol

[@MeiLeaf]

Hey we like your video!

[@Biichty]

Mei Leaf That mean a lot for me ! thank you for improving my tea knowledge every saturday ! :D

[@DijaVlogsGames]

Protherium But isn't Don's dad from Hong Kong? So he would speak Kantonese, not Mandarin. Could be completely from, though.

[@DevilleJean]

Haha I'm amazed by your proficiency in French, really didn't expect the video to switch languages like that, big thumbs up! :-)

[@starkdoughangel]

Thanks for the information. Your explanations are great, but what I really like is that you back it up with taste tests.

[@en0n126]

Not sure if it applies to your discussion about tea in Asia & UK, but I know that at least in the USA for the "USDA Certified Organic" designation, you are allowed to use organic pesticides and are not required to disclose. Many organic producers do use these pesticides, as most supermarket organic food is just a sub-brand of a larger food producer, designed to take advantage of a premium priced market segment. I am not convinced that "synthetic = bad" by default, as chemical technology is a scientific technology like many others, which has lead to much progress and improvement of quality of life (both human & animal). In theory, synthesizing a natural chemical should just lead to a more pure form of the same chemical, which is otherwise found in nature. That's the goal. There are also natural pesticides and chemicals which have caused great harm. On a case-by-case basis, both should be used where appropriate and it's best to research the origins yourself rather than depend on a certification. I think it's good to be nuanced in these discussions, as there is much misunderstanding and misinformation out there. In regards to this specific topic, clearly you don't want pesticides (even organic ones) used on tea leaves which you don't truly wash before consuming, like you do with other fresh foods. Tea farmers also have the elevation advantage to limit the problem anyway. My point above was more generally about what the term "organic" means, and what something being "synthetic" means.

[@jakeduncan2542]

Amazing video giving insight into the industry and makes clear sense as to why someone selling out of their product at top dollar would have no incentive to pay for additional certifications. Yet, they may still essentially be using organic practices. Organic has become such a buzz word and the market seems to sway you towards the idea that if it's organic it's better. Your the best Don, an invaluable source of information for people entering the tea world. Keep up the honesty. Can't wait for Meileaf site to launch!!!

[@zebunker]

Well, they are in China they can dodge and weave all manner of health regulations till the end of time. Organic is better because you have a better understanding of what and how your foods are grown. They are better for the oceans and runoff. The more we know about what's in our food the better. Until it becomes a requirement in china they will keep dodging around the issue.

[@misslydialove]

also, thank you for answering these questions, I've been wondering about that. it's very similar to the cacao industry that we are in as well. direct trade is often better quality and better for the workers than "organic" labeling

[@Ron-ui3xj]

You're right. Working with pesticides is better for the farmers and their health than organic. Same for the environment, you're own health and wildlife. (Note the sarcasm). People ..

[@paulpavlenko480]

I got so excited when you all started speaking French! So good! I know that feeling about the markets and bio foods. Ha! It's so tempting to buy just about everything. But great video nonetheless, and thanks for finishing it off properly!

[@Zenith-ph7eb]

I am a big drinker of teas from Harney & Sons and Fortnum & Mason. I was wondering what you thought about these brands as far as the sourcing of their teas.

[@CatBat90s]

Love the great advice wonderful now I know how to shop safely and get quality tea. Although I can see you being one of my main sources.

[@themoon4040]

Tea plantations in high altitude usually use fungicides (which often contain Copper) to combat blister blight. Insects are not the problem and going organic in this case may make a difference in term of copper residue in your tea.

[@Jagster7k]

What do you think of Numi tea? It is very big in whole foods here in the states . I switched to it a couple months ago when I heard that the cheaper non organic teas I was drinking potentially had high amounts of pesticides and plastic in the tea bags. I drink about 4-5 cups of herbal tea a day with my ember mug. :-)

[@thomasmadjedi854]

Celine, my girlfriend wants to know where you got that sweatshirt?

[@MicheleLHarvey]

Thank you for this wonderfully informative video! I've bought both organic & conventionally grown Long Jing tea for many years and have found (without exception) that the organic always pales as to flavor & taste. So too, both early spring picking and high altitude growing conditions reducing the need for pesticides are valuable key points. Thank you for sharing your expertise and for confirming, what I myself have found in my small & limited experience.

[@Ron-ui3xj]

Reduced, so some pesticides are used. Bad for your health, the environment and the tea farmers.

[@CrescentGuard]

On a slightly unrelated note: how would you recommend acquiring tea plants for your own use? I mean, finding Sinensis Sinensis or Assamica is a bit obnoxious to begin with, much less specific cultivars. The only way I can think of acquiring anything short of generic tea plants is going to China and purchasing a cutting, but I can see a *lot* of problems with that plan. But I live in an area with decent soil and good weather, so I'd like to know before just going out and getting a generic tea plant. And yes, I know it'll take a few years for it to be ready, even if I get a seedling.

[@cadeyrndragheim22]

After listening to your explanation at the beginning, i kinda expected the result. Still, i didn't think about it that way, thanks for the information!

[@Nova-cj2qh]

The end clip wit the tea driping was oddly satisfying

[@Ladycooks]

ok, I found this and remember watching now! thank you!

[@changfachou]

Awesome video! Great test!

[@jennyobiliseen4301]

I don't know if an organic versus non organic teas really have a flavour difference, but more a moral, budget, and health concerning choice. I personally prefer organic, but I do think that all of the Mei Leaf teas are super trustworthy and I can comfortable drink them without worry.

[@erinasher3231]

Thank you for taking the time to explain that so well.

[@buffalOMsoldier]

you guys are simply "da best"!

[@babybalrog]

One thing that was almost said but not quite, is that many of the high end teas are probably produced in an organic nature, they just don't have the certification. Or at least nearly, organic.

[@DijaVlogsGames]

Interesting. I ordered a huge box of samples from a German online tea seller, just to try as many teas as possible. they are considered to be pretty good when it comes to tea. All their teas are "Bio" and for the most part I find the teas to be in the "pretty good, I guess"-league. Few have blown me away and some were downright boring and terrible. Now I know why they were "pretty good" at best! I thought I was doing something wrong! Looking forward to checking out your shop and trying some teas next month!

[@bojanivanisevic1072]

Let me guess: Teegschwendner?

[@DijaVlogsGames]

No, PureTea.

[@BS38114]

Das ist der shop meines vertrauens: gruentee-direkt.de Empfehlung!

[@rishabhbiyani]

Keep up the good work. Love your videos!

[@EricBryan]

Great info! The organic label can be misleading with tea and I'm so happy to see you address this issue. I used to want to visit the UK so I can see the places my favorite authors used to live, but now I think the primary reason I want to visit the UK is to check out your shop :D

[@Ron-ui3xj]

What's misleading about it?

[@EricBryan]

@@Ron-ui3xj watch the video and find out.

[@Ron-ui3xj]

I did. Doesn't change the question. Certified organic is certified organic. What's misleading about it? What is bias and misleading however is a non organic tea seller claiming the taste of non organic teas is better most of the time. He " proves" this with a tea tasting test wich says absolutely nothing at all. Firts of all, is the quality of the two teas the same? Second, it's his father doing the tasting. Very trustworthy indeed. I drink excellent quality organic teas from different sellers, chinese and european. I drink organic for my health, the environment, the health of the tea farmers and the.wild animals who are effected by these chemicals.

[@EricBryan]

@@Ron-ui3xj thanks for pontificating. It is clear you don’t understand how tea works and I don’t care. I am a huge advocate for organic so you’re preaching to the choir. Don’t forget, however, when you’re on your soapbox that some “organic” pesticides are even more toxic than synthetic.

[@karanjitsinghtokyo]

an eye opener..like almost all videos of yours..:)

[@kimberleyh.2051]

This was very interesting for me to watch. I often buy organic produce and meat because I find it tastes better and it is apparently healthier. After watching this, I will be dragging a friend of mine to the local tea room to conduct our own experiment! Thoroughly enjoyed this video!

[@Ron-ui3xj]

Rotting muscle tissue tasty? Gi vegan already.

[@mikebueskens1110]

Anyone know which vacuum jug that is?

[@elen_chris]

Totally agree👍

[@chimpta]

Great video. Very informative. I wish you would address herbicides. I have read that mountain pu-erh farmers are using Roundup. I can be hard to get to the old trees and they want to eliminate the undergrowth. Glyphosate is horrific as described by a lead MIT researcher. It attacks the mitochondria, the foundation of health and wellness. Is anyone testing for that?

[@MeiLeaf]

where did you read this because we have never seen this at all!

[@chimpta]

Don, I have been learning so much from you. I am very releaved to hear your experience. Maybe I was too tea drunk because I have not yet found the one on Roundup but have read a disheartening blog from a producer on old tree Pu-erh coming back 10 times the EU limit. I live in Colorado and my wife is an acupuncturist. Your sincerity shines through. Your videos are informative and fun. If I find anything on Roundup I will pass it on. Look for a PM.

[@chimpta]

Don, the more I looked into this the more I realize how important it is to work with the most knowledgeable tea people you can. You are on the ground in China and have the expertise. I think that is the only way it can be done. Glyphosate, cao gan lin, is abundant is China and the government and other agencies do not test for it because "cao gan lin is not on our list of permitted agro-chemicals’ they said.". How bizarre is that? Apparently some admit they have used it but not anymore. I don't see any substitute for getting your tea from someone you trust who really knows what they are doing. Thank your for all the hard work you do to get the cleanest, best quality tea. I hope when tea drinkers demand that it uplifts the whole industry and also makes life safer for the farmers themselves.

[@且听风吟-v4w]

Will Chaozhou clay teapots be available anytime soon?

[@TraveltheRedRoad]

lol I'm loving this- 1 or 2... THE TENSION !!!

[@septembre2112]

i like the outro- the tea drop

[@zuxiangbiotea8382]

Our organic teas would not let you down, and will change your opinion on organic teas, we are confident for our teas, we are happy to send you samples to taste.

[@clairesstitchingcorner8910]

Can any tea heads help I'm trying to find some blue mallow tea I did track a seller down but I think its low quality it turns purple istead of blue I'm putting it down as low quality as there are a lot of stalks mixed in. Would love if mei leaf would sell it

[@kubakarwacki2424]

This question is not related to the video, but I am just curious - how much tea do you drink a day? :p

[@youssefhiggins.6945]

I will be traveling in a few months, and I would like to take my tea addiction with me. Do you have any tips for traveling with teaware or a tea cake? Thanks!

[@RabbitsInBlack]

I always call out people's Organic BS. There was this Show Call Penn and Teller: BULLSHIT about organic. Great way to tell you the facts. And they did a lot of research and testing them selves.

[@CatBat90s]

How can you tell whether your tea is high or low altitude is there an easy way to do so? @meileaf #meileaf

[@yuliachannel778]

I absolutely love this video Don - answers the age old question, great job! I'm atually doing research into this - we test our teas for pesticides at E&B already, but haven't yet tested for heavy metals and was wondering whether there is evidence that certain types of tea will contain less heavy metals than others without testing them. Although your reasoning makes sense e.g. quality tea vs poor quality tea, high mountain vs low-lying, proximity to vehicles, coal mine etc., I was wondering whether you managed to find any scientific studies showing this, as I'm having trouble finding answers e.g. how far from a road/ coal mine/ how high up is far enough for the tea to be less likely to contain dangerous levels of man-derived heavy metals? Tank you in advance! Yulia X

[@linli5292]

right. we buy tea from little producer. years of contact and live video to know them better.High price often means high quality in china. we don't believe some organic certifaction.

[@denisemi]

😂 I love the thumbnail of this video!

[@dipeshyakthungba6659]

i like tea organic your video very gud

[@septembre2112]

you're my dude don

[@someonerandom256]

Celine & her Papa speaking French! Aww!

[@Tyleron1]

top notch

[@milkteaalliance1748]

Even if organic tea is worse I still don't want chemicals in me but hey the supermarkets are poisoning us all so tea isn't high on the priority list.

[@TraveltheRedRoad]

We have a similar quandary with organic meat. If you want high grade, TRULY free range/open roaming ethically reared meat you can't regulate what they are eating as they can roam about and potentially munch on anything. If you want Organic then you need to regulate their diet which means you need to restrict their movement. So in the meat industry, Organic (generally) means less ethical (in my opinion).

[@MeiLeaf]

+Ian Buchanan fascinating I had no idea. Thanks.

[@jayamilapersson4030]

Ian Buchanan lol your not from Sweden I gather, because here its the opposite really high quality meat is from organic free roaming cattle because we as farmers try to use less pestisides than many other countries and we dont use antibiotics unless the animal is sick, and organic produced meat the cattle usually gets better food and care then other cattle whereas non organic means they will probably not free roaming and get cheaper and more questional food, like chicken feed with fish in and/or the hay they get to eat has more pestisides. The thing I agree with is that while free roaming cattle IS able to eat what they want you still have them enclosed in a pen and you choose where you have that pen so you willl know how how healthy that Grass is for them or not, and in Sweden to be called an organic meat provider there are restrictions on what land you can have your cattle on it must be ground that havent been sprayed with pestisides and other chemicals for x years before being used as cattle ground.

[@zebunker]

That's all wrong information you are getting about the organic meat industry.

[@DijaVlogsGames]

Some of us don't mind killing animals to survive. But since you're clearly just looking for a fight, let's all agree to disagree.

[@dacr0n229]

well, you dont need to kill animals to survive to be honest. In the past, especially during the ice ages and before crops were farmed efficiently enough men had to get every calorie they could get so fatty meat provided to be a good source of calories but today you easily get everything you get from a plant based diet (If you are wondering about special nutrients, I have a pretty good overview and can share it). The problem really is the vast availability of animal products and that we are used to them and dont want to give up on the luxury they provide. And while conscious consumption of animal products is not too bad concerning environment and health, the overconsumption in current times clearly is a big (if not the biggest) burden for our environment and our health (apart from the ethical topic, that is for everyone to chose although, as I said, I dont see the need of it for us to survive). Surely not everyone can imagine to cut stuff from their diet or even go vegetarian or vegan, but if you are interested in a deeper view of the topic, there are some really good documentaries out there. Other than that agreeing to disagree is a neat solution to not fight about a topic but instead just to talk about it and elaborate ones views on the topic :)

[@StuninRub]

I'm pretty sure we don't have GMO teas.

[@Fleischfest]

I love Heavy Metal \m/

[@eredruin]

\m/_ (-_-) _\m/

[@hopelessone15]

When Celine got out the blind fold, her dad had the look of, “The things I do for my kids..."

[@dostma1]

I think there's not big science about it. The best tea doesn't need to beg for any bio or other stamp. It's tea from mountains with clear air and the best environment and verified by ages.

[@rainbowwarrior9018]

This is getting a little bit like The Kardashians. I love it :D

[@magetaaaaaa]

Just saw the video pop up on my watch list. Without going through it yet, my guess would be that it might be really hard, if not impossible to tell if organic tastes better. The quality and taste can vary greatly between productions, and one batch could turn out better than the next and it would be impossible to know if it tasted better because it was organic, or because they were more on top of their game during that batch than the last one.

[@JDUBBYDUB]

I didn't have time to watch the whole video but I like the bird shirt. If you guys watch birds too I'm gonna have to move next door to you.

[@MrSendova]

À quand plus de vidéos en français? 😀 Toutes mes félicitations à Don, tu parles très bien!

[@Kangaroonoob]

Does Celine have instagram ?

[@cameron2900x]

🤡

[@Ron-ui3xj]

I only buy organic, period! There are many great quality organic teas out there. Why should I have a huge knowledge about pesticides when I can just buy certified organic? Better for my health, the environment and the tea farmers.

[@MeiLeaf]

Because there is a much higher chance that it comes from poor quality fields at low altitude, closer to industrial areas and generally be lower grade than top tier tea which has no need to go through certification expenses. But, of course, if you have found some certified tea that you enjoy then that's great.

[@Ron-ui3xj]

That is not true. I buy really awesome tea, also high altitude teas. From China, Taiwan and Nepal. Purple bud, green jade, shu and sheng, red, white all are delicious. There are plenty of non organic teas that taste awful as well. Organic or not doesn'rt say anything about the quality or taste. I would argue that when a farmer uses pesticides the farmer doesn' t care much about the plants or tea, making it a lower quality tea. The terroir is affected by these pesticides which will affect the flavour as well. The soil gets depleted. It's bad for your health and for the famers health. According to the WHO last year more than 220.000 farmers worldwide (not just tea farmers) died as a direct result from the use of pesticides. Than there are the negative effects on insects, wildlife and the environment. Are the insects gone? So will the plants, including the tea plants. So, even if organic teas where all of bad quality and taste, which is absolutly not the case, I would still buy organic.

[@zuxiangbiotea8382]

our website is www.biotea.cn

[@lainduong5675]

don, why do u have the last few seconds of water dripping? 😂

[@MeiLeaf]

If you are watching on a computer or phone then this is an endscreen showing other videos. It does not work if you are watching through a tv.

[@septembre2112]

celine, kelley likes your sweater

[@septembre2112]

* more than 1 person sitting here, not talking in 3rd person

[@zebunker]

Quality starts with it being organic or not. That's one of the biggest misconceptions, that organic is just a tax. I'd gladly take a crap tea any day that's organic so the risk of eating round-up ready cancer causing pesticides and herbicides is gone. What's worse actually is the waste water from non-organic farms. All the run-off of chemicals has destroyed the oceans. It's the worst part about non-organic mass farming.

[@someonerandom256]

Ze Bunker Do they use a lot of RoundUp high in the mountains of China? I have my doubts. Also, You know that Organic farmers still use pesticides and herbicides, right?